Question for the fishermen/women of Avalon

[Strat]

I was born and raised here in Florida. I've lived my entire life here in Jacksonville, 'The River City.' My father lived here, his father, and so on. There's a great story my dad tells of how great the fishing used to be around here. When he was a kid, he said it was quite common to go to the beach, and see people with pickup trucks full of fish! Fishing, wasn't much of a skill in the 50's (sorry for giving away your age pops) as it is today. You'd bait a hook, cast, and wait a second for a bite.

That is not the case today! If you plan an entire day to go fishing, you'll most likely catch a sunburn and a few fish here and there. There are endless streams lakes and rivers here, but not a lot of fish. I've caught quite a few catfish, but I"ve been told our catfish is nasty to eat, so I throw them back. I still enjoy fishing, I do catch some fish, and the scenery is beautiful. I've seen pods of dolphins (in the river) as well as a manatee. Manatees are huge! Just last month the Coast Guard chased a whale out of one of our rivers, the St. Johns.

So this forum is a great place to ask, what's the fishing like where you live? If you go out for a days fishing, do you catch as much as you can eat, then leave? Or is it more like, you catch as many as you can, which is typically less than a dozen, and then leave?

[Shairia]

Hi Strat,

Like your area, the fish here aren't as plentiful as they once were when I was young. I live on the shore of a large freshwater lake and Trout, Bass, Perch and Smelt used to be plentiful. Now you're lucky if you can catch 1/4 of a pail of perch after an entire day of fishing. I don't know why but I think it might have something to do with pollution and the pleasure craft industry which has developed over the years.

[brotybro]

Hello, Strat

I live in eastern Ontario, Canada.

I enjoy everything about fishing. I especially like the fact that it brings my parents and my children all together. My parents live on a secluded lake about 45 mins from town, down a trecherous and private rd. The fishing there is incredible.

In the popular lakes closer to the city the fishing is also very good. I am however a little hesitant to eat the fish out of the popular lakes. (especially Ontario).

I can often catch enough for the whole family to eat very early, however we stay all day whenever possible( I get excited just thinking about it).

The ice fishing this year has been a little slow compared to years past. To combat this we bring our hockey skates.

A bad day of fishing is better than a good day at work.

[sister]

Hey Strat, I am a 3rd generation Floridian. My grandfather owned a fish camp on the Suwannee River in the 1940's... that camp is now gone and so is most of the fishing in the area. I think over development of real estate and the population explosion in the 1980's in Florida put a strain on the natural resources here. My neighbor has a charter fishing boat and takes groups out in deep water for kingfish, mostly. He used to catch enough to give away, but he hardly does that anymore. I think the water near the coast is over fished, and the shrimping industry here doesn't help with that, either. Add in the growth of the naval bases in the area, and it's easy to see why the pickings seem so slim now. On a lighter note, I was out in one of the springs (naked spring) near Gainesville last summer and saw a huge bass under the dock. Didn't tell anyone because I wanted him to stay safe under there... he would have ended up in some one's cooler for sure.

[9eagle9]

Michigan with access to the Great Lakes. We are never more than five minutes from a body of water here. Inland lakes offer walleye (my favorite hands down mannah from heaven and I'll fillet the person that disagrees , perch, lots of different pan fish, sunfish, croppie, etc.. Sport fishing is usually catch and release as Bass and Pike don't taste all that great.. If catch it and I'm not going to eat it, it goes back. There's good salmon runs and smelt runs too. Pretty abundant fishing here inland and Great Lakes. The conservation and stock programs have been decent until late. Our problem as is with everywhere else is zebra mussels.

In the great lakes there's even greater variety but more often I focus on my obsession with wall eye so Saginaw Bay, mostly.

Shaira made a good point about pleasure crafts. Some of the fish I've harvested from all sports lakes taste like boat exhaust. I try to find those lakes that have no motor boats on them. Less a problem on the Great Lakes. There's a small lake or large pond however you prefer a few minutes walk here, and a larger private access lake that I don't have any official access to unless you call 'sneaking' access.

Just sold my boat not sure what I'm going to do this year

[Whitehaze]

I live in Florida as well, having moved here in 1994. The fishing then was fantastic, I could come home with a boat load of fish everytime I went out. Now its very difficult to catch fish, especially in the Gulf of Mexico. They are there occasionally, however, when cleaning the fish you find tumors and parasites and the meat of the fish isnt appealing at all.

I also spend much time diving the rivers of Florida looking for fossils and artifacts. In every place I enter the water, I see fish that are diseased, deformed and just sick. Some have growths on their scales that look like external tumors. They cant swim very well and I can imagine it is difficult for them to find food. On one occasion when I was working a site in 30 feet of water, a bass was hanging around very close. One eye was completely white and struggled to hold an upright position. I noticed it was watching the sediment I was kicking up from a crevice I was working. It was looking for food and didnt care a human was close. I took some of the worms from the crevice and held it out to the bass. It graciously took the food, and patiently waited for the next. That fish hung around for four hours waiting for me to feed it worms.

Our waters are sick and dying.

[Shairia]

9eagle9,

You have walleye in your lakes??? We can only catch them here in the mountain steams and they are a rare find.

[Charlie Pecos]

Hi Strat,

I live in Colorado. The publicly accessible waters here tend to be over fished, and receive a lot of pressure making it very difficult to catch wary fish. If one is fortunate enough to gain access to a private lake, it can be a lot of fun. I agree with staying away from recreational boater lakes as I have had good fishing shut off due to their presence. Here in Colorado, there are just not that many catch and release fishermen, proportionally speaking. I have witnessed many fish pulled that should have been left in---> Big females that produce alot of eggs! If you try to educate these people they just get rude with you. It is best to teach the kids as they tend to take that idea with them for life. My daughter is chomping at the bit right now to go fishing

We have walleye here, but the Missouri river in South Dakota is where I like to fish for them.
Just too much fun. Those river 'eyes fight hard!

[9eagle9]

There's walleye all over. Even private citizens stock walleye on their ponds and lakes if they will support them. Walleye seem to do well in the colder waters of the North.Bass too. I notice the bass south aways are not as large.

Much of the inland walleye have been stocked but some lakes and tributaries have access to the bigger waters so they make their way inland that way. I haven't noticed a decline in fish overall of late but I don' t fish all species and no one has really mentioned it. We do find the odd diseased fish and have specific problems, but since most of our industry is piled into one corner of the state the rest doesn't suffer as much particularly the UP. I dont' to make it sound like we're pristine waters here but I tend to find our water cleaner than in southern states that don't get the hard winter kill off.

The really cold winters in the North kill off a lot of warmth loving bacterial overgrowth whether its artificially induced or not. Cold water fish are less susceptible for some reason here, while we have spurts of problems with the warmer fish. States that remain temperate throughout the year don't have a process like that to serve the health of their water and it becomes even more important to eyeball the amount of contaminants that get into their waters. We get our share of e coli beach closings and stuff. When that occurs we usually find out later some township has been dumping sewage somewhere so even the contamination serves a purpose in alerting us to some assholery we might not have otherwise known was happening. And because this is a international water way ships from all over the world have bilged in hostile plant and fish life, like alewives.

Thus far its remained pretty good.

[waverider5469]

Aloha Strat, I live on Maui. The fish here a plenty, but also a bit difficult to catch. The 50's were about the same here, from the stories I've heard. We catch Ulua(crevale),Ono(wahoo), and Mahimahi(dolphin) quite often. Some get
worms and parasites, but not too often. However, the resort industry has been wrecking our reefs for years. peace

[Ouroboros]

Well Im a keen Scottish fisherman and fishing is very much a passion of mine. Most of my fishing is done at sea either on my kayak or from the shore. The UK as you are aware is an island but now days we import 80% of our fish! Poor management of our seas by the European union has left us with a fishery that is on the edge of collapse. Industrialized fishing techniques and unworkable fishing quotas are in my opinion the problem.
Without getting too technical on the subject the seas around the uk coast are open to boats from throughout the E.U. Many of these boats employ a technique called beam trawling. Large heavy metal beams at the bottom of these huge nets are dragged along the sea bed smashing up reefs leaving the seabed a featureless desert. All fish get caught and brought aboard. Now say the skipper has already caught his quota of cod for the month and he has a tonne of cod in his nets he has to throw those cod back into the sea dead and try another trawling for a species he has not yet reached his quota on. It is criminal it is unsustainable and if the equivalent was happening on land in view of the public there would be outrage.

So in answer to your question the fishing ain't what it used to be.

[RamblingRebel]

I do a spot of fishing here in Ireland, and I'd say it's pretty good. I moved here about 2 years ago, the 1st time I hit the river I was catching a decent roach every cast, nothing big, but big enough to make it fun.

Where I am is lake country and we have people coming from all over the world just for the fishing. Some of the locals complain that is over fished. But in my opinion (being an Englishman) it's still great fishing. We have the usual Perch, Roach, Hybrids, Brown Trout, and monster Pike.

The fishing here is heavily regulated because of the industry that surrounds it. There was an article in the papers last Summer where a couple of blokes were caught taking more than thier quota of Pike, and they were fined thousands of Euro's and got a 2 year suspended sentence.

Catch and release is practiced, and encouraged, but its not the law, although there are quota's as previously mentioned but thats just for the Pike, and Trout.

Looking forward to the weather picking up now so I can get down by the rivers and lakes.

[Strat]

We do get massive boats going through the rivers here in Jax. The St. Johns is basically a highway. Big boats come in from all over the world, enter in the St. Johns and head to Jaxport. There are plans to dredge the St. Johns so that we can fit a nuclear powered air craft carrier. There are also cruise ships, though they typically head south towards the Caribbean.

The rivers of Jax don't look bad aesthetically. I know that sounds silly, but rivers in cities often do simply appear nasty. Hopefully the people of Jax can keep it that way, and revert it back to what it used to be.

[Stuart M.]

Posted by 9eagle9 (here)
Michigan with access to the Great Lakes. We are never more than five minutes from a body of water here. Inland lakes offer walleye (my favorite hands down mannah from heaven and I'll fillet the person that disagrees , perch, lots of different pan fish, sunfish, croppie, etc.. Sport fishing is usually catch and release as Bass and Pike don't taste all that great.. If catch it and I'm not going to eat it, it goes back. There's good salmon runs and smelt runs too. Pretty abundant fishing here inland and Great Lakes. The conservation and stock programs have been decent until late. Our problem as is with everywhere else is zebra mussels.

In the great lakes there's even greater variety but more often I focus on my obsession with wall eye so Saginaw Bay, mostly.

Shaira made a good point about pleasure crafts. Some of the fish I've harvested from all sports lakes taste like boat exhaust. I try to find those lakes that have no motor boats on them. Less a problem on the Great Lakes. There's a small lake or large pond however you prefer a few minutes walk here, and a larger private access lake that I don't have any official access to unless you call 'sneaking' access.

Just sold my boat not sure what I'm going to do this year

Thats a tuffy 9eagle 9. If I'm out that way you'd be welcome in my boat! In Iowa walleye management is fair, but it is a very sought after species. Plus as I get older the ethics of the whole thing has crept in more and more for me but I still enjoy fishing quite a bit. Love the coveted walleye for sure.

Stu

[Lifebringer]

Our fisheries were outsourced to other countries under our noses. Somalia has that problem also. They used to be able to fish and feed their families, but since their goverment gave China permission to fish there, without the people's knowledge, the fish are carted all the way back to China as their seas are poisoned and they are into farm fishing with antibiotics.

People in developing countries need to watch out for this other outsourcing of our food resources. Yes, I've caught more sunburn than fish. This is gonna hit the bate and tackle businesses nationwide.

[Lifebringer]

I think when they are getting the money to stock the lakes and streams, they are keeping the money for themselves.

Either way they'll not get my money for a license or bait if it doesn't change.

WE need cleaner waters, air, and soil if we are to survive. Clean water, clean fish. If all that's left are catfish/scavengers, then we are in for a bumpy ride as the public fisheries are bought up by corporations and soon we will have to rely on them for the fish. Sound scary, that is their plan. To own it all and charge exorbant price when they overspend on the next yacht.

[9eagle9]

That's why I painfully let go of my boat. Took a real good look at what it was doing to the environment when I had it out. I've had a boat for the better part of my adult life and it hurts to give it up, but there's got to a be a cleaner alternative. I made this choice on an unconscious level when I suddenly found myself unwilling to take it out, something was weird about that because I live on it in the summer practically , as soon as the ice clears off the lakes in late march early april I'm there. . After I dug around a little that's what I found, guilt over the junk it was leaving in the water. I went from the monster V-8 I/O to the smaller 2 stroke thinking I was making a difference and I wasn't. Just leaving exhaust film everywhere. The two stroke was worse even.

Maybe a little fishing boat with the most a little electric doo jobby...whatsis...whatsis .(women speak here...be patient) .....TROLLING motor... Or just go back to the old oars. Kayak, canoe, etc. Re evaluate the waters I fish in so I don't need boat access. I'm a water sign-water baby and I can't stand beaches because I want to be surrounded by water but I can't stand the thought of not having water one day either or being able to live with myself because I contributed to it. As teenager and young adult I used to be very inventive in ways of getting out on the big lakes . May have to get back into the inner child there.

[pugwash84]

The waters are overfished here you even need to buy a fishing liscence before being allowed to fish its stupid. I can catch in 1 long day of fishing about 30 fish not all big and a lot of varietys of fish i caught mostly flat fish at one point but different fish are caught more on different seasons. i use a lot of different bait like sweetcorn and dogfood and maggots and worms also some fish like bread and some like spam oh and if you mush some cheese up and put it on your hook fish like cheese too. oh and i sometimes put a bit of sweetcorn and a bit of bread on the same hook. experiment a bit more maybe with bait.

[Lifebringer]

Time for the Just Do It generation to clean the rivers and streams like a science project with all the balances replaced that man has destroyed.

Otherwise, good by omega 3's.

OUr fisheries cannot become the rich's yachting playground, if their fossil fuels are killing the inland fish.

Just a thought on progress.

[9eagle9]

They already don't get my money for a liscence. Last time I docked my boat up on Saginaw bay the DNR was waiting on the dock. When I got out of my boat, they asked if I'd been fishing in prelude to asking to see my lisence and stamps.. I was holding all my tackle and poles, and just said. "No. Why?" (what made you think that.?) Then I walked off. Not a problem.

I even been as bold to say, I dont' need a license I'm Native American (never mind the blond hair and blue eyes-- bull**** lies and conspiracy works both ways right?) They've fed me a line all my life, I don't mind feeding a line back. It works coming and going.

Posted by Lifebringer (here)
I think when they are getting the money to stock the lakes and streams, they are keeping the money for themselves.

Either way they'll not get my money for a license or bait if it doesn't change.

WE need cleaner waters, air, and soil if we are to survive. Clean water, clean fish. If all that's left are catfish/scavengers, then we are in for a bumpy ride as the public fisheries are bought up by corporations and soon we will have to rely on them for the fish. Sound scary, that is their plan. To own it all and charge exorbant price when they overspend on the next yacht.