mjc1761, Guntersville Lake, Bass, 7-26-17

[mjc1761]

I got out today with a lady and her 10 yr. old nephew to see if we could get the young man on a few Catfish. Within a few minutes of starting his rod got bent to the extremes and as fast as it started it ended with his line breaking. I had noticed that he had rather light line for the kind of fishing we were doing so I had him to use one of mine and after losing a few more from just not getting hooked good he finally was able to put a nice Channel Cat in the boat before the morning was over. The problem we did run into however was seeing all of the dead fish on the surface. This young man and his aunt couldn't believe what they were seeing, and after watching this commercial fisherman doing his job I noticed that in behind him were several dead Drum, Catfish, and even Bass. We only found the one Bass but he had been running his nets all morning and we didn't have time to inspect the other areas we had seen him around. I know this man is doing his job and he has to make a living, but with these bass tournaments that are going on in the hot summer months and not taking proper care of the fish that they are catching, instead the main focus is "getting that check" and "having that picture taken". Now the commercial fishermen using nets, which is now deemed legal, it makes you wonder about all of the trouble that we have went through thus far and the money that has been spent and the money that's ahead to be spent on stocking the lake, is this all going to be done just so anglers, tournament anglers, and commercial fishermen with their nets can go out with a "Don't Give A Crap" attitude and make all of these efforts a complete waste of time....and money?!!! I get a lot of emails with concerened anglers wanting to help donate to get the lake stocked again just to give it a little bit of a boost to help with the good spawn that we have had the last couple of years. It will be a complete "shame" to get all of this done just so people can go out there with the wrong don't care attitude and watch all of this go to "WASTE". There are still some of us that are involved that "DO CARE", and those that "CLAIM TO CARE", and of course those that just plain ole "DON'T GIVE A CRAP"!! It's not about you or me, it's about the young angler I had with me today and many more like him in his age group that will be wanting to enjoy fishing, hunting, and recreation on this lake and other lakes as they get older, and they will want the same for their children. Does this sound hard to do? It's a lot better now that in the past we just have to keep working harder to get it even more better and keep it that way. If you truly care then you will do your part in helping in any way, not saying financially there are many ways to help with taking better care of the lake. If you don't care, well you will have to be the one to deal with that, especially when you look at your children when they catch a fish or shoot a Duck. Now think about that one for a while. We can't completely fix everything but we can at least try and do things a little better. ALL OF US!!! HAVE FUN, Mike Carter

 

[Hook1]

The commercial guys running nets have been a problem on Chickamauga for years now. Every spring we run into nets full of nice bass and other fish that have been there too long because the nets aren't checked accordingly.