I was at the Cliffs Saturday afternoon, and honestly, I am glad I didn�t run into anyone. You criticize the man for eating fish, hurting fish, and now donating fish to an organization for public use. Come on fellas.. Do we not have anything better to do? I swear, I have never heard as many weak arguments directed towards one person (firefly). Good job on the catch! I bet Cabalas will take great care of those TWO fish you donated. Why didn�t anyone criticize the idea of donating fish last week when the topic was brought up? This is getting ridiculous!!!! I think a select group on this forum is PETA, incognito style�

I have no problem with it.

To reply to a few other posts now that I'm coming down off of "Rant mode":

Alan - Did you read Brian's entire post? He did in fact, mention taking fish to an aquarium display, and if you read his entire post, fit it in very well with everything else and the situation that started this post flurry.

As for the 30 pound buffs, I don't know if anyone has officially landed 30+ at the cliffs, but I believe so. Zack, one of the first guys to fish it along with guess who...Brian Carpaholic, had the only definite 30+ fish I've seen from there. Biggest buffalo I'd seen in person, probably at least 30+ pounds, but it busted him off right at shore before we could net it. That is the only 30 pounder I've seen come from the cliffs, but they might be able to tell you if they've landed more.

I may join you on Thursday, but this time of year, I'm very tempted to try the other spots on GV that have yeilded 20+ buffs to me and others in the springs past.

Gus - "Troll Spawning Run." Greatness lol.

JFT - In this instance, it isn't that people have a problem woth FF donating fish.

Many others are happy to donate large carp and buffalo if they have a chance.

But the problem they have is with yet more large fish being taken from the Cliffs.

Originally, this whole argument got out of context and became a CnR versus Eating debate. But the original problem was that veteran carp anglers felt betrayed when FF began keeping, and showing off, fish that he'd taken from the Cliffs.

If you haven't already, please read my rather long winded rant on the first page of this thread to see why people are upset whenever they see large carp or buffalo kept from the cliffs.

It's really all a matter of that location, and the situation surrounding it and it's history with us on this forum.

Let me know Justin, and no....I rushed through the post...not the first time I put my foot in mouth, lol.

I'll send you an email if I'm going anywhere Thursday Alan, so we can stop taking up poor FF's post.

FF - Again, sorry that your fish picture posts have yet again degenerated into this. As I said before, great catch.

FYI - Never share information meant to be kept a "secret/honey hole" on a public forum, if you do not wish for others to exercise their rights as a United States Citizen!

Hi All! I guess I started another debate again.
This is really sad.Can I do anything right?It seems like no matter what I do ,I get a flame war,debate or get crucified.
First of all fishlady aproached the carp fishers if she can have some fish to be donated to Cabelas.I said it was ok and I would be happy to because it was for public service and to educate people on carp and buffalo wich in turn would generated interest for the carp and buffalo fishing sport .Which will hopefully grow our sport.Is this what we all want?I do.

Second of all,NO ONE brought up any objections for me donating the fish in the first place .I discussed it before I did it.
Now since I was the first one who did it,I get crucuified.

Thankyou Starless for what you said.

I am done .

JFT - It's not that the spot was meant to be a secret honey hole. As you've seen, we are happy to give up the location if it will get others into the great sport of carp fishing. Especially during Fish Ins, directions were posted time and again in the hopes that many people would come try out the sport, and get hooked.

SSF for example, caught his very first carp at one of our Cliffs Fish Ins, and now he's making newspapers in carp fishing articles lol.

What upsets many of the Cliffs veterans is that they took the time to share one of their favorite spots, actually took people there and showed them the area, taught them exactly how to fish it, and told them they only wanted them to release all their large fish.

I don't think it really has anything to do with being a US Citizen or exercising your rights as such.

It's simply a matter of people having the common decency to respect the wishes of those who took you to one of their favorite spots, and taught you how to fish it.

As it's been said, if this was some other location even on the same lake, or if FF or anyone else had found their own spot, shared it with us, then posted pictures of fish they'd kept or donated, there would not be an outcry.

Those who originaly "founded" the cliffs as far as the forum is concerned, simply ask those they share it with to respect their wishes while fishing that location.

That's it.


FF - You're welcome!

I think part of the problem is this:

People who now have objections to you donating those big fish probably didn't realize you were planning to do that. I didn't. The last I saw of your plans, you had asked that "All Trophy fish be released."

So people who read those posts, but perhaps not later posts in the same thread, were likely surprised when they saw you had in fact, not released the fish but donated them instead.

Justin -

Cut the ****. I wasn't chastising FireFly for eating a fish. I was pointing out that he has been rude to the guys that were kind enought to share a special spot with him.

You are right. If you've got a Honey Hole keep it quiet. Shame on these guys for sharing a special spot with anyone. Might not have even raised a hackle had Mr FireFly not previously boasted of eating 20's from the very same spot. I catch fish for fun.

P.S. What's with the PETA label? I enjoy dragging creatures from their comfy little environments for my personal satisfaction. PETA probably hates me more than somebody actually eating the fish they catch.

There are many more problems in today�s world that concern common decency, other than taking a few "trophy" fish from one particular lake. This gentleman has not kept any more fish from the "Cliffs" after he was treated like sh** for doing so. Now he donates a fish, and it starts all over. Please... I am waiting to drive by the Cliffs and see a group of people hugging trees....

I apologize if I added to a sore subject that has been going on, I am not in the loop of things in North Texas like you folks. It just struck me funny about the statement how the fish were better off at Cabela's. Lord knows I have nothing against boxing fish to take home. I am guilty of killing carp in the past for various reasons but I can honestly say I will not do it anymore. I like catching them and what I like even better is doing it with my son, heck they are to easy to go out and catch!

"Those 2 buffs are alot better off at Cabela's then the Lake"
Most of you missed my point. True, it is only my opinion that to say that "wild" fish are better off in an aquarium than in their natural habitat is a "stupid" comment. Obviously, some of you agree that the fish are better off in an aquarium. I have never fished the cliffs; I live in San Antonio. I don't care whether there are big fish there or not. As a retired research scientist who used animals in my research, I am about as anti-PETA as one can get.
I was NOT questioning Firefly's right to eat the fish, to give them to an aquarium, or to use them as catfish bait. It is his choice, and legal. I really was trying to help him avoid repeating the same problems that he has had before on this forum. It is not my battle and I should have remained silent. In that sense, I was "stupid" too.

Nice fish firefly. I too have wanted to donate a fish, but I've been in Austin and the fish might die before I could get it there. But I would if I could get it there. I do feel like I need to say again that you should NEVER put a fish on a stringer unless you are going to eat it. It damages the gills to the point where often the fish will die anyway. I will cut you some slack since it was for a good cause. To others, the purpose of having fish in the Cabelas aquarium is to spawn curiosity. Anything that give me an opening to talk Carp/Buff fishing tactics to people who may not know the fish is a good thing. I plan to do some demos at Cabelas soon. Justin Fishin Texas, you've managed to surprise me. You have always seemed level headed and here you are stirring the pot. Firefly ticked some people off. More and more people are taking trophy fish from the cliffs area and now it seems that the area known for producing big buffs won't be producing as many this year. Perhaps people have overreacted, we're human... some people feel that betraying someone who did you a kindness is wrong. They are entitled to that opinion just as Firefly is entitled to eat or donate a legally caught fish. You say we are attacking firefly, not one person but "we" as a group. Kind of a wide accusation don't you think? A bit hypocritical to attack a group when you disagree with one or two members. And to insult many of us who had not chimed in on the thread by calling us PETA? Thats just insulting. You attack us under the guise of protecting Firefly? Are you any better than anyone else who may have overreated to this? I know I was bothered by the stringers, but did I attack the man? No, so have some "common decency" of your own toward fellow anglers and mind your own business. If people fight and it has nothing to do with you then just stay out of it. You only make things worse with this nonsense.

Wow. I didn't realize that donating fish to me would be so controversial. The purpose of our aquarium is to educate the public about fish in local lakes. Just today I had a conversation with a guy about those two buffs. I told him I caught my first buff (it was also my first lake-caught fish) at the Cliffs, and was suprised about how fun they are to catch. He was a bass guy, but said he might have to try fishing for buffs if they put up that good of a fight. If you guys are up for people getting into the sport, they need to see trophy fish, especially from local lakes. Last week, TPW took us shocking on GV, and the only reason we didn't hit the Cliffs area was because of the wind. If we had taken those two buffs then, nobody would have said anything. Just because FF caught them doesn't change anything. The carp and buff population in GV is very healthy, and taking two buffs won't change anything.

In our aquarium, those buffs have the opportunity to live a long, healthy life. Ten years from now, they may still be in there and weigh 60lbs. They have a better chance of survival in there than they do in the lake.

By the way, I caught a 12lb buff on Sunday out there, and I'm officially into fishing for buffs and carp. Guys like Firefly, Mike Ryan, Rudy, and Zach taught me a lot this weekend, and I hope that I can fish with the carp brigade more often.

I apologize to anybody that is upset about us having trophy buffs from the Cliffs. We're just trying to get people excited about fishing in the local lakes.