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This is never a popular sentiment, but...
As far as our own culpability as recreational anglers, our biggest contribution to the current state of the fishery is our egos.
I'll speak for myself: Earlier in the past decade, I was one of those guys out there whaling on schools of shorts -- trying to break 100 fish in a tide (etc.) so I could tell anyone willing to listen how well I did. I'd kill large fish primarily so I could get my picture taken at the local B&T for the sake of my reputation. If I couldn't give the fish away I'd toss it in the woods. Wasteful. Foolish.
I got wiser as time went on, but I did spend the entire 2007 season eeling a small section of shoreline, pounding on a summering school of 25 - 35 lb fish. I went through about 300 eels and had "the summer of my life" impressing myself with how good I was. I'm almost ashamed of that season now; eels are in tough shape in most of their range and clearly smaller bass were on the decline, but my ego mattered more than restraint and common sense.
If you have been or are on this path regarding our sport, I guess it's up to you to recognize it and decide what your actions mean to your sense of responsibility as an angler.
We are all charged with stewardship whenever we pick up our rods...whether we do a fine job or a poor job of it, it matters -- and it's the only part of this situation we can control completely ourselves.
Eric
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