TO HARVEST OR NOT TO HARVEST, THAT IS THE QUESTION !

I realize that the question of practising a strict "catch and release" policy or harvesting fish to the extent the law allows is fairly controversial and a lot has been written on the subject. I don't profess to have special insight on the subject but I do have an opinion and thought I might use this forum to share it with you.

 

As with most things you have to go beyond the letter of the written law and apply some common sense to arrive at an approach that is in the best interest of conserving our fisheries. If conservation isn't at the heart of what you do then none of what I'm writing will make much sense to you. You start off with the simple stuff like knowing what the limit is for the species you're fishing in the area you're fishing in. That becomes the worse case scenario in terms of what you will consider harvesting for the table or the trophy rack. That brings us to the next step in working through this issue logically and rationally. If you don't intend on eating it or mounting it as a trophy don't kill it ! If you intend on mounting it please take a picture and record the length and girth, then release it and take the data to your taxidermist and have a fiberglass mount done. It looks great and it will last much longer than a skin mount.

 

Now let's deal with the subject of conservation of our fisheries in it's broadest form. If you don't believe that our fish populations have suffered through a decline in the last several years and that a significant contributor is overharvesting you're probably not going to care enough to limit your catch. I know if I took a survey amongst our customers that the overwhelming majority would tell you that the fishing is getting tougher and tougher. This is true no matter what the species or location. The next question that normally comes up is who is at fault. I get tremendous feedback on this subject that ranges from the government, commercial fishing, certain ethnic groups etc. etc. I think it's important to stay active within groups like OFAH to ensure that your voice is being heard but as it pertains to your personal fishing choices my answer to who's at fault is WHO CARES !!!!   Just arrive at a personal choice that reflects your concern for the fishery and strictly practice it.

 

My own approach is that I will keep my limit of walleye a couple of times per year for a fish fry. I never keep more than I will eat at one sitting of a family dinner because I think eating freshly harvested fish is the deal ! Filling the freezer with fillets is not on. I also will have a couple of feeds of species that are more bountiful like perch, crappies and bluegills but again no freezer cache. If I go Great Lakes Trolling I might keep one small salmon for the barbeque but beyond that everything is handled with care and released.

 

I know I hear the argument that some people need to keep all they legally can to keep their grocery bill down but my own personal experience is that of those that fall into the "meat hunter" category a very small percentage harvest to the limit for financial reasons.

 

The anglers I would appeal to are the ones who keep their limit in most cases simply because they can. They often rationalize that by limiting their catch they would make very little impact on the overall fishery but of course we all know how to "eat an elephant".....one bite at a time.