nboucher

Avid and Raul are right. As vertebrates, of course fish feel pain. This is not a matter of opinion. I happen to be reading John McPhee's The Founding Fish, and in his last chapter he reviews all the studies on this, including PETA's. Aside from being a brilliant writer, McPhee is a fanatical fisherman, especially of shad, which he catches and eats in great quantities. But he doesn't shy away from the fact that fishing causes pain to the individual fish being hooked. What's not known is whether fish have any emotional processing of pain the way we do, and given that you can hook the same fish over and over again, they probably do not. It is probably a temporary, really unpleasant sensation that they forget when they're back in the water feeding. We fish despite the pain fish feel; "believing" a fish doesn't feel any pain is just being in denial. As for birdwatching, I've been doing it for 34 years, ever since I took ornithology in college, and there is NO contradiction between it and fishing. What's with the silly anti-birdwatching stereotyping? To me, nature is what I'm looking to experience in all ways and in any way I can, whether through angling, mountaineering, hunting, birding, hiking, scuba diving, etc. No, I don't have thousands of dollars in optics--just a pair of $60 binoculars and a $100 telescope. Just as I like to study fish to become a better angler and appreciator of nature, I like to watch birds and marvel at their natural history and their ability, often, to fly 6,000 miles a year in this crazy thing called migration. Birds are beautiful and canny survivors, and they, like fish, are all part of a magnificent natural world that, thanks to our ignorance and inaction, is fast disappearing. So instead of trashing birders, how about joining with them to help prevent a local wetland from getting filled in? There is too much destruction going on out there to create false divisions among those who love the natural world. Sorry about the rant.

Welcome to the forum! You'll find plenty of help here. As for topo maps, you might be able to get some maps to start with for free on the Web. Check this site: http://www.topozone.com/ Click View Maps in the upper left-hand corner. You can print portions of maps for free. Norman

I had no idea what cover was back then. I would just cast and wish for the best. :-/

54 here. I grew up in southern New Hampshire across the street from small pond. Our ranch house was built on the old fairgrounds and the local story was that when the circus came to town, the elephants were bathed in the pond. Rumor had it that out in the middle of the pond was "quicksand," and the circus lost an elephant or two out there. When I was a boy, my mother made it clear she didn't want us kids hanging around the house all day so I fished and I read. My dad didn't fish, so I got a zebco spincasting setup at the local department store, and every morning I'd take two slices of Wonder bread and go over the pond and roll up little dough balls to catch shiners. We'd put them in a bucket of water and throw them back in at the end of the day. Later I tried using them as bait for pickerel, but I didn't know what I was doing and didn't catch any. On a special day, I'd catch a bluegill ("kibbee," we called them) or two or a perch or a catfish. I can remember the smell of the water in the summer sun, the pollywogs in the water, and my imagination as it pictured the elephant skeletons supposedly lying in the deep water. In high school, I bought a "bass plug" at that same department store and caught my first bass on a river nearby. I took it home and ate it. In college, someone stole what little fishing gear I had and I didn't fish for 20 years. Thanks for letting me remember.

Amen, brother! I get out maybe twice a week, on average for maybe five hours at a time. It's usually in my kayak, which takes all of fifteen minutes to load up on the car. No gas to pay for, and when you hook a lunker you get a free ride!

In addition to Time on the Water, you need Dumb, Dogged Persistence. If I have the time and I'm on the water, I simply won't give up. I have been out there eight or nine hours at a stretch catching NOTHING, and I tell myself I ain't leaving until I catch SOMETHING. There have been one or two days this year when after that length of time I left without catching a thing. I left with a headache from concentrating so hard for so long, and a sunburn on the back of my neck (redneck). Then I got home and sat down and tried to review everything I did to figure out what I did wrong. I like to think those days made me a little smarter about fishingor not. I recently had a day when I was out for six and half hours, having caught exactly two fish, and I decided to give it another half hour. Five minutes later, I'd caught my personal best, 6lb, 7oz. I'm just too darn stupid to give up and go home!

Jim, I am so sorry to hear that about your daughter. I have a 13-year-old daughter who's been camping since she was three and who also likes to fish occasionally, so I see your experience as an important warning. I hope for the best for both our girls; I hope that yours is going through a radical "phase" and that time will moderate her views. I was pretty radical in college, too, but it faded as I experienced more and more of "real life" through the decades. I'm saddened, too, that PETA and the Earth Firsters you describe are wasting precious time that could be used combating runaway development and polluters who are truly damaging the natural world we are obligated to preserve during our turn at being alive. It does seem to me that these people must be more active where you are than up here in New England, where freshwater fishing is less visible perhaps. Good luck, Norman

Jim, I think you're correct on that. When I exchanged e-mails with the reporter, he made it clear that he didn't usually cover outdoors topics, but was a general-assignment reporter, which meant he would be going on to other subjects. It's extremely unlikely he would return to this one if a study later frees the tournament from blame. At best, I think the paper would have a one-paragraph brief following up, but even that is a stretch. On the other hand, the article got an interesting discussion going on this forum, which has merit in itself. Anything that makes us more thoughtful and conscious about our sport is a good thing. Jim, I've gotta admit that I am both a pretty dedicated angler AND a dyed-in-the-wool tree hugger. The stereotype that these two categories of outdoors people necessarily work at cross purposes just isn't accurate. I am an angler who counts many non-fishing tree huggers among his friends, and they (pretend to) enjoy hearing about my fishing exploits and seeing my fishing photos as much as my other friends. None of them has ever criticized my fishing ways, and I've even taken some of their kids fishing with me. There are fanatics out there, sure, just as there are irresponsible anglers who have no respect for the very fish they catch. But most tree huggers and most anglers want the same thing--access to nature and an end to its needless destruction. Norman

Except on cloudy days, when it's between the knees and the letters on its uniform.

I've been a newspaper and magazine writer and editor for more than 25 years, and good editors at most newspapers and magazines ask writers probing questions to test their facts and, in the case of magazines, their logic and conclusions. That is pretty much the editors' jobs. Copyeditors are the ones whose job is to check grammar, etc. As in any profession, there are lazy editors and lazy writers, but also as in any profession, most people practicing this one are not lazy and are indeed careful to check their facts. I personally know at least two editors who have lost their jobs for not checking reporters' facts closely enough. In a daily newspaper all this is done very quickly and according to a rigid and merciless clock, so more errors tend to creep into daily reporting than, say, magazine writing, where factchecking is a more painstaking and detailed process. As for studying the effects of bass fishing and tournaments on bass populations, I say, Study away! If what I'm doing as an angler is hurting the resource, I'll quit or fish differently. But I won't know that unless good, careful scientists are allowed to examine what's going on. On the other hand, if good science shows that bass fishing or bass tournaments are not hurting bass populations, then people should be allowed to do both. The question in this case is how good was the Wisconsin DNR study? That its results are different from studies done after other tournaments may be significant; why were the results different? Was the tournament conducted differently from others? Was this study flawed in some way? Or has this study stumbled onto something that others have missed?

From your description, you may have the order slightly wrong. First you look inside the fish's mouth and see whether the shank is leaning to the left or right. Then you insert your pliers through the gill plates on that side to pull the shank down until it's almost parallel with the fish's body. This will cause the barb end of the hook to rise up from the gullet (but not out of it). You then move your pliers out from between the gill plates and reach into the fish's mouth and grab the hook as close to the barb as possible. You should be able to work that end out fairly easily. Having long pliers helps a lot. Rapala sells a pair of pliers that have a little nipple at the end of one of the jaws, which is useful for grabbing the hook. This procedure has worked well for me, though popping the barb out is sometimes tricky, which is why others have suggested crimping off the barbs on your hooks. Hope this is clear.

Too bad FLW and the state DNR can't work together better. As a side note, I had an e-mail exchange with Dan Simmons, the reporter of the original story. He says he's not an outdoors reporter, but a general assignment reporter, and that he did not expect the story to cause such a stir. He says that more than 40 newspapers have picked up the story, including USA Today, and that both ABC and CBS have stories on this report up on their Web sites. No wonder everyone's getting defensive.

This map site is also excellent; lately I've been using it more than the Google site. http://www.topozone.com/

I e-mailed the reporter about this thread, inviting him to read everyone's comments and address them, if he wishes.

Russ, we'll talk. Maybe I can help next year. You can tell me what's involved over breakfast when we're back in from the water. Norman

I agree. Thanks, George. I've never used a c-rig, but your explanation makes me want to try it asap.

Guess my little moral lesson was a bit too tidy; the moral is that everybody's a thief : Seriously, George, you're lucky to see as many eagles and ospreys as you do. Sure beats looking at this computer screen all day. (Which reminds me: I better get back to work.)

I've observed this in the Glades, too. Now what does that tell you about our national symbol? (Ask the Native Americans!)

You could call them Zorro sticks, Brent.

Ospreys: I have seen osprey in the Everglades attached to such big fish they can't get them out of the water. I once paddled by an osprey that was just standing there in shallow water. It had its talons on a fish too big to lift, but by golly it wasn't about to let it go, either!

Absolutely right, Avid.

I recently made a fishing database using Filemaker Pro. I used the form on this site as a starting point and customized it. Filemaker allows you to sort the entries and seach them so you can figure out, say, how many fish you've been catching on sunny days and/or when the wind is coming from the south. I also have it set up to keep a running total of fish and fish species caught as well as the number of hours spent fishing. The database is set up for me and for fishing in my part of the world, but it's easy enough to modify the file to suit your needs. I'm happy to send it to anyone who has Filemaker. Send me a PM, and I'll e-mail it to you.

Ouchit, I'm in the same situation you're in and second what LBH, whom I met in person for the first time last night, said about fishing together turning out to be great fun. But it's important to have a realistic view of who you are as an angler and to respect your co-angler. Discuss what equipment you will be bringing with you ahead of time. LBH is much more experienced than I, and we were out in his boat on his home lake, so I deferred to his experience and knowledge and treated him to breakfast afterward. (Okay, I did bum a cigarette off him.) Basically, if you're on someone else's boat and lake, remember you're a guest and follow that person's lead. Ask for advice, and take an interest in each other as human beings, though it's probably smart in general to avoid politics . Also, be on time. It all comes down to common sense and basic human respect for one another. I know I learned a lot from LBH, who is an incredibly generous, gracious, and knowledgeable person. I'm sure there are thousands of other similar people on these forums, and fishing with any of them would make be a better angler and wiser man.

Put in my order for three t-shirts last night, one for me, one for my wife, and one for my daughter. That way they'll be seen at the mall as well as on the water! ;D

Avid, bacon can make shoe leather taste good! ;D As for pickerel, I'm with LBH. I don't understand many bass fishermen's distaste (no pun intended) for them. Sure they're slimy, they mess up our lines, and they're not the intended gamefish most of us are after, but they're fiesty fighters, which I appreciate. Also, in my view, it's important to remember that as far as our nation's wildlife is concerned, pickerel were here before bass, at least in the north. I don't know about you guys, but any attempt to mess with nature by killing one species that has evolved here and substituting one we prefer is messing with a system we inherited and have a responsibility to care for. I'm no biologist, but I do think that introducing bass in the northern U.S. has been pretty successful, in that the bass haven't messed up what's already there. So let's give those pickerel a little respect. They've been around here an awful long time, and before we introduced bass, were the top of the food chain.