Fishing Ban in USA???
Small Game
According to some anti hunting/fishing organizations, the question they raise, in this case PETA, is asked below. I bring this up concerning the increase in ballot initiatives to over rule scientific game management, such as here in Colorado with the current Initiative to ban Mt. Lion hunting, bobcat trapping/hunting, and in the past to reintroduce wolves, and then also in the past to ban spring bear hunting totally, and the use of leg hold traps which all were to approved by ballot box biology.
I might expect more initiative will be, and are present and currently in your states to ban some types of hunting and even fishing. There are currently 26 states that allow ballot initiative to over rule the traditions of hunting and fishing. I also might predict that bear hunting, coyote hunting will be next. There are 48,000 animal rights organizations in the US, with millions of dollars on hand to introduce and then to approve and to convince the voter to their ways of thinking. Just this quote from the PETA's playbook and other organizations, will start, continue, US citizens to thinks, also, WHY! And then replace Fish with the word Hunting. Currently there is an Initiative in Oregon to ban hunting, fishing and the human consumption of domestic live stock. There is currently, in the City of Denver CO, to ban the sale of furs within the city limits, as there is in the State of Washington but statewide just to name a few.
What is next?????????????? Anyway, just some food for thought. My best, Paul
PETA, "Why should recreational fishing be banned? Billions of fish die every year in nets and on hooks. Humans kill most fish for consumption, torture many just for “sport,” and maim or kill other unintended victims simply because they were in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Fish are not cute we will get to keep taking those
It’s akin to the foolish nature of some “sportsmen” who vote democrat OR for any candidate from either party that ever advocates to take away any rights.
We need to ban AR-15…..they’ll never come for my bow or my knife….WRONG.
We need to willingly outlaw baiting. We need to willingly give up running bears and cats with dogs…..we need to willingly….you name it.
Folks really do need to take the blinders off and realize, It’s EVERYTHING they want gone.
Leather, meat, fur, ALL guns. ALL hunting. ALL fishing. ALL THINGS US, They want gone.
The big thing with fishing is catch and release. The ARAs consider it to be torture, and would chip away at that with a ballot initiative before an outright ban on fishing because lots of non-fishing voters love to eat fish and don't understand the catch and release mentality - "torturing fish for fun".
Insanity rules this is getting so ridiculous that it can’t be explained.In a very short period of time so many states have completely changed the culture and the foundation of what that state represented just a few years ago.I have no answer to this ballot box science but to take a small percentage of heavily populated real estate and dictate your non scientific agenda is just plain wrong. I feel for the genuine people who reside in the rural areas and live their lives just trying to be normal
If I were a steelhead or salmon. I would rather be caught, take a picture next to a handsome human like myself. Made famous on the internet then returned to the water a little out of breath.
Than be grabbed from a stream and eaten alive by a bear.
Timex, the only problem with that here in the West is that on a good day you could have your four fish in four casts and be done for the day. I often have 50+ fish days, and on many waters it is catch and release only.
Hook up to a big tarpon on fly and if that doesn’t get your motor running you have no motor just saying Lewis
Ballot initiatives of any kind can be dangerous. No one person is as stupid as all of us in a group mob.
That is why we live in a Republic not a Democracy where the majority wins. Otherwise, we have 3 wolves and 1 sheep voting equally to see what is for dinner.
Another dangerous venue is the ominus bill , where items of public interest can be attached to a huge 400 page bill , without debate or public discourse.
Need to point out PeTA (PETA acronym legally belongs to People Eating Tasty Animals), HSUS, ASPCA, and similar groups are anti-hunting fishing, animal ownership or even anti-humanity. The US Sportsmans Alliance does a great job of fighting this battle. In fact, they helped write the anti-hunter harassment statutes for 50, yes 50 states. Everyone who hunts and fishes should be a member.
https://sportsmensalliance.org/about-sportsmens-alliance/
Got no problem with catch & release, where appropriate. Like wise got no problem with fish and chips for dinner.
What I do have a problem with is US law that lets foreign trawlers within 200 miles of our coastline. Torpedo them sob's.
The sooner the better, let the mass die off from starvation begin.
Then we can get back to normal...
If good fishermen didn’t practice catch and release, there wouldn’t be enough fish for guys who aren’t the best at it!
Timex, I'm envious of the saltwater fishing you have. That's partly why I'm headed to the Gulf for the next two months.
If we didn't do catch and release here, a fishing outing might last 5-10 minutes on a good day, because we have trout, and that's all. On my earmeater lake we have all sorts of stuff, so after keeping a limit of walleyes to eat, we can fish the rest of the day for other stuff.
"spending money to go catch a fish I can't bring home to eat just makes zero sense to me."
Amen. Just go golfing instead.
It’s not the kill,it’s the thrill of the chase!
MI is about to go to two bobcat tags, for us trappers to four. You could not even imagine that, in the most anti trapping state of Colorado
people sure have gotten silly.....
Just think of all the damage to the environment that the skiing industry has wrought on Colorado. All those condos,roads,lifts, slopes and people where there should just be pristine wilderness for wolves, bears and lions to play.
Someone needs to start a ballot initiative to ban skiing.
If I were fishing to feed myself I'd throw a net across the river and/or set out a bunch of traps. I really love my bass fishing but I'm only allowed to keep two over 15 inches and it takes half a day to get from the upstream launch to the down stream take out. No, it's strictly for fun and sport...and if guys like me ate all the smallmouth we catch we'd be out of them in a single season.
Likewise, if I were hunting to feed my family I'd had a hundred traps out and I wouldn't be spending all day every day at work. I sure wouldn't wait for the weekend to sit in some silly ghillie suit or up in a tree with...of all things a bow. I sure as hell wouldn't respect all the property lines that prevent me from actually arrowing any deer. LOL
Fishing is both fun and fruitful! I'm in a different boat (pun intended) than what's already described in that much of where I fish need management for overpopulation and I can't hardly pull enough pounds out of the water to provide that management. I do get a lot of good meals in my efforts though!
I am envious of the fish Lou catches in the mountains, and of what Timex catches in the ocean. Would love to expand my fishing horizons!
Back on topic; there are people who certainly want to eliminate all human involvement with animals. They can't just keep their nose to themselves and accept others don't feel the same as they do, so they scheme and plot to find ways to interject their views. Ballot initiatives are one of those paths. These decisions should be held by the Game Departments.
Photography of mammals is like C&R hunting. Someone going to be against that too?
Timex, that's the scenario I'm referring to. Throwing them back obviously doesn't hurt them and high numbers keep the forage base low. Nothing gets big. Of course this isn't ocean fish that need careful regulations, it's private ponds that need fished!
My rule for people fishing our ponds is you HAVE to keep anything that didn't excite you to catch (the opposite of what you're describing). If catching a 6lb bass excited you then throw it back for another day. If the 1lb bass don't excite you keep them all. The exception to the "excited rule" is if you want it mounted, then keep whatever it is.
Is PETA going to send out the Dancing Carp to the schools again? LOL, the kids beat the crap out of them the last time.
I fish one pond that's loaded with small bass. My wife and I do take fish out of there but 't much fun catching drinks.
There aren't really any nice crappie around here because of the thousands of people fishing for them and eating everything they catch. People here think 9 or 20 inches is a nice crappie. Lol, it's a dink.
20 inches is not a nice crappie? Huh....
The river I live on here in Washington is the only one in the state that gets returns of all five salmon species, plus an annual return of wild steelhead. Other than keeping one Coho per year, all the fish I catch are carefully returned back to the river. CnR is the only way to go in order to boost spawning salmon numbers for greater returns in future years.
Wild steelhead are CnR only, with specific regulations on how the fish are to be netted and/or handled. In over twenty years I've only kept one hatchery steelhead.
If you want to CnR fish, it's always best to use the appropriate gear. Don't go chasing 15-20 lb. wild steelhead with a 4wt. flyrod..you want a good fight, but it needs to be kept short as to not wear the fish out.
Pic of a Pink Salmon (aka: Humpy) that was quickly released to continue it's journey. The return of Pinks in 2023 (odd years only) was around 3.9 million fish. The Skagit had a return of about 43,000 wild Coho, which was less than expected, but more than sufficient for a good return in the future. The Coho is the one I kept this year, a hatchery hen.
Tried to add pics, but I think I broke the Bowsite. I've resized them all to 600 pixels on the longest side, so they should post up ok. I'll try again later.
Pink Salmon
Pink Salmon
Coho Salmon hatchery hen. Was absolutely delicious...
Coho Salmon hatchery hen. Was absolutely delicious...
See that soft, deep water out by the big boulder?
See that soft, deep water out by the big boulder?
You have to remember these folks have a twisted view of life in general. They put more value in animal life than human life...twisted. Common sense is just about extinct in this world today.
I do must be honest , I belong to PETA.
P-people for E-eating T-tasty A-animals
After thinking about this over and over I keep my memories bringing up the countless hours of tying the perfect fly and sharpening a hook so sharp that if it didn’t stick in your fingernail with almost no pressure it was too dull,Then you have to pick the perfect tide and be there and be ready no matter if the wind is howling and then you have to make the perfect presentation in front of a fish whose jaw bone is simply hard as a rock and when it actually takes you have to set the hook into that bone and then the fight is on.You are fighting that fish with a leader that is only 12 inches long and you’re doing it with a tippet that at most breaks at 20;lbs mostly in my day it was 12.Sometimes the fight might go into the hours I think my longest was 7 plus and I lost her when she went up a creek and it was too shallow for my skiff to follow she stripped off 300 yards of backing before she popped the tippet I guessed her at close if not over 200 .No I didn’t do it to bring on dinner but I always had a freezer full of fish but to get a chance to hook up on a big poon on fly nuff said Good luck all Lewis
Millions of non-hunters and non-fisherman love a good fish dinner - just remind them that PETA's idiot plans will drive the price of seafood through the ceiling. (worse than it is now...)
"PETA, "Why should recreational fishing be banned? Billions of fish die every year in nets and on hooks. Humans kill most fish for consumption, torture many just for “sport,” and maim or kill other unintended victims simply because they were in the wrong place at the wrong time."
...says many of the same people have no problem killing and disposing of their own offspring.
