Ethics and Harvest.

[Walleye Express]

Ethics: Webster describes ethics as a system of personal morale values. The standards and principals of what is right or wrong conduct in the scheme of the laws, both man made and natural.

This topic alone when applied to hunting or fishing can really ignite some real arguments and anger, but that never stopped me before. Some examples: "Bow season should be with a simple bow and wooden arrow". "Compounds are not bows at all". "Cross bows (especially with scopes) should be illegal". "Muzzle Loaders when used for hunting, should only be authentic replicas, not these scoped and rifled grooved, 200 yard Bulls eye shooting muzzle loaded snipers rifles". Need I say more?

But because every mans own ethics are initially formed by what he was taught during his own chilldhood and upbringing. And lastly when he grows up, by his own ideas of fair play and his own principals of what really is right or wrong. Even the law at times bears little weight to change what a man perceives as what is right or wrong once his own adult ethics are formed and set in stone.

With that said. I remember watching a stunning In-Fisherman show a long time ago, where Al Linder showed some of his very old pictures of both himself and his brother Ron holding up huge stringers of dead bass and walleyes. Most were true trophys. His message and reason for doing this show was two fold. To show that both the times and he himself used to see things different, and that things have changed when it comes to keeping or killing more then you can actually use. Or at least it did for him as he got older and wiser. I found Al's own younger experience to be much the same as mine was in my younger more (show off) years. But I was taught my first ethics both by a Grandfather and Father, who both went through the great depression, when everything you caught or killed was needed and gratefully used by all the family as the next meal. Possession laws were more liberal, yet broken quit often back then. Not so much out of greed or disregard for the law, but to offset the shrunken grocery allowance forced on everybody by the tough times. So to adjust the ethics, be law abiding and conserve the resource, was hard to change and mentally reconfigure in the minds of people when the monetary times did get better.

Of course the resources themselves back then seemed unexhaustable and held out for quit a while under this onslaught, but probably only because there were more of them and fewer users of it. But in today's world (even though you are legally allowed to have more then your legal one day limit of fish in the freezer) do we really have to store so much fish and game away any more to make sure little Johnny doesn't go to bed hungry? Obviously not, yet this mentality of catch and/or kill all you can while you can remains the same for a lot of people in today's world. And with that being said, I worry about all our resources, but especially about our new abundant Saginaw Bay Walleye fishery. And when I hear or read stories like we caught 500 walleyes last summer on my boat, I guess my first question is, what does one do with 1,000 fillets? Or the guys who come here or any other lake from out of town and catch their limit in the morning and then again in the afternoon. And probably do so for the whole weekend they are here. I guess if you have 50 or more friends that trade off fishing with you every weekend, the divided math would works out O. K. But if your throwing out freezer burnt fillets every spring to start over, or supplying every friend, neighbor and relative down the street (who does not even buy a license and contribute to the resource) with fresh fish, your doing more to harm to our resource then helping it. And yes, I personally caught quite a few walleyes this last summer myself on my charters. But I insist we quit fiishing and catching after the legal limit is reached and head in for the day if we do. And 100% of my clients not only buy licenses that help support the resource, but spend money in our local economy while they're briefly here. And few of the people I take and send home with limits, seldom even fish again after that one day out. And it's not my intention here in posting this to beat my own ethical drum and put a hole in anybody else's. Like I said before, everybody has their own ethics. I'm just reminding everyone (like Al did) to occasionally examine their own for the good of all and the resource.

[1mainiac]

Great read Dan made me think of a post from another website pointing out the huge harvest of Lake Trout during the first 3 Tournaments on our side. One of the guys had noticed how many lakers had been taken in the first couple events his estimate was that between the pre fishing and contests close to 3000 Lakers had been taken. He also noted that a couple of the boats that had been bringing in limit catchs every day were having a harder time finding fish. So when you over fish a area and take fish like Lakers that grow very slow. They have similar growth rates to Brooke trout meaning it is very likely that the monster Laker you caught was older than you. A 8 to 10lb Salmon is usually a 3 year old fish with roughly a year to live no matter what and is a planted fish ( yea I know we get some natural reproduction but they are all non native fish ). The same size Laker could be between 20 and 30 years old. So it is not only how many but what kind of fish you catch every body of water has it's limits on what you can take without damage. Maybe all of the fishing report's are a little to blame as I can't say how many times I have told a few people where I was catching em at only to come back they nextday and find everyone in my spot.

[Priority1]

I know a quite a few boats, including my own, that have taken some good numbers of walleye out of the Saginaw Bay the last few years. But similar to charter boats, the wealth is spread around. Just because a boat takes 500 fish doesn't mean it's captain has 1000 fillets in the freezer. I have fished with as many as 6 people onboard. I made so many trips with a lot of different people, that it's difficult to remember the details of each trip. This is a valuable resource and the limits should be enforced. I had riders suggest we do a second trip, but darn I work hard enough doing just one. Even if I wasn't all tuckered out, I wouldn't break the law. I love every minute I'm on the water. No one I know is able, or wants to fish as much as I do. I post for riders often. It's too costly to run my boat with less than 4 people onboard. If the numbers aren't there riders aren't as willing to go. I helped a quite a few youngsters boat their very first walleye. Dan makes some good points, posts honest reports, and has my utmost respect, but I had to add my 2 cents. Gitter Done and Good Luck to all that fish this FANTASTIC fishery.

[Walleye Express]

I take no offense in anything you said Frank. As I tried to make clear in the post, everybody has their own ethics that may or may not reflect my own. I made the post to make people think. If anybody felt guilty or not guilty reading it, it accomplised it's goal. As did Al Linders show that day. This subject alone comes about as close to, and is IMV, in the same realm as talking about politics or religion. Those beliefs to are intrenched and an integral part of whom each person is, what he believes and what he see's as important. And often just talking about them or stating your own views on them, can sometime offend, loose you a friend or two, or put others not agreeing with your perspective in a defensive state of mind.

And a lot of resource particulars from one place to another can indeed shape or adjust what points I tried to make in my original post. Especially in a put-and-take fishery, like our own salmon or trout fishery that maniac eluded to and how it is utilized. And the laws set for each area by those particular resource professionals are set so to protect and preserve that resource as best it can for all users. It's often when things get to easy that your ethics truely get tested.

Remember years ago when our smelt runs were massive. When you could dip for quit a few nights without hitting the run. Then in one good/right night, fill a 20 quart cooler in one dip. The sheer excitement generated by this bounty after a few nights of failure, and when shared with the many others dipping around you, encouraged you to fill every tub, pale and orifice you brought with you. After all, you spent a lot of money and time trying to catch a few smelt, it was legal, and by God the resource owed you that much. Then the long trip home, stopping at every bar to see if anybody wanted some free smelt, as you knew you were never going to clean or eat that many. This is the same ethical mind set I worry about, and that took over these last couple of years by many on the Bay.

Edited October 29, 2008 by Walleye Express

[DIRTY DOG]

this is a very good read, and brings some very good thoughts to mind,

as you said , i only take people out that want fish for the table , and when where perch fishing a limet is a limet and ya go in , becouse that is a very presoice resouce that is now starting to come back in lk. mi.