What are your thoughts on this?

[Captain Ahab]

Your back ---- hope you didnt buy every blue pill they had and caught every catchable "pon". i will be der in June -- no fishing just drinkin.

We didn't run into the tarpon, but caught nice bundle of fish. Hooked up 4 times with some big dogs outside the reef, but they tossed the hook. I can confirm the Belikin is still cold, the weather is beautiful, and the blue diamonds are readily available.

 

[KDM]

I understand what equipment and tech has done for guys to find fish,but IMO, none of that will make'em bite. To me, it's been more about timing, both in a 24 hour sense and a yearly sense as well as fishing skills. Finding doesn't equate to catching. I've seen guys that have boats with all the gizmos left wanting by someone in a boat with only a depth finder. The difference being the skills and knowledge to get fish to bite. That's why I like goin' muddin' on the Sheyenne. Much of the gizmos and technology are useless in that enviroment and its a persons fishing skills that separate success from excersize, not technology.

 

[Norske]

1. Biologists typically measure fish populations in #/acre. So five 2# fish = one 10# fish.
2. Small lakes are easy to "fish out." Does anyone else recall the big bluegills from Brush Lake? That lasted only about a season. MN is full of lakes with panfish-sized game fish. Blame angler pressure. 10,000 lakes/millions of anglers = 5000 fish ;<)
3. Big lakes, like Jason's home lake of Devils Lake, can suffer a combination of the first two comments in this reply. It's value as a trophy pike lake is diminishing according to John Candle a couple years ago at the Fargo Sportsman's show. Trophy walleye are also loosing numbers.
4. I personally don't keep any walleye between 3# and 10# (still waiting for that wall hanger 10). It's a taste thing. The valuable spawners are those about 4>7#. Big walleye produce a much lower % of fertile eggs, small ones don't produce high numbers of eggs. Male fish don't limit themselves to fertilizing the eggs of a single female.

I'm prejudiced, I earned a MS degree in fisheries biology in June of 1978.

 

[shorthairsrus]

Look beyond tournaments. Look at the equipment on the lake, open water or ice fishing, and tell us that fishing isn't getting easier for even the newest fisherman. Same things apply to hunting. Posting a limit of fish/trophy fish/giant deer is the new norm and more people will continue to strive for limits and trophy fish. That means they'll spend as much money as it takes. I know far too many people who fish under 10 times a year and somehow they have multiple trophy fish on the wall. Tell me that electronics and other specialized equipment doesn't help a dummy become up to speed rather quickly these days.

And to be fair, Im one of the dummies.

Quit calling your self a dummy --- your catching also has to due with increased stocking --- (unheard or stocking 4million per year on one lake), high water years, skill and the list goes on. Its not all electronics/gear --- Jason just wants to sell more gear as it puts money in his pocket. We caught more fish this year on days that we were not all tied up in electronics and gear -- basics basics. He indirectly is advertising by the use of that article. He wants to have conservation as it puts more biggies for his clients -- while taking away the average guy going fishing and trying to keep a fish to fry. Typical me me article while putting blame on others.

 

[guywhofishes]

9/10 of my best fishing days never involve my depth finder - I rarely ever mark the fish I catch

 

[DirtyMike]

Obviously you're stuck in your own thoughts, shorthairs. I don't rely on my electronics, but I sure as hell use them to my advantage. Anyone ever go ice fishing and realize they forgot their vex? did you still fish and do you think you caught the same amount of fish had you remembered your flasher? On top of that, who the hell had a tracked ATV 10 years ago? Getting to spots on the ice that you marked during the summer with a $2000 graph capable of spotting structure 200 ft from either side of the boat. These things can't make the fish bite, but I guarenteed it cuts the learning curve by a ridiculous amount.

Don't get me wrong, I love casting cranks from shore or pitching jigs onto a sandbar, neither of which require a graph. But when I troll the shore of my favorite crank casting site and find the drop off on my graph, guess where I'm setting up when I'm on foot the next time. The moment I think I've learned everything about fishing is the day I give it up. Always be a student of the game.

 

[Wildyote]

I think limits are just fine the way they are. It doesn't help that Mitchell is exploiting the resource with his TV show which in hand brings more pressure to our state. I also thing guiding/outfitting has brought way to much attention to ND and stressed wildlife resources.

 

[dean nelson]

Oh yeah learning curve if that's even the right term anymore at this point it's more like having fishing for Dummies book. But I can go to a lake I have mapped in the summer and set up on a hidden rock pile and see them one my Vexilar and drop down a camera and see everything they do but I will be goddamned if I can't get those bastards to bite some days.

Look at last year ice was a bit thin but the weather was about abouts nice you could ask for but you won't find many people who would have called a great year...hell most wouldn't even call it a good year.

 

[shorthairsrus]

Mike tracked vehicles have been around for umpteen years can u say snowmobile. We used to fish without electronics. Bass fishing in 2 feet of water we sight fished still do. It's just Jason making a buck. Ndgf can outstock anything

 

[DirtyMike]

Good lord your an old stubborn bastard aren't you. Of course you used to fish without electronics. The argument is about how electronics are making it easier. Along with tracked atv's. Obviously you've have snow machines for years. But you didn't have flashers. Christ aren't you late for a protest somewhere?

 

[Vollmer]

If you two were my kids, I'd make you hug for one whole minute.

 

[DirtyMike]

He'd complain about that too.

 

[dust in the wind]

If you two were my kids, I'd make you hug for one whole minute.

I picture it going something like this.

 

[shorthairsrus]

. Fu$k I ain't that old. I wasn't thought of yet when da flasher came out.

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My point is that I am not going to read an article from a guy that posts daily pictures on his FB page of dead fish and he is going to hold himself out as someone who conserves nature

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Read the part about light fishing pressure:. Who da dummy

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Go ahead and jump on the hypocrites band wagon

 

[DirtyMike]

Look at that group of hardcore tournament anglers! Esther and little Johnny are one hell of a team. I wonder if new technology helped them catch a limit of fish and making them proud to post them on social media. You're proving my point.

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And yes, I know they're guided. But they didn't get rowed out in pa's old wooden boat and a bamboo rod.

 

[Kurtr]

See he learned from one of the best con men phony Dean. Do as I say not as I do

 

[shorthairsrus]

Look at that group of hardcore tournament anglers! Esther and little Johnny are one hell of a team. I wonder if new technology helped them catch a limit of fish and making them proud to post them on social media. You're proving my point.

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And yes, I know they're guided. But they didn't get rowed out in pa's old wooden boat and a bamboo rod.

??

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The only point that i want to prove is when my kid goes dad --- i doubt if i will fish --- -jason and Mike and Mike -- they say i need a 70k boat, 70k pickup to pull it, 150 dollar map for each of my electronics (isnt that new one more?), 150 gloomis rods, 5k in electronics............. and the list goes on. Then the best is dad --- they call me a dummy once I buy all that stuff

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Jason -- i have fished since i was big enough to tie mono on a stick. I have seen ups and downs in fishing success --= most due to weather changes and climate. Jason your article is pointed at marketing your own equipment and has nothing to do with conservation as your own web site states that "fishing pressure is low". The fact is that fishing as a sport is on the decline and resident licenses in ND declined. Why --- time and money constraints. We need to promote fishing for our young --- not tell them they need to buy $$$$ into fishing. Marketing and conservation do not belong together in an article. How much did you pay mcfeely or was that payment rendered for services as zippy was on a few days later; maybe guided trip for mcfooley.

 

[DirtyMike]

You're arguing two completely different points. Done.

 

[Jason Mitchell]

I wanted to clarify a few things on this thread. This article came from a radio interview I did with Mike Mcfeely a few weeks ago. Mike asked me my opinion on lowering the panfish limits on some lakes in Minnesota. I support the notion as there are many lakes in Minnesota where the size of the bluegill and crappie has really dropped over time, where you could catch nine inch bluegills and twelve inch crappies but now find six inch bluegills because all the bigger fish went home in a bucket. Across the board, many of these lakes get much more pressure than what we see in the Dakotas. It was a very candid conversation and wasn't implying that people shouldn't eat fish or keep fish but the reality is that where there is heavy participation, limits have to be lowered if you don't want to limit the number of people. Situations in the Dakotas are typically much different where our fishing is tied to high or low water cycles that creates cyclic fish populations that boom or bust. Managing fisheries in the Dakotas is much different than further east. I know that you don't need a lot of equipment to catch fish. My point was that there has always been great anglers who caught a lot of fish but the difference in today's world is that it is quicker than ever before to become a good angler because the learning curve is much higher today. There are way more good anglers in the world today than twenty years ago. The equipment available today has a lot to do with that. Look at spot lock on a trolling motor for example or side imaging... and no I am not sponsored by Lowrance or Minnkota. At some point, fishing has to be much more than just a limit of fish. Hope you all have a good day

 

[Vollmer]

I remember hearing a podcast with Mark Martin, talking about how they used to throw out bleach bottles tied to x amount of line and let the bottles drift into shore to know where that x contour depth was.

Quite a bit easier nowadays.