Help me out with a few things.
I thought I've seen it posted here and other places that the larger fish aren't as good to eat. Some people say they have more mercury in them. Is this true or just assumption?
Do a lot of people keep big fish just to make a trophy out of them?
Is c&r fish death really a big problem? No doubt some die, but I rarely see a dead Rock floating in the water and I'm out between 12 and 20 times a year from March through December. Is the bay just so damned big that I'm missing all of them?
Would a large scale education effort help in reducing the number of c&r fish deaths? I know when I'm bass fishing I take very good care of a fish; holding it with as little contact as possible, getting some water through it before letting it swim off on its own, etc. I do the same with every fish I catch, even White Perch. I'm certainly not the liberal, tree hugging, kumbayah kind of person, but I believe in treating life with respect...all life. Well, except bugs perhaps.
I don't think a lot of new regulatory changes are going to make a big difference one way or the other. First, people are creatures of habit and a very large percentage of the population will continue "business as usual" anyway. Laws and locks are only for honest people after all. Second, I have little faith in DNR being able to do anything that will measurably help. Oh sure they'll massage some figures that will give them the results they want. But there's no way they can forecast variables beyond their control such as droughts, algae blooms, pfysteria outbreaks, other odd weather patterns or a man made disaster. I have no doubt there's some great poeple working at DNR who really care, but it is government after all, and DNR isn't exempt from corruption, being misinformed and having too many layers of bureaucracy to be efficient all the time.
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