Nice guy Joe

[agelesssone]

Met a nice fella on the Cumberland river yesterday.
Said he doesn't eat fish. Said he hates stripers. He just fishes for them for the fight and to KILL EVERY ONE HE CATCHES!
He doesn't want them eating HIS BASS!
I explained how bass and bluegill make up only 5% of the striper ' diet, meaning bass only constitutes 2.5 fish out of every 100 fish it eats, but he didn't care. He said he kills everyone he catches and throws it back in the river.
Ignorance is an insurmountable mountain.
(Kohler and Ney 1982; Gilliland and Clady 1984; Filip and Tommy 1987; Matthews et AL 1988; Moore 1988; Thompson et al. 2005.)

[Alphahawk]

Let me tell you Merv.....there are a ton of those folks out there. I have run into them from Pickwick to Nickajack and all points in between. They can't catch crappie...they blame it on the striper....they can't catch sauger...they blame it on the striper. Whatever they are fishing for and they can't catch...they blame it on the striper. When I point out that I have no trouble catching crappie they just give you this blank stare. When you point out...as you stated....that a striper consumes hardly any game fish they just tell you "That ain't so". As you stated one cant fix ignorance.


Regards

[TNBronzeback]

So if i cant catch stripers, who can i blame that on? Lol....curse those wretched bluegills!!!! lol.

[tkwalker]

Met a nice fella on the Cumberland river yesterday.
Said he doesn't eat fish. Said he hates stripers. He just fishes for them for the fight and to KILL EVERY ONE HE CATCHES!
He doesn't want them eating HIS BASS!
I explained how bass and bluegill make up only 5% of the striper ' diet, meaning bass only constitutes 2.5 fish out of every 100 fish it eats, but he didn't care. He said he kills everyone he catches and throws it back in the river.
Ignorance is an insurmountable mountain.
(Kohler and Ney 1982; Gilliland and Clady 1984; Filip and Tommy 1987; Matthews et AL 1988; Moore 1988; Thompson et al. 2005.)

Merv, I have seen dozens of healthy sized Line sides dead on the banks in the Caney over a number of years .. Because of this mentality ... Uneducated and ignorant .. ... I would say the Gene Pool runs shallow in this area ... But actually it is all over the state .... <'TK>< :o

[Heiny57]

Not just Tn same thing all over Arkansas also.

[Reel Tune]

Sad. Thank you Merv for trying to educate the individual, hopefully he doesn't pass these beliefs on.

[jad2t]

The trout huggers are bad about that too. There are a handful on another forum who used to brag about going to the Clinch specifically to target 30# rockfish, cut them open, and throw them on the bank to rot because they didn't want them eating THEIR trout.

I guess by that logic they should also catch and kill every big Brown Trout they see in the Clinch as well? But that would be an unforgivable sin.

You should have informed him that more bass die after he has poked a hole in their face, fought them until exhaustion, dropped them in the boat, held them up incorrectly to take a picture, and then released back into 90 degree water in the Summer than from being eaten by Rockfish.

[Headhunter]

I do not believe stripers do not eat gamefish and they will for sure eat crappie. The biggest striper I ever had on was trying to eat a 2 lb smallmouth I had hooked on Priest. I have no clue but looked to be 40 or more pounds.

Also, for what it is worth, Mitch Tinney told me that one of the absolute best baits on Priest for hybrids and stripers is crappie.

But do stripers eat enough gamefish to damage the population? I do not think so. If that was true priest would have been dead many years ago.

[SAMBOLIE]

I do not believe stripers do not eat gamefish and they will for sure eat crappie. The biggest striper I ever had on was trying to eat a 2 lb smallmouth I had hooked on Priest. I have no clue but looked to be 40 or more pounds.

Also, for what it is worth, Mitch Tinney told me that one of the absolute best baits on Priest for hybrids and stripers is crappie.

But do stripers eat enough gamefish to damage the population? I do not think so. If that was true priest would have been dead many years ago.

Priest is dead when compared to many years ago.

[Catch & Release]

http://www.tnfish.org/NorrisReservoir_TWRA/files/AnglerConflictsInFisheriesManagement_NLFAC_Norris_ TWRA.pdf

[Catch & Release]

As an avid catch and release striper fisherman I am obviously very opinionated on this subject, the link I just posted is on a study that was done on Norris when all the bass fisherman tried to lobby the twra to stop stocking the striped bass (which they did) but the study clearly stated that striped bass affect on other games species was pretty much non existent.
But the saddest part is that we have the best fresh water striped bass fishery in the world. Just come to the boat ramp at Carthage in the spring, actually anytime and you see boats from all over the US.
Though they do grow fast it takes about 15 years to grow a record class fish (50lb plus) That is what I fish for, so to hear about people catching and killing stripers is an angling sin in my book. PURE IGNORANCE

[notorious]

Priest is dead when compared to many years ago.

I'll second that, it has evolved, however in my opinion, it remains the best fishery in Middle Tennessee.

[agelesssone]

I do not believe stripers do not eat gamefish and they will for sure eat crappie. The biggest striper I ever had on was trying to eat a 2 lb smallmouth I had hooked on Priest. I have no clue but looked to be 40 or more pounds.

Also, for what it is worth, Mitch Tinney told me that one of the absolute best baits on Priest for hybrids and stripers is crappie.

But do stripers eat enough gamefish to damage the population? I do not think so. If that was true priest would have been dead many years ago.
If a person wants to use crappie for bait on JPP, it has to be at least 10 inches as that is the legal length to keep a crappie.
That is pretty big bait for the size of hybrids and stripers we have in JPP.
I haven't heard of any big stripers (over 20 lbs) being caught on JPP for a few years now.
I see the lake record was set in 2010 (58+ lbs) but the biggest I caught last year was 22 lbs. Didn't hear of anything bigger.

[StriperFan]

I will take it a step further and say that at least half of the gamefish that stripers eat have been recently caught and released by somebody. Giving them a wounded, not healthy action. Or is otherwise compromised. I use bluegill for bait from time to time, they work. But the reaction to a bluegill on the hook I believe is different from how a striper would react to a fee swimming bluegill, or other gamefish. As for the trout, well they are raised in a pen and have to learn quick. They are and should be fair game for all, just my 2 cents.

[gordonc615]

if I ever had the chance to fish the Caney for striper I'd def use rainbows I mean it's legal and they have to be easy picking

[StriperFan]

if I ever had the chance to fish the Caney for striper I'd def use rainbows I mean it's legal and they have to be easy picking

And they are easy to keep alive, basically you can use the same bait till either it gets tangled in tree limbs, rocks, etc..(common), or a bigger fish takes it (rare). Just be sure they are legal to keep size.

[Headhunter]

If a person wants to use crappie for bait on JPP, it has to be at least 10 inches as that is the legal length to keep a crappie.
That is pretty big bait for the size of hybrids and stripers we have in JPP.
I haven't heard of any big stripers (over 20 lbs) being caught on JPP for a few years now.
I see the lake record was set in 2010 (58+ lbs) but the biggest I caught last year was 22 lbs. Didn't hear of anything bigger.


I know of several over 20 lbs that have been caught. They are there, just have to know how to find them.

Mitch was referencing catching hybrids more so than stripers with the crappie.

[gordonc615]

i thought it was illegal to use crappie. I know pan fish are legal but crappie? twra doesn't play around

[Headhunter]

In Tennessee any fish you can legally catch and keep can be used for bait and only up to the legal limit, meaning on Priest you could catch 30 crappie, minimum length 10" and use them all for bait in one day.

[agelesssone]

In Tennessee any fish you can legally catch and keep can be used for bait and only up to the legal limit, meaning on Priest you could catch 30 crappie, minimum length 10" and use them all for bait in one day.

Headhunter nailed it. Legal catch, legal length, legal bait.