Timb,

There seems to be some concern that people posting how many fish they catch on a message board is being used by managers to help in decision making. I see that you said in your fisrt post that CTDEP has collected creel data. Does the creel data actually reflect what people are saying here on the boards? I'd be interested to see the estimates from your creel data. Also, do you have actual mortality data for these lakes in the summer or just mortality estimates from catch curves you've derived from ALK's, and if thats the case are you doing them every year?

I'm not questioning the proposed regulations, and I will readily admit I've never fished the lakes in question. However, from the sounds of the discussion here there are many other times of year where the fish might be better protected from fishermen to ensure survival (i.e., fishing when trout are congregating in the streams and easy targets). No doubt mortality is higher in the summer, but the higher summer mortality may not be as large a factor as the fish being hammered when they're congregating.

With regards to regulation changes, you're in the worst possible spot. You have to make potentially unpopular decisions based on what information you may or may not have, yet you want to keep fishermen happy and be able to fish yourself. I know how it feels and I don't envy your position. However, I do have a suggestion.

Perhaps someone could take the time to cut and paste or write up a detailed explaination specifically for this proposed regulation change. The information must exist in a report or a group or reports. It would be very interesting and informative to see what the data are saying that drive managers to make decisions. I'm sure to even think about drafting regulation changes, there has to be substantial justification backed by real data.