Char_Master
Member
- Joined
- Jan 29, 2016
- Messages
- 129
Eccles, I could not have worded that any better myself! Sure, trout are a fun fish to catch and will always be one of my favorite groups of fish. But those who are raised to believe that trout are the end-all-be-all of the fishing world are simply blind to all of the other wonderful species available around them. For example, my local creek is what I would call very healthy for being in a suburban environment. It doesn't support wild trout by it's still healthy and supports other angling opportunities. Yet, everyone who lives in my town seems to think that stockers are the only thing to fish for and they eagerly await opening day with their ropes ready to string up fish. I, on the other hand, have come to love fishing for the native species of the stream that are present year round. Fish like the rare Northern Hogsucker, little resident Smallmouth Bass, and even the hardy Creek Chub. All of which I have a blast catching both on fly and spin tackle! If those of you out there have never nymph fished for big suckers on a 3 weight, go give it a try sometime!
Back to the topic of stocking, I think it should only be used with caution when absolutely necessary. Perhaps instead of spending millions of dollars each year stocking literally close to one million non-native steelhead in Lake Erie where most don't even reproduce, the PFBC should be working on a better stocking program for the endangered Lake Sturgeon, a powerful, native sport fish that eats its weight in invasive gobies and zebra mussels on a daily basis and plays a crucial part in the lake's ecosystem. The same can be said about native Lake Trout as well. For all of you who fish the Erie Tribs and would hate to see steelhead go, sorry but you can't say there aren't any other stream fishing opportunities as there's huge sucker runs in the spring and many trophy smallmouth bass and channel cats are present during the summer.
All this in mind, to quote others, we can only dream that some day native fish and the health of a water will be more important than stocked non-natives in a polluted urban pond.
Back to the topic of stocking, I think it should only be used with caution when absolutely necessary. Perhaps instead of spending millions of dollars each year stocking literally close to one million non-native steelhead in Lake Erie where most don't even reproduce, the PFBC should be working on a better stocking program for the endangered Lake Sturgeon, a powerful, native sport fish that eats its weight in invasive gobies and zebra mussels on a daily basis and plays a crucial part in the lake's ecosystem. The same can be said about native Lake Trout as well. For all of you who fish the Erie Tribs and would hate to see steelhead go, sorry but you can't say there aren't any other stream fishing opportunities as there's huge sucker runs in the spring and many trophy smallmouth bass and channel cats are present during the summer.
All this in mind, to quote others, we can only dream that some day native fish and the health of a water will be more important than stocked non-natives in a polluted urban pond.