Quote:
Originally Posted by BigFish
You for the fishing license Steve?? You don't seem to say which side of the fence you are on just that you want to make this more stupid than it is??!!!? And no....I will not be stopping fishing!
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Larry, you know, that is a good question. I have been fishing my entire life. My grandfather had a cottage on Town Beach in Sandwich and I remember him taking me and my mum to the canal when I was just a baby (my mum would go with him and bring me in the stroller). He made lures out of old broomstick handles and screw eyes (he was the night foreman at Bird Machine in Walpole, a good machinist as far as I can tell). My mum tells me stories about rowing the boat all over Scituate harbor while he caught a couple buckets of flounder, more than 70 years ago. My dads father raised nightcrawlers to supplement his retirement income. He lived in Braintree. I remember going to Weymouth Landing and fishing for smelts off the dock with him. My old dad (he is 86) said him and my grampa would go clamming at Wolliston Beach and fish at Houghs Neck and Hull. Vacation summers were spent at Bourne Scenic Park and York Beach, I fished every day. I have always fished. I grew up in Foxboro on the Neponset Reservoir and as a kid had a small Jon boat. My younger brother and I would catch calico bass and snapping turtles and sell them to the black folks for candy money who would come to the boat livery to buy our catch. Those were the days. My brother has always owned a "saltwater" boat, his first being a 14 foot 1959 Lone Star. We put a lot of fish in that. We fished the Weweantic River every chance we had, caught (and sold) a ton of fish. Made many trips across Cape Cod Bay in that small boat. He has a 21 foot machine now and takes me out a couple times a year (when he got married he got a new fishing buddy). I showed my kids how to catch bass in the canal, they go there when they can and they like fishing too. I will take my 3 year old grandson with me next season (with his mum and dad of course). I also enjoyed hunting, mostly for ring neck pheasant, but I liked to hunt duck and deer too. When you met me, you saw how I had "slowed down" due to my disability, but I still fish when I can, the "itch" is always there.
Well getting back to your question, do I support a saltwater fishing license ? I believe I posted a thread about that subject when I first started visiting this site (most people said I was..well, I wont say what they said). I know my comments are somewhat colorful (some would say inane) but I do it to make people think about the
wonderful resources we have here in New England. Yes, I am in favor of a license for recreational fishing. It is really a small price to pay for such enjoyment. Like most other serious fishermen that frequent this and other fishing sites, I have seen many people not following the rules and regulations, taking short fish, poaching, taking as many fish as they can take home, littering. People are disrespectful. Hopefully, with a license, we will see much less of such activity. I am completely serious about "certification" prior to issuing a fishing license. I doubt it will happen but I don't think it would be a bad thing at all. I hope any money will go towards increased access, access for disabled, enforcement, education... but I doubt it will. Traditionalist say "the ocean must be free" but there are so many people fishing these days, some agency really needs to know the numbers. When the bass got scarce back in the day, we found the Squeteague to fill in the "void" in the bass. Now the bass are back but the squet are scarce, so cycles and overfishing are a real concern. Yes a license sucks but as I see it, there is too much abuse of the resource by novices and people that just blatantly don't care or are completely unaware
The scup fishing was pretty good this past season so limits seem to be working. I would be happy to see the commercial take of bass be less than 40 fish a day, like 10 a day, but let them be taken 6 days a week (all good fishermen go to church on Sunday) I am not in favor of a slot limit but think that the size of a keeper should be 34" minimum (bass get big, as we all know, let them grow so a keeper can be a decent sized fish) and 1 fish per person a day for recreational fishermen (who needs 2 fish a day ?)
I will get off the pulpit now.
Hybrid Mode
