the state is not making squat on those lic's....Think about all the tax rev they *lose* by granting those very lics' ....from all those "cheating" on their taxes...ie using a comm permit to not pay tax on gear year after year and half not fishing...gimi a break. They lose more in that then they make in lic fees.
I hear pleanty about the dragger by catch. And you are right it is insane. But that does not JUSTIFY rod and reel comm fishing! Just cause they kill more they I do, leave me alone attitude won't fly. They both need to be stopped.
It will become some kind of a sportfish eventually IMO within 5 years...mainly because at some point the polititcal types will get fed up with the mismanagement that has been going on for decades and as recs become more and more organized political pressure will mount...some form of game fish status will be granted, I am sure of it. This "management" has a clear commerical lean to it from the get go and it is being exposed more and more.
Lets look at the 40 to 30 move this year...
They have been pressured to drop the 40 limit to 10 or less, and the logic was it would allow a more gradual hit to the local stocks, support higher prices without flooding the market with cheap bass and keep the season open longer. But instead of dropping to 10 they went to 30...why? They thought 30 would appease the recs in that they are moving in the right direction while still allowing the few heavy hitters (FACT: < 2% of the active lics sell 40 fish in a day last year) to exploit the system . Well it is clear today (while we sit at .95) that they don't know squat about their own industry. Is this what they call "management"...manageing the fish to sell it for less then a buck a #? ...Face it, they are baffoons and they should just shut the entire office down and manage it some other, more consistant and logical global way.
They take credit for "saving the bass" when in fact it was their own reg's that wiped it out. Basically the moratorim was forced upon them..they wanted to keep fishing them. I went to those meetings! They had no choice but to stop, and they re-started again just as though nothing has happened as soon as they could.
If you have nads to sell a bass for $0.95...I quesion your ethics and morals as a man.
The fish is more improtant alive for .95.
Hey its Wednesday...my turn to go fishing...
