New regulations to be proposed for Guntersville

[Pointer 78]

Troy Jens, a good guy who has guided on Guntersville for many years, will present a list of proposalsto ensure the long term sustainability of Lake Guntersvilleat the State Advisory Meeting being held at Lake Eufala on May 15th. Because we all love fishing the G, it is important that we get behind Troy (and the majority of the guides down there) and support these proposals. They are:</p>

1) A 5 fish limit (currently 10 and must be 15 inches)on all Black Bass on Lake Guntersville and its tributaries be in place by 2011.</p>

2)For consideration only,a slot limit with a tournament waiver. No fish between 14-20 inches may be kept and only 1 over 20 inches may be kept. A 5 fish limit for all fish under 14 inches may be kept.</p>

3) Tournament Waiver: To keep tournament revenue flowing into state coffers, a tournament waiver be established so that five 15" fish be kept IF they are caught, weighed, and released the same day. Personal note: I'd like to see all tournaments adopt a 3 fish limit on Guntersville.</p>

4) To decrease tournament mortality, establish a state mandate to prevent culling and weighing in dead fish (if you have a fish in your possession that dies, you may not cull it nor weigh it in. If you catch a 5 fish limit but 2 die, you may only weigh in 3 fish). Dead fish must be checked in.</p>

5) Tournaments must obtain a permit from the state at a reasonable fee to allow the tournament to take place.</p>

6) Increased law enforcement between March 5th and April 30th when poaching is at its zenith (its height for Dragfish). To post new regulations at all ramps, campgrounds, and fish camps,and the dilligent inspection of all coolers during that time.</p>

Their first priority thoughis to reduce the creel limit.</p>

If you agree with any or all proposals, please send an email to [email protected]to show your support.All emails will be printed out and submitted to the board on May 15th. Even if you are not a resident of Alabama, that out of state license we pay so dearly for, gives you the right to submit your input.</p>

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[uncleghenry]

i understand what there trying to do but most of the tournament fisherman are doing most of that . what this will do is hurt the man that is fishing trying to catch some fish to eat if they bye there license they have the rite to eat them if they like. the lake is not just for tournaments . the good lord put fish on this earth to EAT and we as tournament fisherman dont need to forget that . if a guide is worred about a man taking a mess of fish to eat he needs to find another job .

 

[dragfish]

All sounds good to me Jerry, if they would have put a sensible limit like that on Sauger in TN we'd still have some!
WOW-you used the word Zenith in a sentence, thought it was a tv!

 

[Jmax]

If they make it too tough to have a tournament there they will hurt the money coming into that area because they will go somewhere else. I would bet we would not have our one CFF there anymore. Too much trouble. Most tournaments try to do those things already. I do not see them going that way by law and doing any better benefit. What will happen is if you get a bleeding bass or a bass that looks to be in trouble you will let it go right off. Now no one eats it and it just becomes turtle food. I see a lot of bass dieing at the time they are culled due to those things.

 

[Pointer 78]

As you know, its pretty much Thunderdome down there. 4 tournaments launching from every ramp in the lake. Even on weekdays. Hundreds of boats, with all the latest fishing electronics, being used on G day after day. That's gotta be taking its toll. Something needs to be done Greg. Ask some of the older locals how the lake has been decimated.

 

[rodbuilder2]

i just fish there maybe a half dozens times a year i don't agree with the tx fees we pay enough license fee already i like the rest of the proposals and would support the rest of them just my 02cents

 

[Bprice]

I'm good with the 5 fish limit, but none of the tournament regs. Tournament fisherman deserve no more privelages than the average Joe. I also disagree with the lake being decimated. My tournament partner has been fishing Guntersville for 35 years, and him and many other believe the last 5 years have been some of the lakes best. I know many others think the same thing. I think some of the old timers just hate all the traffic and will pull the decimation card to keep people away from the lake. Just my opinion.

 

[procraft]

dont like it dont want any part offi if it ant broke dont fix itwhy not just leave it alone make all bass 15 and leave the rest alone or we can lay down and let the rest of ower free country be dictated by ower government hell lets put a fee on all fish caught and a toll both at every ramp

 

[jim4596]

i think they are all fine except this one:
5) Tournaments must obtain a permit from the state at a reasonable fee to allow the tournament to take place

I am against that one. that one sucks in my opinion. the rest were fine. i think the limit should be 5 on bass and all that other stuff looked fine. and i think allowing the tournament anglers a pass is fine cause all tournaments require you to release your fish. whereas the other guys are filleting them. just helps the fish survive.

 

[Carl Guffey]

<font face="georgia,palatino" size="2">No waivers: everybody plays by the same rules or they don't play:</font></p>

2) For consideration only,a slot limit with a tournament waiver. No fish between 14-20 inches may be kept and only 1 over 20 inches may be kept. A 5 fish limit for all fish under 14 inches may be kept.</p>

3) Tournament Waiver: To keep tournament revenue flowing into state coffers, a tournament waiver be established so that five 15" fish be kept IF they are caught, weighed, and released the same day. Personal note: I'd like to see all tournaments adopt a 3 fish limit on Guntersville.</p>

<font face="georgia,palatino" size="2">Eveyone has to buy a license so everyone should be treated the same. emoHoppingmad </font></p>

 

[jmbwest]

I agree with uncleghenry in that God put fish on this earth to eat. I don't fish tournaments very often seeing as though I havent had a boat very long and I dont get to fish enough to find fish. So I really dont like just throwing my money away in entry fees. I just enjoy being out there with my family. I dont agree with the limits and special waivers, what is right for one is right for all the others.

 

[mallardecho]

Reduce the limit to 5 and spend any additional monies and resources working WITH the TVA and fisheries biologist to increase habitat and improve spawning sucess.

 

[jim4596]

Just asking here, not trying to start a debate.
but to me harvesting the fish and throwing them back are 2 different things. so i dont think they should be treated the same. but maybe i'm missing something here. even if you take into account delayed mortality and all that, a 50% percent chance of survival is better than zero chance. besides the only fish we are talking about here is bass. plenty of other fish that are available and if someone still wanted to eat bass, it would just be restricted to 3 per trip the way i read it.
the only issue i would see is that it would create too much headache for the game wardens. how would you know if someone was fishing a tournament or not. i guess they would have some sort of card or something. anyway, it would be too much bs from the aspect of trying to police it.

anyway, i agree that all animals were put here for us to eat. But u could use the same arguement to justify eating any animal. i'll tell you like i told the guy at the buffet the other day, "you better keep your azz away from dogs." emoLaugh
especially you uncleg. emoPoke

 

[uncleghenry]

jim u cant even catch them in a tournament what make u think u could catch some to eat!!!!! emoPoke emoPoke

 

[BADKARMA]

I think it is a bad idea when you start setting different rules for tournament anglers. There are already enough tournament angler hate threads in this forum and others to prove there is already a divide. This would only make it worse. The rules should apply to everyone evenly across the board.

Tournament fees? Are you serious? The last time this was mentioned on here the response was overwhelmingly against it. This sounds good if you are one of the huge clubs with 100 boats. That way it would eliminate my small club tournament and leave the ramp for you. Or some expect that the smaller clubs will join the larger clubs and make things more affordable. This is silly on so many levels I don't even want to go there. And do you really want to start allowing even more fees to be piled on top of the license fees? I don't think so. You can say the money stays in the local area for improvements, but I don't agree. I think it gets absorbed into a state resource pool and doled out from there.

If the state fishery studies think we need to change the creel limit or go to a slot limit then so be it. But it should be based on what is best for the fishery and the fisherman (and it won't always go both ways).

If anyone thinks they can change my mind then start throwing out some facts and figures. Until then, I will have to disagree with most of that post.

 

[blazer]

i agree with procraft,why try to fix whats not broke.just look at the weights brought in at tx and you can tell the lake is not hurting,just wait til the big boys fish this weekend,i bet there will be several anglers with over 90lbs and will take 100lbs to win.that should tell everyone thats there nothing wrong with the fish on this lake,and if that dont convence you just look at all the 8-10lb bass the spinnerbait kid catches.

 

[hl&s]

I agree with procraft and blazer. Leave well enough alone. We enjoy some of the best fishing in the country which tellsme that the fishery biologists and wildlife agencies in our area know what's best. We don't need a lake so overpopulated with bass that they are all dinks.</p>

I would be more concerned aboutthe big fish population. It's a lot easier to catch em on live bait than artificial.</p>

Maybe we can get some tournament fishermen to organize a committee to represent them at advisory meetings. There's always two sides of an issue.</p>

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[shiftworker]

5 fish limit... needs to be done.... i'd even be down with the slot limit... but i agree... tx or not... lets all play by the same rules...