Enough all ready

[FishingwithRusty]

chick is a great lake and the grass is a BIG benefit to the fishery but as the locals at gville, kentucky lake and amistad will attest the pressure changes the fishing. i tell people all the time, fish arent smart, they are instinctive and it doesnt take long for their instincts to change how and where they feed. if someone took a shot at you every time you went to the fridge, you'd stop going to the fridge.

best thing the fishermen can do is regulate ourselves, reduce the limits in the hot months to reduce delayed mortality. dont support(fish with) organizations that dont take care of the fish. release your fish at the end of dock into deeper water rather than dumping them on the bank. the fish we hold in our livewells and take to weigh in are the biggest fish and they are the most affected my the livewell conditions. the bigger the fish the greater the O2 demand.

i lived and guided on a 12K acre lake outside of charlotte for almost 20yrs and saw that lake go from and amazing fishery to an absolutely pathetic fishery, there were lots of factors in the demise of the lake but 3-5 tournaments EVERY week through the hot months i believe played a large part.

 

[jb366]

I would like to see some sort of a release plan used by tournaments after say June 1st to put the fish back in deep water where they came from.
Maybe the smaller tourneys could get some volunteers to load their wells up, and take a quick run out to the main river and release them.

I remember seeing a post somewhere about an organization somewhere giving people a bag of Florida strain fingerlings to release on their first stop. I don't know the rules on this but if there's not too much red tape involved I would be all for it.

 

[bullshot]

going to a catch, measure (and photography), then release on the spot would eliminate a chunk of the mortality.

 

[toyota4x4h]

3 years tops and its back to mediocre. Cant keep it up just isn't possible. If it does id be surprised. But all the big time lakes have had it happen.

 

[Springmillvol]

toyota4x4h - 5/31/2017 8:03 AM

3 years tops and its back to mediocre. Cant keep it up just isn't possible. If it does id be surprised. But all the big time lakes have had it happen.

Hope we don't burn it up and then start trying to fix it.

 

[dlsmith6]

very hard to fish on the weekends that is for sure.

 

[SpurHunter]

jb366 - 5/30/2017 1:03 PM

I would like to see some sort of a release plan used by tournaments after say June 1st to put the fish back in deep water where they came from.
Maybe the smaller tourneys could get some volunteers to load their wells up, and take a quick run out to the main river and release them.

I remember seeing a post somewhere about an organization somewhere giving people a bag of Florida strain fingerlings to release on their first stop. I don't know the rules on this but if there's not too much red tape involved I would be all for it.

Releasing any fish into public waters in TN without permission and supervision from TWRA is illegal.

 

[RobN]

I like the concept of the users paying for the long term sustainability- maybe a lake user fee that goes back into restocking / managing of the lake. It would be a shame for the locals to have the local natural resource depleted and then some of out of town folks contributing to the depletion will just move on the next "hot" lake.

 

[gobigorange]

RobN - 5/31/2017 11:50 AM

I like the concept of the users paying for the long term sustainability- maybe a lake user fee that goes back into restocking / managing of the lake. It would be a shame for the locals to have the local natural resource depleted and then some of out of town folks contributing to the depletion will just move on the next "hot" lake.

HMMM I thought that was a thing called fishing licenses

 

[jb366]

gobigorange - 5/31/2017 1:21 PM

RobN - 5/31/2017 11:50 AM

I like the concept of the users paying for the long term sustainability- maybe a lake user fee that goes back into restocking / managing of the lake. It would be a shame for the locals to have the local natural resource depleted and then some of out of town folks contributing to the depletion will just move on the next "hot" lake.

HMMM I thought that was a thing called fishing licenses

Guess not since twra claims they have no money

 

[toyota4x4h]

RobN - 5/31/2017 11:50 AM

I like the concept of the users paying for the long term sustainability- maybe a lake user fee that goes back into restocking / managing of the lake. It would be a shame for the locals to have the local natural resource depleted and then some of out of town folks contributing to the depletion will just move on the next "hot" lake.

Wasn't Guntersville hot a few years back and chick wasn't? Now its flipped? Yep fisherman will go where the hot lake is and currently chick is it. Used to ppl would say lets go to Guntersville..i havnt heard anyone ask to go there in about a year. Everyones rushing to chick. The pro tourneys don't help just brings in the spotlight. One good thing I saw Saturday was the wardens running up near hwy 60 bridge. I have never seen them on the lake.