Weirdest fishing video I've seen

Questions about Freshwater Fishing

Weirdest fishing video I've seen

Postby Questor » Wed Feb 08, 2012 5:05 pm

I have to give them a lot of credit for ingenuity:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yhfd9dIk ... r_embedded
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Re: Weirdest fishing video I've seen

Postby forester » Wed Feb 08, 2012 10:03 pm

I had to turn this off pretty quick. I realize that they are introduced invasive species but it's still alot of wanton waste. Just a bunch of guys going out killing stuff cause they can.
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Re: Weirdest fishing video I've seen

Postby Questor » Thu Feb 09, 2012 1:35 am

I can appreciate that point of view. The way I see it, this sort of video highlights an important reality that can be used to raise awareness of this conservation issue that now affects the Mississippi watershed. It may be wanton waste when a bunch of good ol boys make a game of it. Meanwhile the various state agencies are netting tens of tons of these Asian carp annually and killing them.
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Re: Weirdest fishing video I've seen

Postby Henry Schmidt » Thu Feb 09, 2012 1:59 pm

Im a radical environmentalist. To a point that probably wouldnt be welcome here. But anything that attacks invasives has got to be accepted. At least as a temporary measure if not as a sportsmanlike "new" part of the sport. My local waters are ruined. Forever. Mayan Cyclids and Tilapia have utterly wiped out the bass and native sunfish are completely gone. Florida authorities have done nothing and never will, especially with the current governor. Deer, upland birds all gone. There habitat forever changed by hogs. Who cares how these invasives are eliminated as long as they are. Government isnt protecting the land. Just think of it as part of the Lets Take Back America movement.
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Re: Weirdest fishing video I've seen

Postby Questor » Thu Feb 09, 2012 2:52 pm

Henry:

When I was a kid in south FL, I used to catch cichlids, and they were pretty much in balance with the bream. Likewise with hogs. They were in the glades, and they had their territories, but seemed to be in balance. Are the problems you're seeing relatively new? Could they be explainable by an initial over-population of exotic species that often seems to occur? Just curious, especially since I'm back in FL so much.

As for the Peoria guys, I take it as a bad sign that a specie has run amok when people start making games like that.

I remember when I first moved to Minnesota about 25 years ago, there was a virtual panic about a marsh plant called purple loosestrife and how it was taking everything over. Today, it's still part of the environment, but it's not a problem. Likewise with eurasian milfoil in the lakes. It was a problem for several years in some lakes, and it continues to be a problem in new lakes where it's introduced, but it has turned out not to be an enduring problem. Even Kudzu, which was such a problem in Georgia for a long time doesn't appear to be the problem it once was.

I've become skeptical of assertions that any particular invasive specie will destroy an area.

I'm always glad for new information about this. I realize you're passionate about it with good reason. It's painful to see a place deteriorate like that.

On the lighter side, one of my favorite all time lakes for wading was taken over by carp several years ago, making it practically worthless for fishing the bass, northern pike, and bream that used to thrive there. Then in recent years it has recovered. There are still carp there, but it's nothing like the plague it once was. After not fishing there for about ten years, and being really bitter about having lost a great fishing lake, it's back to being excellent again, except I'm not seeing as many northerns as I used to (but I'm seeing more and better largemouths, so I'm not at all upset about it).
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Re: Weirdest fishing video I've seen

Postby aka anglinarcher » Thu Feb 09, 2012 5:27 pm

:twisted: :twisted: My first thought when I saw the video was that it would be fun to use a shotgun instead. Now that would be a great trap and skeet shoot. :lol:

Sure, I understand the concerns about wanton waste, and I also understand the various environmental concerns. The problem is the unpredictability of invasives. :?:

The common carp still does a lot of damage, and in my neck of the woods, nothing good has come from them. On the other hand, Bass are not native in my area and they are a benefit, at least according to most.

Washington State and the surrounding states are spending a tremendous amount of money to keep Milfoil down, and to keep zebra mussels out. Still, birds spread more than fishermen and I have never seen a check station for ducks and geese. In short, they are tossing a great deal of money down the proverbial toilet.

I see no waste in killing all of the flying carp they can. Sure, if the dead fish can be used, that would be better, but the damage done to the water and the potential injury to recreationist on the water is sufficient to justify what the video is doing, in my humble opinion.
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Re: Weirdest fishing video I've seen

Postby Henry Schmidt » Fri Feb 10, 2012 4:51 am

Questor, The hogs are widespread. Homeowners find there yards uprooted during the night. Cars hit the big boars that cross the local county roads weekly. Florida scrub pineland with moderate palmetto growth has turned to a warped exotic version of wetland. Hogs altered the grade, destroyed natural growth rooting for oak acorns and palmetto and palm nuts. Now thousands of acres of undeveloped land is covered by invasive Brazilian Pepper that grows close to a foot a month. They in turn pushed out other native growth. Most people are mildly allergic to the pepper and it can even sproat up from bark chips that have been through the chipper during half @&*ed eradication efforts. The pepper trees have grown over mangroves, smoothered them out and now cover hundreds of miles of shore. They make great snook cover.
My home waters used to be clear tannic brown straight from the Myakka and Peace Rivers. Now they are a milky grey. Of course run off from the 20 golf courses on the Cape Haze peninsula and green chemically manicured high dollar developments account for alot of that damage. But it also comes from tilapia. There are absolutely no native sunfish here now. Bass are hard to find and I havent seen anything over 4lbs in years. The landlocked tarpon and snook dont seem to target them. The blue tilapia, are so thick, natural and even invasive underwater growth is consumed to a point the bottom is near barren. Only gobs of blue green algea remain. They bed all year long, take all spawning grounds from the bass and eat bass fry with a vengence. Especially since they grazed the water barren. The Mayans, attack bedding bass twice there size and raid their nests successfully. Now in Charlotte Harbor, a "famous" saltwater destination, you will see more tilapia than reds in the back country. Go snapper fishing and you will catch just as many Mayans as you do mangroves. The Mayans get bigger being that they are more efficient and aggresive. Even in saltwater the Snook and Tarpon dont seem to target them. I bet the Jacks would have but they are gone. Totally eradicated by commercial fishermen about 4 years ago. Sold to processors and now sit in Mrs. Pauls Fish Stick boxes. Hugs schools of 15 to 30lb. jacks so easy to find and target. Lost for good.
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Re: Weirdest fishing video I've seen

Postby Questor » Fri Feb 10, 2012 6:18 am

Henry:
Thanks for the detailed and thoughtful post. That's depressing.

I used to spend a lot of time in that area during the 70s. In 2007 and 2008 I scouted the area for a place to live, but I couldn't bear the changes I saw. all of my old landmarks were gone.
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