I had not intended to go out to the average local “put and take” places, but my young nephew (a former Zebco-slinging plastic bobber-using yahoo) wanted to give it a try so I said sure. Now I don't know where you all went, but on Opening Day I saw no drunken fist fights or garbage piles. What I did see was people having a good time catching a few fish. Average folks. They knew their chance of catching something was pretty good and that made them even happier. You know what?…These average folks acted every bit as good stewards of the water they were fishing (if not better) than some of the Thomas and Thomas toting posers I saw on the TMA above Lake Mohegan that day. How can I say this? From what I witnessed I guess it’s okay to cull your limit for bigger fish when your wearing Orvis and slinging a 6 weight?? I guess that’s considered justifiable homicide if you’ve spent more on your equipment than an average guy takes home in a week. All I know is that quite a few “floaters” drifted down from the upstream direction of the “no kill” elite. Let’s get real here fellas. Our fishing in this state is pretty good (despite the yahoos and their Zebcos). Be fair when you consider stuff like this. The fish are raised to be caught. If some of them hold over GREAT! But let’s not kid ourselves. The stocking of fish is for fishermen not a grandiose plan for replenishment of the species. Opening Day as we know it should not be done away with. This has nothing to do with tradition, pie-eyed litterbugs, or anybody’s earned rights to the fish. We are talking about basic fairness here and common sense. The stocking program is for ALL people. Just because everybody doesn't have the time, desire, or resources to fish all year doesn't mean they don't enjoy it as much as you or I do when they finally manage to make the time. If you’re going to think that way then you're not going to be creating very many future “avid” fisherman. This is a road you don’t want to go down. This is the life blood of the industry and the bug that bit us so many years ago. Go ahead and set the bar too high. Make it less appealing to a novice or less-than-avid fisherman. Over time you will fail to spark interest by more and more people and that will end up with less money spent in all kinds of stores, less sales tax collected, less revenue from licenses, and finally but worst of all… less money spent by the state. All sorts of programs are already being gutted. How much justification do think will be needed when several thousand less licenses are sold. Give the early guys their good Opening Day stockings, but keep stocking throughout the year, and do MUCH more to improve enforcement and water quality. ….just my $.02 tjd
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