Some nice Florida drum!

[divemaster99]

Dive master, I'm far from radical and I just find it to be funny when you're compare a buffalo to a walleye. It's like compare a vulture to a chicken or an old male wild boar to a commercial pig. Sure they're palatable, doesn't mean they're delicious. Yes I had drum, but only less 15" ones and they're good. Big ones is no-good, tastes like a common carp. I've had buffaloes from clean waters and they're no better than buffaloes from dirty waters. I'm all for managing the healthy ecosystems, that means killing some fish to balance them out. It's all about have common senses. But you have to realize that not all fish are made to be delicious. What do you think why the common carps were abandoned as a food fish when we came to the America.

Whether they're delicious or not, many people (including myself) fish for the fight on the end of the line and not for a meal at night. Do I appreciate taking a by-catch Walleye back to my cottage for dinner after a day of C&R Lake Trout fishing, sure, but I definitely enjoy catching the Lake Trout a lot more. Same with roughfish. When I go to fish at my local river with dozens of species of fish in it, smallmouth bass may be chasing minnows in shallow water but I know that somewhere in that river is a feisty torpedo of a 30" Redhorse waiting for a morsel to pass in front of its face. For those of you who fish only for game fish, I personally have no problem with that as long as you respect all fish. The people that annoy me are the ones who think that just because a fish as listed as rough, that it isn't worth catching. And most annoying of all are the people who, when they catch a roughfish, feel that need to kill it on sight because they think it is harming other fish even if it is native and the so called desirable fish are not, the so called "sadists" as they're refered to by roughfishermen.

Now, I'm not sure if you, or anyone else on this forum is like this (and I hope nobody is that bad on a fish keeping website) but those are simply my beliefs, I won't try to force them on others and I apologize if I offended anyone. I will also admit that I seem a bit "insane" at times when stating these ideas, but it is only because I care deeply for populations of native fish and would love nothing more to someday see a country full of pristine creeks, lakes, and rivers full of healthy, breeding populations of their native species with fishermen who both harvest responsibly and practice catch and release as well as respect every catch. But that's a dream I fear we'll never get to see due to a relatively uneducated public and political corruption, among other things.

That's all I have to say on this topic for the time being. Make of it what you will.

 

[MN_Rebel]

Like I said, I'm all for healthy ecosystems and managing fish populations. But you're placing all blame on bowfishermen where I see more anglers killing their least favorite fish species. Muskies/pikes' belly slited up, rock bass got bashed with the rocks or propeller, largemouth bass got hit with a metal pipe then toss back in the water and leaving small perch on the ice. Bowfishermen ain't like that, and they respect the laws/ethics more than your average anglers.

 

[Thekid]

Whether they're delicious or not, many people (including myself) fish for the fight on the end of the line and not for a meal at night.

I do both. However I primarily go to catch food that hasn't harmed the environment in anyway and that's been sustainably raised and is the freshest you can get.

I personally have no problem with that as long as you respect all fish. The people that annoy me are the ones who think that just because a fish as listed as rough, that it isn't worth catching. And most annoying of all are the people who, when they catch a roughfish, feel that need to kill it on sight because they think it is harming other fish even if it is native and the so called desirable fish are not, the so called "sadists" as they're refered to by roughfishermen.

I think you're trying to hard to prove your point.

Think of it as the removal of the wolves from the west, when the wolves were gone the elk population raised, when the elk population raised they decimated the aspen groves that provided cover for the smaller animals, the smaller predators that relied on the groves for food and shelter were driven out and eradicated.

Now let's say those muskies you love to target so much were the wolves, then the bass were the elk as well as the gar and bowfin, when the anglers removed the gar and bowfin what happens?

Can you see where I'm going with this?

[QUOTE="divemaster99, post: 7438684, member: 120225]"Now, I'm not sure if you, or anyone else on this forum is like this (and I hope nobody is that bad on a fish keeping website) but those are simply my beliefs, I won't try to force them on others and I apologize if I offended anyone. I will also admit that I seem a bit "insane" at times when stating these ideas, but it is only because I care deeply for populations of native fish and would love nothing more to someday see a country full of pristine creeks, lakes, and rivers full of healthy, breeding populations of their native species with fishermen who both harvest responsibly and practice catch and release as well as respect every catch. But that's a dream I fear we'll never get to see due to a relatively uneducated public and political corruption, among other things.[/QUOTE]
I think the best option for you to see your dream come true is to leave the U.S. and to go deep into the back country and hope Canada doesn't become the next America.

 

[divemaster99]

Like I said, I'm all for healthy ecosystems and managing fish populations. But you're placing all blame on bowfishermen where I see more anglers killing their least favorite fish species. Muskies/pikes' belly slited up, rock bass got bashed with the rocks or propeller, largemouth bass got hit with a metal pipe then toss back in the water and leaving small perch on the ice. Bowfishermen ain't like that, and they respect the laws/ethics more than your average anglers.

I do realize that there are many regular anglers that kill like that and it sickens me. I guess I blame bowfishermen a lot because 90% of the things about it that you see on media like YouTube show rednecks shooting alligator gar and buffalo and tossing them on the bank to rot. At the same time, it doesn't help anglers that 80% of traditional fishing videos on YouTube are purist bass fishing and there's a whopping total of 4 sucker fishing videos LOL.

 

[divemaster99]

I do both. However I primarily go to catch food that hasn't harmed the environment in anyway and that's been sustainably raised and is the freshest you can get.


I think you're trying to hard to prove your point.

Think of it as the removal of the wolves from the west, when the wolves were gone the elk population raised, when the elk population raised they decimated the aspen groves that provided cover for the smaller animals, the smaller predators that relied on the groves for food and shelter were driven out and eradicated.

Now let's say those muskies you love to target so much were the wolves, then the bass were the elk as well as the gar and bowfin, when the anglers removed the gar and bowfin what happens?

Can you see where I'm going with this?

[QUOTE="divemaster99, post: 7438684, member: 120225]"Now, I'm not sure if you, or anyone else on this forum is like this (and I hope nobody is that bad on a fish keeping website) but those are simply my beliefs, I won't try to force them on others and I apologize if I offended anyone. I will also admit that I seem a bit "insane" at times when stating these ideas, but it is only because I care deeply for populations of native fish and would love nothing more to someday see a country full of pristine creeks, lakes, and rivers full of healthy, breeding populations of their native species with fishermen who both harvest responsibly and practice catch and release as well as respect every catch. But that's a dream I fear we'll never get to see due to a relatively uneducated public and political corruption, among other things.

I think the best option for you to see your dream come true is to leave the U.S. and to go deep into the back country and hope Canada doesn't become the next America.[/QUOTE]

I don't think I'm trying too hard, I've had plenty of first hand experience with sadistic fishermen, thankfully, I've met a lot more nice, courteous, and respectful fishermen along the way. Believe me, I'd love to live in the middle of a rural wilderness, but I'd much more love to do ichthyological research on native salmonids, catostomids, and gadids in the Great Lakes .

 

[MN_Rebel]

I do realize that there are many regular anglers that kill like that and it sickens me. I guess I blame bowfishermen a lot because 90% of the things about it that you see on media like YouTube show rednecks shooting alligator gar and buffalo and tossing them on the bank to rot. At the same time, it doesn't help anglers that 80% of traditional fishing videos on YouTube are purist bass fishing and there's a whopping total of 4 sucker fishing videos LOL.

Time to come out under the rock. And quit labelling rednecks, you're stereotyping them. I found that the cabin citiots are 1,000x times worse than "rednecks" because they are the ones who killing off the fish populations and fish for walleyes and crappies only, nothing else. You should see how they treat the muskies and larger pikes.

 

[divemaster99]

Time to come out under the rock. And quit labelling rednecks, you're stereotyping them. I found that the cabin citiots are 1,000x times worse than "rednecks" because they are the ones who killing off the fish populations and fish for walleyes and crappies only, nothing else. You should see how they treat the muskies and larger pikes.

I'm not saying that all rednecks are bad, there's a lot of people I know or are related to me that are such and most of them are very nice people. I'm just saying that the ones that can be observed on YouTube are, for the most part, what the average person would define as "back woods-educated" or "ignorant". It's sad that some people still see Esox as undesirable, after watching that video of the guy in the Detroit River who just killed and tossed a 50" Musky I just about lost it! It doesn't end there, either, a lot of fly fishermen are so purist that it's disgusting and if you even mention bait fishing to them they start sending you death threats. When I tell people on the creek bank that I fly fish, they always look at me weird because I'm not judging them because they're throwing spinners. It's a shame that all of these groups have these types of people in them but I guess that's just life.

 

[Wailua Boy]

Time to come out under the rock. And quit labelling rednecks, you're stereotyping them. I found that the cabin citiots are 1,000x times worse than "rednecks" because they are the ones who killing off the fish populations and fish for walleyes and crappies only, nothing else. You should see how they treat the muskies and larger pikes.

You've been stereotyping bow fishermen/fishermen from the beginning of this thread. There are responsible bow fishermen/fishermen and unethical ones.

At least bow fishermen cause target their fish with little to no by catch but traditional fishermen can choose to fish barbless hooks and go to great lengths to ensure their by catch is released unharmed. So its really just unethical fishing habits in general that are the problem, not the fishing technique.

 

[Frank Castle]

....... if you've never tried fried Great Lakes Drum then I urge you to give it a try before you judge it!

send me a link so I can download some to my frying pan

Hmm, well that rolls out Floridas and Spotteds and to my knowledge there's no 'gator had in FL (I could be wrong though) so they're either Longnose, Shortnose, or a mix of both.

I do not remember at the MOMENT......lol,.....but I think my research took me to longnose. I have to double-check for you.

 

[Frank Castle]

killing a Musky is so wrong. killing a 50"-er in vain is a mortal sin. Why would you waste anything in the pike/walleye family ??? delicate white meat, just remove the bones.......wholesome tender strengthening chunks of goodness