Yes, many try to play God, even accuse others while they themselves do so. It can get tricky...right? I never try and 'tell' people what to do... they are going to do what they want anyway. I do try to get people to think about what is available to them, and why I feel it pays to try and conserve. I have fished in many, many states for almost 60 years... and coming up with 5 brothers and 5 sisters.. and being poor, we ate a lot of what we caught. Those were different times for sure. I suggest to folks, if they want bass to eat, consider bringing home the 1 and 2 lbers, they are almost always the higher number of fish in a system when a survey is done. When a bass reaches 3 lbs, it reaches a time in it's life cycle... where it has eluded 90% of what is going to capture or kill it. And, that is where most in a decent system will start to grow. You cannot have a 5 or 6 lb. bass, without first having a 3 or 4 lb. bass...it is simple math. You will never have a 10 lb. bass, without having a 7 or 8 lb. bass. Once a fish reaches around 3 lbs, the odds of it making to the larger class sizes, increases, a lot. It can escape most predators, except the most efficient predator on the planet, man. And, the one of the most efficient predators of men, is a coonass with a fillet knife. I have been to states where they grow bass we can only dream about. The best ones, Ca, Fla, and Texas, has Parks and Wildlife Depts. that truly understand the dynamics. The LDW&F.... not so much. Now, not every body of water is prone to produce big bass, especially numbers of big bass. That is why it is important to set restrictions and limits on certain water bodies, and to not set limiting restrictions on all. When we are talking 40 to 50 years ago, we did not have the numbers of people we have today on many lakes and waters. In just looking at these other states, it pays to have some conservation involved in keeping the fishing good. People in this state, especially in South Louisiana, love to get together, cook, eat, and have a good time. That is what make the culture special. But, many still do not believe it is necessary to try and conserve some. If you want to catch a 10 lb. bass, kill it, and take it home... you have that right by law, as long as you follow the regs for that water body. This is what happened to Caney Lake. Lots of people blame the demise of Caney on the release of grass carp. Those carp hurt the lake when the grass started disappearing, but the lake was already being hurt by it's success. The lake was spitting out top 50 bass each month for a few years... but folks started taking them out, one by one, to mount. People not only from Louisiana, but from other states also. The lake could not produce bass that took 8 to 11 years to produce... once they started disappearing in large numbers. It's just simple math. I will always try and impress people to conserve our natural resources. You can do what you want, I really do not care if you truly do not get it. But , I have had many, many people over the years, stop and think, and start looking at things in a different perspective. These are the folks who I believe... will make a difference.
