The more i think about the Smith!

[rjs123]

. Not saying they dont or wont keep them in the special regs but I havent seen it on other parts of the river. Who eats 8 inch fish? Not counting sardines. :)

Quite a few people eat 8" fish. I've eaten trout, sunfish, crappie, bullheads, sauger, perch,  smelts, sea bass, pompano, croakers, spot, makerel, and a number of other species that were no more than 8". mmm mmmm good!!


Good Fishing!!

It would take more than a limit of 6 of those skinny little 8 inch browns to feed a family, or for that matter. one big eater.

[Fire-Fly]

Heres a question for all of you who think that The state knows whats best. How many times have they been in there and seen the poaching that goes on in that area. Heres another thing, i told Scott and i'll tell ya'll, none of these changes mean a thing cause there is no one or way to enforce it, and there is definately no money to beef up enforcement. Troutrus had it right when he said that most of these guys wont buy a trout lic when they can now shoot right up into the spec regs to fish. Ya'll are living in a dream world if you think that these things can be enforced. And when there are lawn chairs and styrofoam bait buckets everywhere along the spec regs section then i guess we'll be ok cause we know they wont be keeping 10" browns. Right!

[Al]

Heres a question for all of you who think that The state knows whats best. How many times have they been in there and seen the poaching that goes on in that area. Heres another thing, i told Scott and i'll tell ya'll, none of these changes mean a thing cause there is no one or way to enforce it, and there is definately no money to beef up enforcement. Troutrus had it right when he said that most of these guys wont buy a trout lic when they can now shoot right up into the spec regs to fish. Ya'll are living in a dream world if you think that these things can be enforced. And when there are lawn chairs and styrofoam bait buckets everywhere along the spec regs section then i guess we'll be ok cause we know they wont be keeping 10" browns. Right!

We all agree that there needs to be more enforcement no matter how this proposal ends up.  Lawn chairs and Styrofoam bait buckets are nothing new to the special reg section (Check out the section along all that flat water upstream of 666 Bridge, "the poachers pool" just off Rosemont and the lawn at the "fish camp") - Only cure is to call LE when you observe active poaching. Don't tell me "they won't respond". I have never had that happen when I personally made the call.

I really don't see much change in those who buy or fail to buy a trout license - If they are prone to break the law it is likely that they are not buying one now. (I saw this the couple times I called LE. Not only were they poaching, they didn't even have a license)

At this stage the proposal is a "draft only" and could be changed before it comes up for decision. You can provide comments both "Yea & Nay" by following this link http://www.dgif.virginia.gov/regulations/issues2010/details.asp?id=2

[22midge]

BJ you surprise me .....you were at two meetings-- did I miss your suggestions for what needs to be done. I totally agree with you about enforcement--have never seen an officer in 10 years of fishing the Smith.I would like to know what the spec-regs has to offer that is so important.There is nothing in the spec-regs that you can not find other places on the river.I don't see why we should ask to keep the spec-regs and ask people to change in the other 27miles of river down to Mitchell Bridge.Give me a reason and I will stand behind you for the sake of the river but I can't back something that will benefit only a few.Waiting.Be safe

[Rod Champion]

I am just curious PeeWee .. what is the fish count in the river?

[22midge]

Rod as of this past SUNDAY there is 14 fish and 11 has sore lips............................. move up 3 post and read the link for the proposed changes.

[troutrus]

. Not saying they dont or wont keep them in the special regs but I havent seen it on other parts of the river. Who eats 8 inch fish? Not counting sardines. :)

Quite a few people eat 8" fish. I've eaten trout, sunfish, crappie, bullheads, sauger, perch,  smelts, sea bass, pompano, croakers, spot, makerel, and a number of other species that were no more than 8". mmm mmmm good!!


Good Fishing!!

It would take more than a limit of 6 of those skinny little 8 inch browns to feed a family, or for that matter. one big eater.

Try this sometime, mmm mmm good.
http://bbq.about.com/cs/fish/a/aa072603a.htm

Good Fishing!!!

[outdoorguy3]

Heres a question for all of you who think that The state knows whats best. How many times have they been in there and seen the poaching that goes on in that area. Heres another thing, i told Scott and i'll tell ya'll, none of these changes mean a thing cause there is no one or way to enforce it, and there is definately no money to beef up enforcement. Troutrus had it right when he said that most of these guys wont buy a trout lic when they can now shoot right up into the spec regs to fish. Ya'll are living in a dream world if you think that these things can be enforced. And when there are lawn chairs and styrofoam bait buckets everywhere along the spec regs section then i guess we'll be ok cause we know they wont be keeping 10" browns. Right!

We all agree that there needs to be more enforcement no matter how this proposal ends up.  Lawn chairs and Styrofoam bait buckets are nothing new to the special reg section (Check out the section along all that flat water upstream of 666 Bridge, "the poachers pool" just off Rosemont and the lawn at the "fish camp") - Only cure is to call LE when you observe active poaching. Don't tell me "they won't respond". I have never had that happen when I personally made the call.

I really don't see much change in those who buy or fail to buy a trout license - If they are prone to break the law it is likely that they are not buying one now. (I saw this the couple times I called LE. Not only were they poaching, they didn't even have a license)

At this stage the proposal is a "draft only" and could be changed before it comes up for decision. You can provide comments both "Yea & Nay" by following this link http://www.dgif.virginia.gov/regulations/issues2010/details.asp?id=2

Agree with Al.  I have found bait containers in the Special Regs on numerous occasions and they didn't float down stream from up river either.  I've found fresh worm containers in the very middle of the Special Regs with worms still in the container.....guess they caught all the fish they needed and left the worms for next time!

Peewee is correct, the Special Regs don't offer anything the the rest of the river doesn't have as well.  There's trash in the Special Regs just like the rest of the river.  Tires on the river bottom and trash on the banks.  Giving up the Special Regs is not going to be doing any harm to the river because all of the actions that you mention will happen, are already taking place weekly as it is.

The river has been under these regulations since I started fishing the Smith in 2002.  I would like to see if different management practices might have a positive effect on the river.  Let's face it, it can't get any worse.  The bait guys can't cover the river like a fly fisherman does and I have only seen a few bait fisherman that really knew how to maximize the use of bait in the river where they were fishing.  These bait fisherman were practicing catch and release ta boot!

New regulations will not create more bait fisherman.  Bait fisherman will not want to do the work needed to fish sections of the Special Regs because the payoff will not be any different than any other section of the river.

The law breakers will continue to break the law.......change in regulations or not.

Lack of enforcement goes on now and there are still too many fish in the river.  Let's try to get some of the smaller fish out of the river and  let some of these fish grow and make the river a better place for everybody.

The South Holston and the White River in Ark. seem to be doing alright even though they allow bait up and down the river there.

Let's try something different.  If Scott and his team determine that the new regs aren't working then they can take other steps, but no one will ever know if we don't try.

Call the law if you see something being done that's not right.

Ralph   0--0

[Fire-Fly]

Ok peewee, here are a few thoughts. For one the spec regs offers quite a bit to me, it is aprart from the rest of the river, you can get down there and if not for the train you dont here the rest of the world. There are no houses or roads to bother you. And if bait fisherman wont walk that far up then why not back keeping the spec regs. And Ralph, you need to get back on the river some more cause there is way more trash from Bassett down then frim the regs up. Trust me i drive up and down this river 10 times a day. Go look in the Kohler area.
Another point, i talked today to 2 bait fisherman and asked thier thoughts, both said they had no interest in keeping fish that small, one even told me that " he would be damned if he would throw back a 10-12 inch brown". Another point is most bait fisherman use larger hooks with larger barbs, and like many fisherman flyfisherman included, dont know how to properly handle fish. Studies show that fish caught with bait ingest the hooks deeper. Are we asking guys to throw back fish that have little chances. Matbe if we at least keep the spec regs area this may reduce some of that harm. Come on guys this just dosent seem to me to be the answer to this river, not sure the more i think about it that its going to work. My 2 cents.

[5xTippett]

B.J., if Scott thinks this has a good chance at working let's give it a shot.  He gets paid to manage the river.  I disagree with you on the amount of people that will start fishing the special regs.  The access is too difficult for no increase in the quality of fishing.  Why walk a mile to fish a spot that is no better than a spot you can drive to, hop out and start fishing in 2 minutes?

[rjs123]

. Not saying they dont or wont keep them in the special regs but I havent seen it on other parts of the river. Who eats 8 inch fish? Not counting sardines. :)

Quite a few people eat 8" fish. I've eaten trout, sunfish, crappie, bullheads, sauger, perch,  smelts, sea bass, pompano, croakers, spot, makerel, and a number of other species that were no more than 8". mmm mmmm good!!


Good Fishing!!

It would take more than a limit of 6 of those skinny little 8 inch browns to feed a family, or for that matter. one big eater.

Try this sometime, mmm mmm good.
http://bbq.about.com/cs/fish/a/aa072603a.htm

Good Fishing!!!

I have to try that the next time I catch some worth keeping.   

[outdoorguy3]

Never said there was as much trash as there was down in Bassett.  Just saying, that there is trash in the Special Regs. and that the Special Regs isn't as pristine as you are making it sound.  Bait guys fish the Special regs now and they will continue to.....folks that have no respect for the law won't change just because the regulations change.  Let's help patrol and call the enforcement folks if we see something being done.  It's not like Scott just made these new regs up without doing any research or studying of the river.

So because guys are breaking the law now and guys will break the law if there is a change we shouldn't try something new?  Keep the river like it is now if ya want......it will just continue to die slowly like is has been......that seems like doing something positive?  Yep, I guess I see your point, let's just keep things the way they are and the river will never get any better and any potential to make the river better will never be realized....just so fly fisherman can have a three mile stretch of the river for themselves.

The So Ho and the White River sure do draw fisherman from areas other than just local areas around the river.  Wouldn't it be nice if someday the Smith could do the same.

I guess trying something new is too difficult so let's all just give up and watch the river die.  Seems awful selfish to me!

Your right BJ, I haven't been on the Smith as much as I use to be,  any time I get a chance, I go to the So Ho because of the quality of the fishing on that river.  It would be nice if the quality of the fishing on the Smith could be improved.  That might accomplish two things,  Stop the Smith's decline and improve the fishing.....what a novel idea to try to implement.

Ralph   0--0

[22midge]

BJ will they build more houses or roads along the river if its no longer spec-regs???Will the trash stop---are the people that break the law going to change??Sounds like you are thinking of BJ and not the river.TU National  should be real proud of your opinion .Lets give the other 27 miles of river to those that fish bait or hardware and allow no fly fishing there.We can go down to the 3 mile section of spec-regs and fight for the 6"-8" browns before they die from those terrible poachers mishandling.Wear you mask Bj you taking in to much smoke. Last post and last TU meeting .

[fly4u]

I am still learning .....From out of state (N.C.) looking in.......I am one of the people spending money in VA. (Scott made mention of this in the first meeting) I  also attended the second meeting (The attendance was lower) I even took a friend from N.C.. I have been fishing the Smith almost a year. Fly Fishing  one year this Sunday I had to fish the special reg. section for the first six months. I had N.C. Lic. Combo, Then had to buy VA. fish so I stayed in specail reg. and then when I thought I knew what I was doing I had to buy VA. trout lic. to get out of the special reg. I have caught more fish out of the special reg. section. My friends that I have brought from N.C. are frustrated and do not want to come there for the lack of catching fish. I have even thought about going more north and even west. So I am with you guys on what is the best for the river and  the people who fish it. Maybe while we are there we should all pick up a bag of trash as well. Do you think there is a bait fisherman forum we can go to for the Smith. I bet they have a good time reading ours. This is the real reason I even reply....: At the second meeting I asked Scott did he think if he left the special reg. like it is now did he think it would hurt the chances of the rest of the changes. He said  " YES "

[5xTippett]

Fly4u, Thank you.  B.J., I think your motto is " 3 cheers for me and to H*ll with everybody else".