October 2007 results
Leroy with Tourney Big Fish - 6.18 pounds.
Leroy with Tourney Big Fish - 6.18 pounds.
When we started, I went to my spot near the ramp and pulled two nice bass out in just three casts. Then it went dry until I went south in the rim canal almost to the end. My partner and I started fishing on the road side of the Ditch with poor results. We moved to the dike side and I saw a what I thought was a nice fish hit some bait on the edge of the water. I made a cast to the spot and twitched my Fluke twice and got a good solid hit. It felt like a pretty good fish and was pulling pretty hard. My partner, Walter Hunter was ready with the net when the fish came alongside the boat and then into the net and the boat. A good solid 2 pound fish. By my estimates, the three fish I had already weighed about five pounds. I managed to get five more fish in the next hour or so. Walter, my partner, got hit once but was unable to stick the fish, so as a team we went to the ramp with five fish. My weight was 9.17 pounds. Not enough to win anything but still a lot better than it has been.
This was the best tournament we have had in the past six months. With the water on the rise on the Big O, fishing is getting better. Standings for the Top 6 did not change during this tournament. The total number of fish caught was 32 weighing a total of 63.58 pounds for all anglers. That's 24 pounds over any other tournament fished this year.
The following was taken out of the Scripts news today, October 22, 2007 in the Treasure Coast Section of the Paper Page B 6, kinda hidden so no one would really notice. The Title is:
By TCPalm Staff
Monday, October 22, 2007
OKEECHOBEE — The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission is seeking public input on proposed changes to two Lake Okeechobee freshwater fishing rules.
The FWC will hold two public meetings in November to explain the reasons behind the proposed changes and to hear public opinion. The first meeting will be at 6:30 p.m. Nov. 14 at the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Office, 525 Ridgelawn Rd., Clewiston. The second meeting will be at 6:30 p.m. Nov. 15 at the Okeechobee Civic Center, 1750 N. U.S. 90.
Sampling over the past few years has shown a decline in the numbers of small largemouth bass and black crappie. The first proposed change is to replace the existing 13- to 18-inch protective slot limit for largemouth bass with an 18-inch minimum size limit. Currently, the slot limit restricts the harvest of bass between 13- and 18-inches in length. The new size limit would mean anglers could not take any bass under 18 inches from the lake. This change would protect the younger largemouth bass until they grow to quality size.
The second proposed change would be to institute a 10-inch minimum size limit on black crappie, also called speckled perch. The rule change would protect the younger black crappie from being harvested and reduce pressure on the current population. This rule would remain in effect until FWC trawl data shows three successive years of normal catch rates for black crappie.
If adopted by the commission, these ruled changes would go into effect July 1.
For information about freshwater fisheries, visit MyFWC.com and click on the fishing link. For information about the meetings, call Regional Fisheries Biologist Jon Fury at (561) 625-5122.
(see http://www.tcpalm.com/news/2007/oct/22/fish-experts-seek-input-new-rules/)
We as bass fishermen should attend at least one of the meetings to express our concern. However, if memory serves me correct, they asked for our input before when they started the 13 to 18 slot limit and it was promised then that it would only be for five years and it would go away. But instead of going away, now they want more strict limits on smaller fish. We need to attend as tournament fishermen to insure that the waiver we now receive from the state stays in effect. If we cannot get the waiver to catch and release small fish during a tournament, we should probably stop fishing fresh water altogether and move to salt water and fish for trout where we could at least keep what we catch. I will be attending the meeting In Okeechobee . I hope everyone in our club will be able to get there.
