So where's all the good guys from the Yahoo Answer Fishing Team?
Swamp Zombie, Chimp Dancer, Redheat, etc. Where'd everybody go? I'm gettin' lonely for some good questions and even better answers.
We ARE friends, Andrew. I just wanted to see if any of them would answer, meaning they are watching the questions, but just not seeing much of anything they want to bother with. Also, I wanted to see who, if anyone, agreed with my questioning their absence. I for one think it is a LOT more interesting when they are actively involved with us. I always respected their answers which were obviously based on experience rather than on guesses. I trust their judgment completely and it's a pretty rare day when I don't agree with their call on an issue...even when it comes to eating a 5# bass now and then. On THAT topic, I have never seen a lake that could be damaged enough to NOT come back from a catch and keep limit now and again. In your "ponds" that may be more of a critical issue, but most lakes do not miss and will not miss numerous limits of fish. That's a scientifically proven fact which you will discover for yourself one day, and hopefully soon. There'
Andrew: I have fished for 67 of my 69 years and have visited 35 of our 50 states....even been lucky enough to have fished in most of them. I have fished everything from private farm ponds to small countryside creeks and streams to huge lakes and rivers. I have fished freshwater and salt with equal pleasure and success. I have guided (licensed) others to do the same. From all of my experience, I feel very secure in telling you that the fishing waters of the USA as a whole are QUITE stable and well regulated. They can and do support reasonable "catch and keep" numbers of fish without threat of depleting or even threatening the population. We are FAR more likely to lose numbers of fish to pollution, winter kill, drought, etc. Fortunately, those conditions are rare across most of the nation. I have never fished New Jersey and it sounds like you have problems that need to be addressed way more than they may be. But I think if you will contact your regional fisheries depa