I agree on that big10. I believe that anyone can look at michael and teri's web site and get a pretty good idea of how many trophy fish are caught and released every year! I also believe that anyone can look at the site and see how many are kept. Pics dont lie!

Yup Yellowcat, our fillet knives get a break Dec - March,

You are missing the point, yes I can go look at a lot of pictures, but pictures aren't enough. Records of length, girth, and weight would be useful to the biologists. Something similar to deer lease records.

You want more regulations, help establish them. Or keep it secret and have people blaming you for the decline if there is one.

Oh, you don't have to share with your competitors or the public, share with the biologist only.

Michael i have a question for you.

Looking through the pics on your website i see probably 90% of the trophy blues have HUGE girths. Do you have any idea if the girth on those fish is females that are full of eggs or is it just that they have plenty to eat?

I know you dont know for shure because you are realeasing all of those trophy fish but i am just wondering what your thoughts are on that.

We send info to the folks at TPW,

@ yellowcat..most of those bellies are full of air from deep water.

Gotcha.

Do all the guides keep records AND send them to TP&W?

All? I doubt it...

You guides need to help yourselves before you ask others to give up any of their limits.

The guides are doing there part to manage and protect the fish in Tawakoni. To my knowledge ALL guides on Tawakoni pratice catch and release of all fish over 10 lbs.

This tells me the guides are willing to work together to protect the fish, now they are asking use to do the same.

This isn't meant to target anyone but my thoughts tend to run with believing scientific study. Any time you have someone with a vested interest in anything their ideas and views tend to favor what is advantageous to them. I don't believe that just because they are on the water more than me that their opinion is any better without facts to back it up. I myself will not just sign a petition just on a whim. I want to see the facts and decide for myself and no facts were submitted with this petition. we all know you can never stop the people that want to break the law. There are folks out there that will figure out a way to cheat the system and that is a pox of our society.

As far as pressure goes, without guides taking clients out targeting big fish, the people that target big fish would decline, in my opinion. They wouldn't invest the money in the equipment that it would take to do so. And if you count the box fish they take out of the lake, probably over a hundred thousand a year, some of those could have grown into a trophy size fish. And does anyone have any idea on catch and release mortality? But I know to keep a lake viable you HAVE to harvest so much an acre. So where is the balance. That is what we should really be looking at. I don't know what it will take, but a poorly drawn up law,placed on a whim, will do nobody any good.

Guides are using a public resource to make a living so they have a moral and ethical reason to be good stewards of our resources. Some, more than others, do this with a fervor. That is very commendable,but others just want to take the money and run. We all have to become good stewards of our natural resources.

What is it going to take? I don't know, but open discussion is a good start to figure out what it will take to appease nearly everyone. And we need REAL studies to know what the problem is.

Just for my personal records (and keeping up with this thread), where was this posted that anyone, guide, etc, has talked about anyone's limits being reduced? Thx.

Salsa has said it.




Man, I couldn't disagree more.

Reducing bag limits to 10-15 catfish per person (or any other fish for that matter), per day is not going to hurt my business in the least. Heck, i'm in favor of it.

And, are the bass circuits hurting because they have to deal with slots on several lakes they fish? No. Neither will the catfish tournys.
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No one has questioned the guides doing catch and release. I'm simply saying if the guides want to change the rules, keep records and SUBMIT those records to TP&W biologists.

I have stated over and over that I DO NOT blame guides for any of the issues discussed. I am saying that if they want to change the rules, help themselves.