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Discussion starter · #41 ·
I will likely contact him today. I had more to say in my previous post about conservation. Check it out. We released 12 fish on the trip discussed above.
 
mdrob.....I've read all of your posts.....once again, I'm happy for your success.

Your posts have stirred up a lot of local discussion over here.......simply put, there are a lot of people that have been involved in this fisheryover here for many years. All I was trying to get across is that there really isn't any need to harvest (kill) so many of these fish because of the fact that they don't reproduce in large numbers. I really don't care if you catch 100 in a day.....just don't keep them all. Join the tagging program and be part of the solution. Keep a few to eat, and enjoy catching and releasing the rest. The limits aren't a true indicator of the health of the fishery....hopefully, we'll get that changed soon. Most people that enjoy this type of fishing will tell you that keeping full limits is not a good thing.

I'm gonna close out with saying that "it's all good"......I'm just asking for your help in protecting what we all enjoy!

And by the way, there are plenty of them over in your area if you will go looking for them.....good ones too!
 
Discussion starter · #43 ·
SCH- I talked to Read Hendon for about a half an hour yesterday. My tagging kit is on the way and he is sending one to Captain William too. I am glad my post has people talking just wish more of you would join the forum and post like you have. It's hard to release a fish you know is good to eat when you are paying 500 bucks for a trip and get to go maybe once or twice a year. That being said I believe my posts have shown me to be conservation minded and thatI have demonstrated a commitment to following the legal limits and learning as much about the fishery asI can so thatI can adopt angling practices that encourage sustainability within the fishery. There is a PM function on this forum that I would encourage you and your fellow anglers to use to contact me if you like, especially if you have any tips you can pass along on the tripletail fishery in my area. Perhaps the word "massacre" in my post title was chosen poorly,butI stand by my decision to keep a lawful limit and point to my first post as a better example of encouraging conservation. It is highly likely thatI will adopt a more conservation minded approach on future trips, but I reserve the right to keep a lawful limit should I so choose. That being said, I learned from Mr. Hendon that spawning sized female tripletails are 20" at the smallest, and not all the 20" fish are at sexual maturity, soI am following his advice and adopting a personal 18" minimum size for my creel on future trips, should one occur before the end of the season. In addition,I will think long and hard before keeping any fish over 20". Mr. Hendon did say that he personally did not feel that keeping a limit would negatively impact the fishery, but was more concerned about the size fish anglers keep. My personal tally for 3 trips I've taken over there is 23 tripletail kept, and 19 released. That is over the last 2 years (3 trips total), which is as long as I have known of the fishery. I was not going to post of my success at all, had Captain William not encouraged me to do so for the advertisement.Welcome to the forum.
 
Discussion starter · #44 ·
Ihave spoken at length with the folks at the Gulf Coast Research Laboratory and found them to be personable and knowledgeable. More tripletail reports will be posted by me with the majority of fish being released.
 
Mike,

The folks at GCRL are solid. They know their stuff. Based on what has been brought into the docks for the last several weeks....it could prove to be a difficult future for blackfish in our area. A lot of publicity of various types has made a lot of people start fishing for them.....and all of these juveniles (-20") are being hammered. Even rodeo officials have noted the number of small blackfish being brought in. I'm just trying to help get the message out about trying to release as many of these smaller fish as possible...that way we all have a chance at catching a true monster blacky like they did in the old days.

I'm happy for your recent success....and glad to hear you are going to help promote tagging and C&R!

BTW.....your tagged fish that youcaught was onethat I had tagged not very far from where you caught it. A lot of tagged fish have been caught and reported......exciting, but discouraging knowing that they are all getting killed before they can generate any good data for the biologists. Anyway, good fishing to you!
 
Discussion starter · #47 ·
SCH (7/20/2009)Mike,

The folks at GCRL are solid. They know their stuff. Based on what has been brought into the docks for the last several weeks....it could prove to be a difficult future for blackfish in our area. A lot of publicity of various types has made a lot of people start fishing for them.....and all of these juveniles (-20") are being hammered. Even rodeo officials have noted the number of small blackfish being brought in. I'm just trying to help get the message out about trying to release as many of these smaller fish as possible...that way we all have a chance at catching a true monster blacky like they did in the old days.

I'm happy for your recent success....and glad to hear you are going to help promote tagging and C&R!

BTW.....your tagged fish that youcaught was onethat I had tagged not very far from where you caught it. A lot of tagged fish have been caught and reported......exciting, but discouraging knowing that they are all getting killed before they can generate any good data for the biologists. Anyway, good fishing to you!
I got the report on our tagged fish. I know you caught it first. AsI said in the post, had we known it was a tagged fish when we caught it we would have released it. We did not see the tag. I hope you get the opportunity to release a lot of tagged fish that have my tags on them in the future.
 
Mike,

I'm looking forward to recapturing and releasing some with your tags in them. I want you to know that I was only pointing out that that tagged fish you caught was tagged right in the area y'all caught him in....not in Mississippi where Gary Finch indicated....who cares about who caught him first...nothing to brag about anyway since he was only 17".

I was glad to seeWilliam Manciin today's newspaper with Gary Finch....they were ina story about the tagging program.This is good coverage on a hot topic over here right now and it's good to see them participating.

Get back out there and catch some fish and send them off with some jewelry! Good fishing to ya.
 
Discussion starter · #49 ·
Thanks SCH. I won't be making another tail trip this year butI appreciate your good humor about the whole thing.I support releasing fish to sustainthe fishery whole heartedly. Next year's reports will indicate my convictions. I have 5 tags andI want 5T shirts from the folks at the lab. Release posts coming in 2010 I hope!
 
Discussion starter · #50 ·
I talked to Captain William not long ago and he said the tails have pretty much dried up over his way and they only got one 20 pounder this year. That is as clear a sign as I need to tell me I need to release a lot more tails next season. Let's not fish these fine fish out people.
 
Discussion starter · #51 ·
Since this post has almost 3500 views now and I have been reading about the tripletail fishery from Louisiana to FloridaI would like to reiterate that these fish need to be released andI will not keep a limit again. If you like catching tripletails keep one or two and let the rest go or tag them, unless you want to lose the tripletail fishery in your area due to commercial or recreational over fishing.
 
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