Gallatin steam plant

Originally Posted by txnative

The number of fish is irrelevant, it's about the quality fish. Simple ecological rules dictate that there are far more sub-20 lb fish in any striper fishery. By selectively removing the larger fish, you reduce the quality. By all means, keep all the 5-10 lbers you can handle, but for the sake of a trophy fishery, allow the fish that have escaped predation to reach trophy size to swim away after you've enjoyed the fight and snapped a few pics.

There is a reason that anglers on the forefront of our sport, numerous fishing related organizations (IGFA, for example), and lure manufacturers have been supporting and promoting catch and release fishing. We, humans, are THE top predator in any given environment, and no animal can survive if we are determined to catch/kill it. Fishing has advanced due to technology, and formerly unexploited fish populations are now within reach, like open-water bass, sailfish from kayaks, etc.

You may not care how other members feel about this issue, but realize that this forum is open to non-members, as well. Showing you "hero shots" with the background revealing your location, then listing your technique and bait is an open invitation to invade a fishery and "get it while the getting's good." I have a daughter that loves to fish, and I'd love for her to enjoy what I have now when she is old enough to go on her own. Your attitude is something hardcore, dyed in the wool fishermen complain to each other about. I realize that getting you, tnjugger, to open your mind to the possibility that you are displaying poor ethics and a total lack of respect to the rights of others' to enjoy a fishery is a lost cause, but hopefully someone sees this thread and stops to think about their own behavior.

As for agreeing with me, I do not need the justification of others' to validate my points. Ethics are very simple: respect for other people and/or things should not be discarded to satisfy your wants.


Chris

Here are some more poor ethics for ya! Guess where these fish went? Does this make you mad? ROTFLMAO!

Originally Posted by master_cat

I dont take anything out of the water over 8 pounds when i see a pic of a giant flat head or a big blue and people say mmmm tasty it makes me sick there are tons of channels and smaller blues and flats. Eat those id say the younger striper taste better then the older ones iv never caught a large striper i try but i have no luck

Brent no one pulled your chain, the only reason you do not keep big cats is because you only fish in paylakes! I caught a 38 pound flatty back in the fall and still have meat from him in my freezer! But I caught him in the river not in a paylake!

Originally Posted by bd-

TNJugger, all I was suggesting on the other thread, with all due respect, is that if we care about the world-class striper fishery we are blessed with in Tennessee, we will keep a few for the table but we will turn the rest of the fish - and the biggest fish - back. As I said before, all I was suggesting was moderation.

So you've responded by posting more pictures of dead stripers on that thread, plus you've started a whole new thread to post even more photos of dead stripers.

I guess you're perfectly within your legal rights to kill every single one you can get your hands on, but don't be surprised if other anglers don't agree with you on that. I personally don't.

bd

I look at it this way, I hate Striper's Period! I am a bass angler and wished the striper's were never introduced in our waters, they are bass eaters and they are killing them more than angers can catch them! So if I catch a striper believe you me I dang sure am going to make sure he never eats another Large mouth! You know how to catch a 10 pound bass in Old Hickory? Catch and kill a striper!
And all those pics that I have been posting are from two years of fishing, I just posted them to get under MR. Sophisticated's skin!

[Travis C.]

Originally Posted by Tennesseejugger

I am a bass angler and wished the striper's were never introduced in our waters, they are bass eaters and they are killing them more than angers can catch them!

I am an avid bass angler on Old Hickory as well. Have you ever cleaned a striper finding a bass inside?

I am not trying to stir the pot so to speak but this was a very intense topic on an east TN lake and I am really curious to find out if they do actually eat them.

Originally Posted by Travis C.

I am an avid bass angler on Old Hickory as well. Have you ever cleaned a striper finding a bass inside?

I am not trying to stir the pot so to speak but this was a very intense topic on an east TN lake and I am really curious to find out if they do actually eat them.

Well no I personally have not but have had friends send me picks of bass that have been taken out of the bellies of Striper's. There are a constant swimming eating machine just like sharks! But I do not mind if you wat to stir the pot, this is the most action this froum has seen in a good long time...LOL

[bd-]

Sorry, but the comment about stripers being bass eaters is just plain uninformed.

Largemouth stack up around the Steam Plant like cordwood in the winter, but it's very, very rare that you find a bass in a striper's stomach. What you find is shad.

The diet of stripers has been studied, and studied, and studied to death. I have a friend who got his master's degree studying striped bass foraging habits. You won't find a single study that shows stripers eating bass in any numbers. There is a reason for that.

bd

[bd-]

Originally Posted by Tennesseejugger

HMMM is that a fact? Well where are your hero pics if it is so easy?

A lot of folks don't need a hero pic and a fish on a stringer to prove anything. I guess it depends on whether you fish for yourself or to show off to others.

bd

Originally Posted by bd-

A lot of folks don't need a hero pic and a fish on a stringer to prove anything. I guess it depends on whether you fish for yourself or to show off to others.

bd

I do both, but when are you going to answer my question about taking advantage of other fish species when they are the most vulnerable? Oh wait sorry that question was not for you!

[tkwalker]

I have been asked by posters of my board, my opinion on the discussion of keeping trophy stripers ...
I have read a number of the posts ... To be fair not all the posts ... looked at pic's and kind of got the drift where this is going ... What I see is the same discussion here that we have constantly with Trout. The Trout and Striper alike are both released into our Fisheries via TWRA to legally harvest that complies with the State regulations and laws ...

But the subject always arrises about catch and release ethics .... As far as stripers in my opnion there is only one man that has set the bar on keeping stripers . A two time State record holder of Stripers 62 and 64 pound plus which is really pushing the national Striper Landlocked records of 68 pounds .. My best was 61 pounds in 25 years of striper fishing and later guiding and number of 56 and 58 pounders but I never could beat Ralph Hollis Dallas ... A friend and adversary and a totally devoted to the Striper species and developement in our great State of Tennessee...

Ralph, like myself with a guide party would give the option that if you catch a nice fish you can opt out to keep it or release ... But only one a day ... Now remember folks, to some people a 25 pound striper is a trophy and the biggest fish they have ever caught ... basically most stripers in the Cumberland River chain (Old Hickory and Cordel Hull) are all schoolies until they hit the 40 plus pound range and that is when the rogues leave the school because they do not feel they do not need the protection of the school And the pics I have seen so far on this thread lacks any trophys ..maybe one ... (and some folks need to get their scales calibrated !!)... ... (And these are the females) Which does not mean a lot as far as reproduction ... But 5% of spawn do survive... I have read that nobody knows how many stripers are there ... That is BS ... Been in Tennessee longer that the poster and fishing for this specific species ... After decades of working with TWRA and in constant communication with Doug Markham and contact with the TWRA Bio group and shocking studies and the amount of fry that is put in the fisheries ... Yes we do know how many we have !!! ... This also includes the ones that I have witnessed thrown on the the bank in the Caney Fork by locals who consider them trash fish !!

The bottom line is ... Why any one wants to eat a striper I have know Idea ... after you remove the red Muscle you have a lot of waste ... (you really need to remove the red muscle !!) especially the larger fish ... the smallier under 20 pounds is not to bad ... As far as growth rates .. I have read some different schedules on the post which would probably be true in other waters ... But what you have here in the Cordel Hull and Old Hickory chain of the Cumberland is unique ... Cold water from Dale Hollow and Center Hill ... Premo conditions for bait and striper growth rate ... 35 pounder takes 8 years for a reference .. (Stripers spawn at H2O temps of 60 degrees April/May ... Migration starts in Feb ...

So basically here we are ... Catch and release Rogue Trophys are the Stripers who leave the school ... They have no predators ... They grow lazy and follow the schools ... They ravish the left overs after the schools go through the shad schools ... That is why folks are amazed that they catch them bottom fishing like Catfish ... Gizzard shad is good as wll as Skippies for boards ... The premo is is Trout for bait ... I bought and raised my own 14 to 18 inchers for the trophys ... that is just a hint ...

Bottom Line ... If the fish are caught legally... There is no issue legally ... What I see in pics are schoolies and are that for the most part the weight is not was proclaimed with an exception of one or two ... ... These size fish are bumping the tasty threshold..

Being Fisherman We over emphasize .. size and weight ... I have seen nothing through these pages as far as catch and release that shows any ethic abuse as long as it is consumed as a table food ... NOW!! what does concern me are the true trophys ... The big fish A TRUE 45 pound plus weight ... If these fish are caught ... If you need a wall hanger ... Keep it ... But do not keep another unless it exceeds it by 10 pounds !! ..

Do not use Bass gear when fishing for trophys !! use offshore tackle ... To keep a trophy alive is to get it to the boat as quick as possible ... There is no such thing as play these fish ... Use a broom stick size rod ... If to release ... Moving the fish back and forth through the gills like Bass does not work ... Lactic acid sets up in the muscles of these animals so grab them by the tale ..It will take both hands ...one hand can not get around a trophy striper tail ! ... and move it left to right as hard as you can .. They will be dorment for a short while and then slowly swim off .. Keep a visual if it doesn't make it ... THESE ARE HARD FIGHTING FISH and there mortality rate is really increase in warmer weather ...

Please Do not abuse These Giants of the sea that we were blessed to become an landlocked Treasurer .... <'TK>< Capt. TK Walker U.S.C.G.

[tkwalker]

Originally Posted by Tennesseejugger

I look at it this way, I hate Striper's Period! I am a bass angler and wished the striper's were never introduced in our waters, they are bass eaters and they are killing them more than angers can catch them! So if I catch a striper believe you me I dang sure am going to make sure he never eats another Large mouth! You know how to catch a 10 pound bass in Old Hickory? Catch and kill a striper!
And all those pics that I have been posting are from two years of fishing, I just posted them to get under MR. Sophisticated's skin!

TNJug ... I am sorry but you are so out of touch with the Striper reality and the facts it isn't funny ... ( you sound like a democrate !! which I know your not !!) .... Ralph Dallas (who is also a Taxidermist) in conjunction with The TWRA Bio Group and myself as well have done studies on what stripers eat ... The consumption of sport fish is less than 5% .... They are not going to seek out single fish that they are not use to eating (these includes Bass, Crappie) ... These fish are bait school junkies .... easy prey !!! Sorry but you have been missinformed ...

And I am not Mr. Sophisticated ... I am a true sportsman of The Tennessee Fishiers... And support them ... And as far as I am concerned ... From this statement you are not welcome on this site ... I am like my friend Charlie Daniels ... You have barked up the wrong tree !! .... <'TK><

Originally Posted by tkwalker

TNJug ... I am sorry but you are so out of touch with the Striper reality and the facts it isn't funny ... ( you sound like a democrate !! which I know your not !!) .... Ralph Dallas (who is also a Taxidermist) in conjunction with The TWRA Bio Group and myself as well have done studies on what stripers eat ... The consumption of sport fish is less than 5% .... They are not going to seek out single fish that they are not use to eating (these includes Bass, Crappie) ... These fish are bait school junkies .... easy prey !!! Sorry but you have been missinformed ...

And I am not Mr. Sophisticated ... I am a true sportsman of The Tennessee Fishiers... And support them ... And as far as I am concerned ... From this statement you are not welcome on this site ... I am like my friend Charlie Daniels ... You have barked up the wrong tree !! .... <'TK><

No wonder there are not many on this site, so thats what you do if someone has a different opinion is tell them that they are not welcome? Brother telling me that I sound like a democrat is like the pot calling the kettle black! I bet all your little followers came running to you " hey we don't like TnJugger kick him out...LOL. You do what you think that you have to do, this is your site. But there is always another TNjugger out there that is not going to agree with everything or everyone on your site! So much for growth! We have met in person and think that you could tell that I was not a bad person. I did not start this whole controversy, I was slapped in the face with it when I posted some pics of striper's! All I was doing was having a little fun with it and just picking a bit! But I guess most in here have thin skin and can't take a little rubbing! Oh and by the way I was not referring to you when I said Mr. Sophisticated!

[TNtransplant08]

I don't think anyone is saying that users of this forum is not allowed to have different opinions. A fishing forum is a great platform to share and discuss differet issues and topics, in a respectful manner. Its a great opportunity to teach, learn and share! You are allowed to have your own opinions, everyone else is allowed to have their own, and everyone agrees to disagree. However, whenever one discussion becomes nasty in a disrespectful, taunting tone, that is when people start having problems. Posting pictures and comments simply to taunt and irritate another member is just childish and against what this forum is about.

Lets hope we can all just sweep this under the rug, play nice and simply move on and get back to what we all love....FISHING!

[txnative]

Well stated, TNtransplant.


Chris

[BOB]

He's probably buds with them good ole boy commercial rapers,,, I mean netters...

BTW, what did you do with the Striper in this video? You said it was too big to eat so what did you do with it. Even the boys seemed to express disbeleif that you were just going to kill the fish.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aQlK3..._order&list=UL

[tkwalker]

Okay Guys lets start a new day!! I'm closing this thread <'TK><