TWRA's 10 year trout management plan...

[shorefisherman]

i read the recent article on the centerhill sun and its looking promising, the management wanted to hear from the public but only had a pathetic 35 comments on the issue....they still want to hear from the public....
e-mail to [email protected]
or mail to
TWRA fisheries division, P.O. box 40747 Nashville,TN. 37204

pass the word.....

p.s.....they already know about the summertime canoers, poaching,etc..

my personal opinion is to have a protective lenghth reg. on brown...25" to 28"....like the brood stocks we used to catch 10 years ago, and 20" to 23 on bows.
but next 10 years looks good.

 

[rsimms]

People don't comment on stuff for a variety of reasons:

1) They haven't heard they're being asked (You're fixing that)

2) They don't believe their comments will be listened to or taken seriously. I fear that is an issue for TWRA. They don't have a good track record of assuring folks that what they say really does matter. Lots of folks have the perception TWRA is listening with deaf ears.

3) They are happy with the status quo and really don't want or see the need for any changes. I suspect that might be the #1 cause of folks not commenting on the trout plan. They're happy with the status quo (except for the proliferation of canoes/kayaks on the Caney Fork).

 

[mike243]

Having slot limits helps cut down the $ spent on raising fish,also for trophy aspects it gets their votes,I would like to see a cost analysis of the clinch river from before slot limits to now,a fortune is poured into the telico and citico areas stocking,not knowing about surveys that are out there may be the biggest reason for low responses,I don't do social media other than a few hunting and fishing web sites,then not knowing the area asked about I would be hesitant to voice a opinion that may sway some thing to hurt either the resource or the sportsman.

 

[7mm08]

1) Slot ALL streams that are stocked with trout ( example the Clinch)

2) Probibit the use of trout as BAIT for stripers (why raise a fish with extra fees - trout stamp - just to be used as bait to catch a fish that few actually fish for and even fewer consume)

3) stock MORE brown trout than rainbows as they are a tougher species and stand a better chance at reproduction ( example: South Holston)

4). Don't waste resources on stocking trout in lakes/ponds/cement pools for free fishing days

5) Demand that the TROUT stocked are dumped into the river when the dam is generating. Currently the idiots drop the trout off at ramps on the Clinch into a "hole" on announced days and all the toothless wonders of Anderson county show up for a grand day of snagging , and not fishing.

 

[Smo]

Guys slot limits and such would help the fisheries

But they only work on law abiding Citizens.

There are lots of people out there who break the laws.

 

[RUGER]

2) They don't believe their comments will be listened to or taken seriously. I fear that is an issue for TWRA. They don't have a good track record of assuring folks that what they say really does matter. Lots of folks have the perception TWRA is listening with deaf ears.

This, this and this.
That perception is far more rampant than the agency believes too.



As for the original topic, I don't live close enough to good trout waters to worry about giving my input, mainly because I don't fish for them that much and I don't know enough about them to have any intelligent input.

 

[7mm08]

Guys slot limits and such would help the fisheries

But they only work on law abiding Citizens.

There are lots of people out there who break the laws.

Fished in TN for 30 years. I have NEVER been checked. There is your main problem. If you know you're not going to get checked .... why worry?

 

[ewc]

7.08-

It's not the lack of GW checking that hurt Clinch. Something biological.

I've been fishing there 40 years.

I loved the river before the weir. I learned it after.

Something biological killed things in that river.

I would suggest Striped Bass, but I have no data (I am a fisheries biologist).

I would think a primary food source died off or a new more efficient predator.

Thanks sir-

-Judd

 

[7mm08]

7.08-

It's not the lack of GW checking that hurt Clinch. Something biological.

I've been fishing there 40 years.

I loved the river before the weir. I learned it after.

Something biological killed things in that river.

I would suggest Striped Bass, but I have no data (I am a fisheries biologist).

I would think a primary food source died off or a new more efficient predator.

Thanks sir-

-Judd

Agree. I have fished it since 1986

The river was MAGICAL in the 80's up until the early to mid 90's. Several things happened to take it down.
1. The river was insane! It was LOADED with scuds/sowbugs(invertabrates) that produced 1" growth rates per month! Phil Bertoli @ Tn Tech? along with TWRA did a study on this and ultimately the 6-8" fish they stocked got cut down to 3-4" to save $$$ and to make a " wilder trout".
2. Remember during this time the grass especially from the dam to the weir was thick and you could barely see the bottom. That grass was FULL of scuds( tiny shrimp-like, high in calories) but suddenly the river looked like a freestone Smokies stream. In an effort to figure this out I got chemical test kits from Americorps and tested the river at multiple locations. My son ( who won the regional science project for it) and I found phosphates and chlorine from the dam down to Miller's Island. Was it TVA dumping chlorine to clean the generators or something else who knows but the river,insects, and the fishing changed.
2. Then the era of the DINKS as we called it. Only small fish and nonhealthy for a period of time until the slot limit got introduced which has helped immensely IMO as improving the river. The scuds are coming back along the river but no where near the 80-90's numbers.
3. The worse thing however is schools of stripers coming into the river during summer months and wiping out the trout especially from 61 bridge up to Offet schoals. Last time we floated there were at least 8-10 stripers above Cold Water in the bend. We saw them all the way down to 61. Sad that a resource like the Clinch gets ravaged by these fish.

These are obviously my opinions and observations from 30 years of fishing this wonderful river. I wish we had a better cold water fisheries program that was more proactive in protecting these fisheries than concentrating on just dumping fish into a river and hoping for the best and satisfying the guy that wants to put 7 fish on a chain.

 

[Rebel]

great POST 7MM-08!

 

[ewc]

I agree with 7.08 also.