bababooey
06-28-2008, 01:33 PM
Someone tried to outline the stages of fishing on another board. Here's part of the post, pretty cool. :thumbsup:
The fisherman wants to simply get out and try to catch a fish. They only fish a few times in their life, and they don't express much concern about fishery stocks or conservation. They tend to keep the fish they catch as a reward for their effort or simply to have some fresh fish for dinner.
The angler has successfully fished many times; they soon want to go out and catch & keep a full limit of fish. From there they go through the following stages:
1. they want to see how quickly they can catch a limit.
2. they want to see if they can catch a limit every time on the water.
3. they want to try to catch a trophy-sized fish as part of their limit.
4. they want to catch a limit of trophy-sized fish.
Lastly, the angler wants to catch bigger fish than the other anglers and fisherman around them (or participate in formal tournaments) as a way of trying to demonstrate their honed skills and as a way of trying to proove they are better than others.
The sportsman is someone who wants to make sure that while they enjoy their sport that they constantly work to make sure that others will be provided the same enjoyment and opportunity in the future. When sportsmen head out on the water, they don't NEED to catch a fish; all they need is the personal satisfaction of knowing that they and others have the chance, legal opportunity and good fortune to continue to do so for many years in the future. The sportsman is always working to promote a good image of their sport, and always working to try to help others enjoy the sport as well. http://www.thebassbarn.com/forum/images/smilies/cool.gif
Typically, most sportsmen have already progressed through the ranks of fisherman and angler, and most have caught & killed more fish than many people would begin to believe. These folks don't need a loaded stringer, a full cooler, a tournament win, or "dock trophy shots" to proove their fish catching abilities.
Instead, sportsmen constantly monitor their beloved fisheries; they get involved to insure they are protected. Sportsmen will modify their angling techniques to insure that they put minimal strain on the resources they love. Sportmen tend to practice more catch & release, they use circle hooks, barbless hooks, or single hooks instead of arming their offerings with things like treble hooks or stinger hooks and they will often forgo the use of live or natural bait opting for flies or artificial lures instead.
Most sportsmen derive a lot more enjoyment from releasing a fish (especialy large breeder-sized fish) than they ever got killing one. They get more of a thrill knowing that the fish they just released could provide dozens of others the same enjoyment in the future than they could ever get from parading its dead carcass around the docks or by handing out bags of fillets to friends, family, co-workers and neighbors.
Ultimately, you decide where you are on the scale from fisherman-to angler-to sportsman, and you are the ones that ultimately can positively or negatively affect the sport of fishing. http://www.thebassbarn.com/forum/images/smilies/eek.gif
Careless handling and excessive killing of large breeder-size fish is short-sighted and foolish, and the negative effects have been repeatedly demonstrated with numerous other fish species for anyone that takes the shortest amount of time to research the facts. (Jayhawk saw it firsthand with walleyes, most have witnesed the redfish stock recovery in the South, and older folks can remember when bass were scarce right here in NJ.) I know I have seen big tiderunner weakfish go from a nuisance species to an almost rare catch in my home waters of Sandy Hook & raritan Bay in only about 10-15 years.
Stripers are not an unlimited resource. they are a renewable resource. However, when you look at the pressure that these fish are now getting up and down the coast from Maine to North Carolina, you will recognize that too many large fish are being harvested every day, and the population will never be able to sustain such high rates of attrition.
When YOY indexes and overall stock assessments are showing a significant reduction, the writing is on the wall that the stocks are not renewing themselves as fast as they are being depleted.
Some folks (most of them fishermen and anglers) say "catch as catch can" and "enjoy the good days now, because bad times are surely ahead in the future." As a sportsman, I say "start praticing more responsible limited harvest by using a slot system now to prevent the eventual collapse."
A slot limit would allow all these 30-50 pounders get the opportunity to try to turn into 60-80 pounders. A slot limit will also insure that my young children will get the chance to chase stripers off the coast of NJ when they are my age by insuring protection for the most successful and older spawning fish before any irreversible stock colapses.
... Or, we can all just be "Azzwipe Anglers" out there trying to bash sportsmen by calling them "Pinheads" while killing every fish we can, because the law allows it.
The fisherman wants to simply get out and try to catch a fish. They only fish a few times in their life, and they don't express much concern about fishery stocks or conservation. They tend to keep the fish they catch as a reward for their effort or simply to have some fresh fish for dinner.
The angler has successfully fished many times; they soon want to go out and catch & keep a full limit of fish. From there they go through the following stages:
1. they want to see how quickly they can catch a limit.
2. they want to see if they can catch a limit every time on the water.
3. they want to try to catch a trophy-sized fish as part of their limit.
4. they want to catch a limit of trophy-sized fish.
Lastly, the angler wants to catch bigger fish than the other anglers and fisherman around them (or participate in formal tournaments) as a way of trying to demonstrate their honed skills and as a way of trying to proove they are better than others.
The sportsman is someone who wants to make sure that while they enjoy their sport that they constantly work to make sure that others will be provided the same enjoyment and opportunity in the future. When sportsmen head out on the water, they don't NEED to catch a fish; all they need is the personal satisfaction of knowing that they and others have the chance, legal opportunity and good fortune to continue to do so for many years in the future. The sportsman is always working to promote a good image of their sport, and always working to try to help others enjoy the sport as well. http://www.thebassbarn.com/forum/images/smilies/cool.gif
Typically, most sportsmen have already progressed through the ranks of fisherman and angler, and most have caught & killed more fish than many people would begin to believe. These folks don't need a loaded stringer, a full cooler, a tournament win, or "dock trophy shots" to proove their fish catching abilities.
Instead, sportsmen constantly monitor their beloved fisheries; they get involved to insure they are protected. Sportsmen will modify their angling techniques to insure that they put minimal strain on the resources they love. Sportmen tend to practice more catch & release, they use circle hooks, barbless hooks, or single hooks instead of arming their offerings with things like treble hooks or stinger hooks and they will often forgo the use of live or natural bait opting for flies or artificial lures instead.
Most sportsmen derive a lot more enjoyment from releasing a fish (especialy large breeder-sized fish) than they ever got killing one. They get more of a thrill knowing that the fish they just released could provide dozens of others the same enjoyment in the future than they could ever get from parading its dead carcass around the docks or by handing out bags of fillets to friends, family, co-workers and neighbors.
Ultimately, you decide where you are on the scale from fisherman-to angler-to sportsman, and you are the ones that ultimately can positively or negatively affect the sport of fishing. http://www.thebassbarn.com/forum/images/smilies/eek.gif
Careless handling and excessive killing of large breeder-size fish is short-sighted and foolish, and the negative effects have been repeatedly demonstrated with numerous other fish species for anyone that takes the shortest amount of time to research the facts. (Jayhawk saw it firsthand with walleyes, most have witnesed the redfish stock recovery in the South, and older folks can remember when bass were scarce right here in NJ.) I know I have seen big tiderunner weakfish go from a nuisance species to an almost rare catch in my home waters of Sandy Hook & raritan Bay in only about 10-15 years.
Stripers are not an unlimited resource. they are a renewable resource. However, when you look at the pressure that these fish are now getting up and down the coast from Maine to North Carolina, you will recognize that too many large fish are being harvested every day, and the population will never be able to sustain such high rates of attrition.
When YOY indexes and overall stock assessments are showing a significant reduction, the writing is on the wall that the stocks are not renewing themselves as fast as they are being depleted.
Some folks (most of them fishermen and anglers) say "catch as catch can" and "enjoy the good days now, because bad times are surely ahead in the future." As a sportsman, I say "start praticing more responsible limited harvest by using a slot system now to prevent the eventual collapse."
A slot limit would allow all these 30-50 pounders get the opportunity to try to turn into 60-80 pounders. A slot limit will also insure that my young children will get the chance to chase stripers off the coast of NJ when they are my age by insuring protection for the most successful and older spawning fish before any irreversible stock colapses.
... Or, we can all just be "Azzwipe Anglers" out there trying to bash sportsmen by calling them "Pinheads" while killing every fish we can, because the law allows it.