I ain't goin down this path, its for the gill net and you guys to discuss:)

Stay on topic. Or you are correct.:grinpimp:

Lol, Not the Gary Busey Jr. Twin. The guy who caught the fish.

2009 east won it.

I keep telling everybody that popping corks are deadly - should be outlawed!!;)

I think the increase in pressure and killing the big trout has allot to do with the lack of 9 and 10 lb trout. A 10 lb trout is 9 years old, its hard to grow to 9 years of age with a fill the cooler to the top for photos and freezer meat mentality. And most of Bruce's clients release the large trophys fish to fight another day. I fished with him year before last and released an 8lber. I still haven't joined the 10lber 30 inch club but one day.

:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

Try Again..............Nobody Keeps Big Trout in Big Lake..........We dont like to eat them

And this is far from the problem...........

In terms of general wildlife management, when you want something to be big, you take out the competition (small fish) to have more resources available for the bigger things.

There is ZERO sense in NOT keeping that big trout though, none at all. It will just die of old age, may as well stick it on the wall. (I have nothing against throwing one back that is big, I will throw the big ones back as well unless its going on the wall). The odds of that 8 lb trout you let go will get to be a 30" trout are not that good, it is likely that is the last year of this fish's life and will spawn out and die. That same fish may have been a 10 or 12 lb fish in areas with less competition. You really really have to focus on the age classes. That 8 lb fish may have been 10 years old when in a productive environment it could have been a 10.

Think of it in deer hunting terms, people want big deer, you gotta thin out the competition for resources (does). Does and their offspring get the lions share of the resources. You have to figure out what exactly you want, whether its to see a bunch of deer (catch a bunch of fish) or not see many deer and have the chance at a real stud (catch a few but all big fish). Lowering the limit to 15 is bass akwards if you are managing for trophy fish. The system in place was not broken in the first place, but now it is:redface:

Here is a really good article on management of our fisheries in Louisiana. Its about bass but puts into terms of deer management and carries over to basically anything you want to manage to get bigger.


Small Fry

Thinking of throwing that small bass back? If so, you’re actually doing more harm to the resource than good.


http://www.crappie.com/crappie/pics/med/p1270066964.jpgChris GinnState agencies that manage the bass fishing at Louisiana’s slot lakes can only do so much; the public has to do its part for the regulations to have an effect.
Old habits die hard. Don’t believe me? Go ask Bass Anglers Sportsman Society founder Ray Scott, who spearheaded the catch-and-release phenomenon in the 1970s how much trouble he had convincing a bunch of backwoods bubbas to release bass back into Lake Guntersville rather than “Lake Crisco.”

Scott finally had success — perhaps too much of it.
While a noble and sometimes lake-saving movement, the trouble with catch-and-release was that it became more of a cult religion whose members verbally and mentally abused those who didn’t give their bass a little kiss and pat on the head before acting as savior and sliding them back into the water.
I know because I was as brainwashed as anybody in the movement. My boat’s livewell was to keep fish alive for tournament weigh-ins rather than to transport them to the fish-cleaning table. Anybody in my boat who did otherwise became the object of sharp, down-my-nose glances and passive-aggressive ridicule.
Before the end of the 1990s, keeping bass for supper might as well have been added to pride, envy, gluttony, lust, anger, greed and sloth, the seven — no, make that eight — deadly sins.
But the very anglers who eventually learned to catch and release their fish are now some of the primary reasons why slot limits at Poverty Point, Caney Creek Lake, Spanish Lake, Caddo Lake, Black Bayou Lake, Chicot Lake, Cross Lake, Lake Rodemacher, Grand Bayou and Vernon Lake haven’t had nearly the impact that they could have.
Each of these lakes has a regulation requiring anglers to immediately release bass that fall between certain length measurements. These “slot lakes” also limit the number of bass over the upper end of the slot that anglers can keep. The only restriction on bass falling below the slot limit is Louisiana’s typical 10-fish largemouth bass creel limit.
Slot limits were put into place on these lakes to improve the overall quality of bass fishing and to create a healthier bass population with more trophy-sized fish than other Louisiana waters.
“Slots were designed to shave off smaller fish to make more forage available for larger ones,” said LDWF Senior Fisheries Management Advisor Mike Wood. “Without meaning any harm, and often with the very best intentions, many anglers throw back all bass rather than only those in the slot.”
When this is the case, slot limits become nothing more than numbers on a sign at the boat launch telling anglers what they should do. The problem comes in getting anglers to participate beyond releasing bass within the slot limit because we are so conditioned to practicing catch-and-release.
“Throwing back the small ones compromises the slot limit to some extent because we are putting back the very same bass that we’re trying to remove to reduce competition for food,” Wood said. “Releasing small bass under the slot limit keeps this regulation from working as it should.”
This was precisely the same mentality that led deer hunters to not shoot does even though organizations like the Quality Deer Management Association implored hunters that, on many lands, shooting more does would lead to a healthier overall deer herd with bigger bucks sporting bigger racks.
Look how long it took for people to understand the concept of shooting does to improve deer herds. However, even today, you wouldn’t have to visit too many barbershops to find a well-meaning hunter sitting in the chair saying to anybody who’ll listen, “You know what you need to do? You need to let that herd grow for three years without shooting does. Then you’ll really have something.”
“Not only do old ideas die really hard,” Wood said, “they also die very slowly. In some cases, it takes a lot of slow walking and getting a new crop of hunters or anglers who are more open to suggestion — who will listen a little bit. Management, whether for deer or bass, is a learning process for everybody.”
Take Wood’s own LDWF, for instance. This department was selling the idea back in the ‘20s, ‘30s, ‘40s and ‘50s that it was important to not shoot does because there weren’t many deer. But the situation changed as the increasing population became a success story.
On the other hand, hunters didn’t change with the situation, and many held firmly to the idea that if it was good medicine to not shoot does then, it must be good medicine to not shoot does now. For them, shooting does remained a deadly sin. The often-overlooked fact, though, is that there were maybe 500,000 deer in the nation back then while that number is estimated at over 30 million today.
This sounds very familiar to bass anglers who believe releasing everything they catch continues to be the right thing to do just because that’s what their first issue of BASSMASTER magazine told them to do.
It might take a while to sink in, but the reason we should keep the smaller bass at these slot lakes is the same reason why we should shoot does on our properties.
Releasing small bass and letting does walk contributes to overpopulation, and overpopulation means fish and deer exceed the carrying capacity for a particular lake or piece of land.
Every Louisiana hunter who has taken the LDWF Hunter Education course has seen the drawing of the bathtub in the course manual. This tub visually depicts the concept of carrying capacity.
Simply put, the size of the tub represents the carrying capacity of a habitat at any given time. Water going into the tub represents births and water draining out of the tub represents deaths.
When there is too much water going in (births) without the same amount of water coming out (deaths), the tub fills, and water (animals) overflows and sloshes out of the tub (overpopulation).
As the ultimate predator, hunters and anglers don’t have much influence in the number of births, but we do have an influence in the number of deaths. Therefore, we can do our part to keep the water from overflowing out of the tub.
Take deer for example. According to QDMA publications, when deer are above the carrying capacity of a piece of property, the number of fawns born per doe is reduced. This is dictated by available nutrition and stress.
However, when deer populations are kept below carrying capacity by including does in the harvest, available nutrition is increased and more fawns are born per doe.
Louisiana Deer Study Leader Scott Durham explained this principle in layman’s terms.
“Say you have a tract of land that can support 100 deer,” said Durham. “You’ve determined that you’ve got an annual recruitment, births, of 30. That means you’ve got to shoot 30 deer to keep your population under your property’s carrying capacity.
“Removing X number of deer is the bottom line regardless of whether they are bucks or does. But the females are the reproducers, so if you’re really trying to reduce your deer herd you still key on does.”
Reducing a deer herd in this way has lots of other effects besides reducing competition for available browse. Things like sex ratio and increased recruitment work together with staying within the carrying capacity of a property to produce the healthiest deer population possible on that property.
Keeping bass that fall under a slot limit is all about keeping the bass population under a lake’s carrying capacity, thus preventing overpopulation and the stunted fish that result.
Louisiana Bass Facts, a document published by the Louisiana State University Agricultural Center, Louisiana Cooperative Extension Service and the Louisiana Sea Grant College Program states, “If a given reservoir can produce 40 pounds of bass per acre per year, fishery managers must try to decide whether the public would prefer four 10-pound bass or 40 1-pound bass from that acre of water, or some combination.”
This document’s explanation for slot limits is that they are based on the principle that bass populations exhibit different habitat requirements during different phases of their life histories. Slot limits focus on protecting one segment of the life history, which can influence overall fishing success.
Wood says that it all goes back to many of the slot-limit lakes being managed as trophy bass lakes that required management practices in response to the public wanting larger bass.
“The trophy bass lakes with the slot limits were the priority when stocking Florida bass,” said Wood, “because we picked lakes that, at the time, had the potential to make the most out of the genetics of the bass we were stocking.”
Even now, anglers at many of these slot lakes are wondering why they are struggling to catch big bass when so many Florida bass were stocked and slot limits were implemented. Perhaps the answer lies in the fact that state agencies can only conduct studies and implement fishing regulations; the public has to follow them.
“We’ve got some guys clamoring in Shreveport — some of those lakes — they’ve been waiting on big bass, but they’re just not seeing them,” Wood said. “We started managing those lakes with slots, but the big fish just aren’t showing up. I don’t know how many bass under the slot get released, but every one that does takes away the potential to grow big bass.”
If catch-and-release has become too ingrained in the bass fishing public to the point that anglers just can’t make themselves keep small bass, perhaps there are other ways to manage Louisiana’s lakes that take that into consideration.
“We’ve developed to the point that we can predict and evaluate some things,” Wood said, “but we just can’t go grab some water and make it happen. We really have to have angler participation in selective harvest at these slot lakes to make the slots work. But if our efforts aren’t productive, we need to go back to the drawing board to see what we can do.”
Why go back to the drawing board, though, when there are regulations in place that will improve the bass fishing at slot lakes? All it takes is a change of mind, a filet knife, some cornmeal and an empty stomach.
That guilt pang you feel the first couple of times you fry small bass will slowly fade away.

Well said bro.....beat ive heard

Some will never face the face that the 15 trout limit was an epic FAIL

Now we see it in plain day light

There is something in place right now to reduce the limit and add size restrictions to CRAPPIE on a couple lakes in N La:eek:, they want trophy crappie! This has been tried over and over and the same results happen, the fish overpopulate and their growth is stunted. I have argued ad nausea about it, yet people keep saying well it can't hurt, lets try it, when its been tried and it DOES hurt, it does the opposite. The biggest proponent of the restrictions who used to call me all kinds of names:rotfl: finally talked to some cat over in Alabama who had his masters in crappie mgmt or something and dude did a complete 180, now tries to get everyone to keep EVERY crappie they catch:eek: It just takes some people a little longer to come around, and no matter what evidence you show people from past studies, to wildlife professionals opinions, even to people that stock ponds that will not even sell you crappie because they will overpopulate a pond, they will not listen.

As you can tell I am not a fan of designating places as 'trophy fisheries' because they got that way without the 'help' of some specific management plan, and once people name something a trophy lake, politics get involved and people don't listen to the professionals and want to CHANGE things even though there is nothing wrong with them, then the lakes start going downhill:redface: This trophy deer mentality is killing the fun out of deer hunting for me. Deer hunters are trying to push legislation for antler restrictions on public land even though study after study after study suggests that they do not work in all settings. It is getting ridiculous in that we can't just go out and catch or shoot something without having to read thru 5 pages of regulations to make sure we can keep it to eat

Bill Garret, a close friend, of Houston told me that in April of 2002 that he caught and released a 11 1/4 lb trout on the East Shoreline. The week before he caught two 10 lb class trout on the same trip. He had them both mounted together on a table mount. He chose to release the 11 pounder and not kill another big fish. Bill targets big trout and will wade all day for 1 bite...


He told me he thought the Lake record was over 12 lbs. He was thinking about the state record from Ponchartrain. True, its a fish story with no proof. I know a new state record trout resides in Big Lake at this time. It will come from Feb thru the first full moon in May. After that they are all spawned out, skinny, and eel like.


Big Lake does not have the numbers of big trout that in the past due to fishing pressure and anglers killed way to many big trout in the past. It will eventually take a toll. Keeping 6 to 8 lb trout trout will make it more difficult for the 9 & 10 lb sows to show in any great numbers. Thats my 2 cents worth... Good Fishin!!!

Has anyone tagged a 7lb plus trout that was ever caught again? Always wondered that but I've never really heard anyone talk about it.

In the winter when the big trout gang up we repeatedly catch and release the same trout over and over again from the same stretch of shoreline.

Its quite evident from the hook marks on the trouts mouth, head, and gill plates.

It may be the next day or two later.

I am sure they all do not survive.

But they have a much better chance in the water than in an ice chest...

Bruce, are you in the CCA tagging program? Think it would be intersting if you were to see what those bigger fish are doing year in and out.

I agree it's hard to argue against keeping a big fish. Since they don't have much more to offer spawning wise and they've been laying eggs since they were tiny not much reason to not keep a big one. I'd like to see proof of someone catching an 8 or 9 pounder a year or two after it was tagged. And I still can't get over the fact the limit was changed.

Yes, Last winter we tagged 6 over 8lbs & 1 that was pushing the 10 lb mark, all in Dec & Jan. The last legit 10 lb fish trout I have seen was Will Drost 10 lb 1 oz trout several years back. Will released her and another heavy 9 lb trout he caught a few minutes later. Ed Hix, of Houston, also has 2, 10 lb trout to his credit. One mega trout came in December and the other in April.Steve Nelson, of Lake Charles, has a 10 lb trout, caught in the Spring. Sadly the mount was lost during Hurricane Rita. Damn, the bad luck...

I don't agree with that's why we don't have as many big trout is due to pressure and people keeping more big trout
Here is why
Just up till maybe 7 years now people started releasing big trout more and more.....now lots of people release way more trout than ever before in the lakes history

Before this CPR was popular and 15trout limits were in forced big trout were everywhere and common

Terry Shaunessy(sp) and those boys use to box hundreds of 6-9lb trout and back in those days everything hit the box

Big trout are still around but where you would catch just bug trout now you can catch limits of trout due to the over population on trout.

Big trout will not compete for food against smaller fish ,so when you have smaller trout hugging the same bank line big trout love....your big trout are going to move off

Just look how many big trout were caught during 90-2000....and you see a huge drop from 2000-2012 due to limit changes

Nothing else has changed but number of trout getting taken out

The two Hurricane helped the lake more than hurt as we had huge redfish numbers and trout numbers exploded

Pressure is not that's big of a deal because you still have the same guys running big motors while crabbing banks they did years ago...

But weekdays you can almost have the lake to your self in Jan,Feb,and early March

Until we have our limits moved back up you will see big trout numbers keep falling

This is not like Texas where they have no trout , we have a strong estuary and can support and huge number of fish

One thing i'm noticing throughout these discussions is the disagreement occuring over whether or not reducing the overall trout limit has unitended consequences on the big trout population. Everyone is using examples, stating how when the limit was 25 they caught larger trout, versus smaller ones when the limit was moved to 15. I dont know the answer either way, but i will state that there are some errors with this logic. People are assuming that the only thing that has changed is the limit. They are not taking into account all the other variables that can change as well, such as fishing pressure. Its basic statistics, it is impossible to draw a logical conclusion based upon the limit redcutions without taking into account all the other factors and therefore having an actual apples-to-apples comparison.

More fishing pressure ought to lead to more big fish being caught. There are other variables, but if the limit change did lead to more bigger trout, it would be quite evident. However, the opposite is what is happening and it's nothing more than a fact. Can't argue with facts. We have more people fishing, and although not everyone out there is a good fisherman, plenty are. If the limit change did lead to Big Lake being a better trophy trout lake, it sure isn't showing.

More fishing pressure could lead to more big fish being caught, temporarily however big fish are like any other resouce in that they are finite. As far as fact, i haven't seen numbers that show less large fish are being caught. If you have that survey or study please list the link to me as i would like to see it for my own knowledge. I also don't think you are taking lagtime into account. For instance: WHen the pressure started to increase on the lake, more people were catching big trout as well as school sized trout. Therefore large numbers of both were being caught. There is a natural delay in any population because of the time it takes to reach reproductive maturity. It is possible that we could just now be seeing the negative effects of overfishing when the creel limits were higher.

Like i said earlier, I think W makes very vaild points, a compelling argument, and could very likely be right. I have no opinion either way, just pointing out that some things could be overlooked when people are drawing their conclusions. Read the book Freakanomics, great book that talks about this in detail that is a very interesting read. Not boring at all.

I am not a marine fisheries biologist nor did I sleep in a Holiday Inn last night or week, but I think legal recreational fishing is nowhere near the number one reason of a factor when it comes to sound fisheries management. Trout are very prolific spawners, they live a relatively short lifespan. For all species of wildlife that I can think of, three things are the most important to their entire existence: Survival first and foremost, growth, and then reproduction. They have to survive to grow and grow to reproduce. Reproduction is the ultimate goal of all animals, this is what is considered 'success' = to get your genes into the next generation (offspring).

Trout do not all spawn at the same time, they can spawn multiple times, and they produce numerous eggs each time. I have no idea the numbers, but lets just say 10,000 eggs is the average clutch of an average female trout. Lets say 1 MILLION trout are harvested in Big Lake each year (nowhere near that high), that means that 100 successful trout can make up for this years trout harvest from recreation fishing. There is no such thing as 100% survival of fish eggs and then no such thing as 100% survival from fry to adult, but still the point is addressed. If there is no food or shelter for these young fish then you have a problem (no survival and therefore no growth or reproduction).

If we start talking long lived species such as red snapper that maybe 50 years old, then thats another story, but for species such as trout, I do not believe fishing puts a dent in the overall population. Sure it takes out some fish, but I doubt the numbers that are taken out are statistically significant to natural mortality. I would bet pelicans and dolphins take out more trout than the recreational angler




Managing for trophies is ridiculous IMO, usually the opposite effect is derived when trophy management is adopted

Here is a good quote:

Availability of suitable habitat for individuals of a population in a particular area is what determines its ultimate population size. Regardless of how fast a species can reproduce, there can be no more dandelions than there is dandelion habitat and no more zebras (trout) than there is zebra (trout) habitat in a particular area.

Read up on r-selected species and k-selected species

K = carrying capacity, and k-selected species are typically long-lived larger species that take longer to reach sexual maturity, have fewer offspring, and will typically have some sort of parental care (perennial plants, sea turtles, elephants, humans, etc.)

r-selected species reach sexual maturity fast, produce lots of offspring, do not live long, and typically don't spend too much energy on parental care (annual plants, mice, bacteria, etc.)

I would think trout fall more into the r-selected species they don't take long to reach sexual maturity, they are prolific spawners, and they just deposit their eggs and leave. Think of k as quality and r as quantity, and when you try to start managing for quality in an r-selected species in the wild, it usually doesn't pan out. Crappie and bluegill would fit this category as well. Just think of trout and panfish as mice, farmers (fishermen) spend millions each year trying to control (catch) the mouse populatioon, and yet with all that expensive chemicals and mouse traps (baits), the population keeps on coming back because they are resilient. Now if you want to try and grow bigger mice (trout) then you need to start taking away some of the smaller ones so the larger ones will have less competition from the smaller mice (trout).:)

Explain what you would call fishing pressure ???? One day , over a week, over a month or a year

Like I said above in the months when big trout are more likely to be caught you have the least amount of boats out on the water Jan Feb and March... So fishing pressure is almost zero in theses months during the week

You have a few die hards like me that fish year around but not many

For discussion purposes, I define pressure as the total volume of recreational fishing boats in the resource over an extened period of time. Ex: comparing 1995 to 2000 vs. 2000 to 2005, etc. If we want to get technical then we need to define what constitues a big fish. Obviously, a 28" fish that is caught in March 15th with eggs, will weigh more than the same 28" fish June 15th after they dumped their eggs.

Removing the spawn factor out of the equation, based upon your observation that big trout are caught in months with the least pressure, do you think it could be possible that there is a inverse correlation between fishing activity and large fish? Ex: High activity fishing pressure, Less big fish per capita, Vs. Low activity fishing pressure.

It could be possible that the creel limit isn't the issue and there are just as many big fish now, but with all the "pilgrims" on the water it is becoming more difficult to catch them with all the "commotion".

Again,
I dont know the answer, just trying to demonstrate there can be all sorts of reason that lead to less big trout... not one all encompossing factor.

To me from what I believe fishing pressure is not that much of a factor, now will fishing pressure cause you to miss chances for big trout ,,yes that's why you don't catch many big trout on Saturdays as you would say a weekday . I don't believe it drives trout out just spooks them into deeper waters or off reefs .
When a guy big motors on a bank /reef ,throws his anchor , trolls up wind, trolls wide open ...this all plays factor to messing many people up in a shallow lake . But this lake had gill nets and still put out huge trout .....

Let's take Cajunwader, he likes to fish colder months for big trout and he catches them... So his best big trout months are Jan ,Feb..

My best big trout month were I catch the most trout over 7lbs is August , but I know why I catch them because like Bruce who knows the art of Feb I have done the same for August . I catch all them close to the channel like washout, 9mile , WC and long point and about 90% are caught on falling tide.. These bigger trout hang in deeper waters off the channel and will follow bait on high tide up on flats. And when tide starts falling they will retreat back to cooler waters and I catch them all close to channel....

August is a busy boat and fishing month so that tells me big trout are not driven away because of boat traffic .

Well what does classify a "trophy fish" anyone

Seems 29inch is the number:rolleyes:

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder or as Shaunessy used to say one man's tropy is another man's meat. Personally, I release anything over 24" and I try to do the Florida grouper release where you un-hook them in the water so there is less stress on them. Hopefully some kid will catch them again but I don't have a problem if someone wants to mount a big trout or even eat a big trout. The big ones have to have acquired more pollutants than small fish. To each his own.

I agree there is not just one all encompassing factor. The lake record may very well be broken in time, but to say someone has a better chance to catch a record trout since the limit change would be hard to back up.

But since the change how many 11s have been caught

There 15 viewers, you all have an opinion post what you think you will not be patrionized....lets here spme comments....good discuss... Nobodys wrong voice it.........

No 11lbers that I know of.

How many were caught before??? According to the record books, only one came out of Big Lake, and another was caught that we know of, taking that guy by his word….

Alright since creel change how many 9-10s have been caught....just round about...bruce, w, noodle, anyone

I only heard of 3 over 10 caught since the limit change and Bruce has two of them

Again, how man were caught before??? Just curious...

Well Jeff Poe has several of the top 10 fish on fly rod including the record and I believe most if not all were caught prior to the limit change. I know there is no way to keep record of every fish over 8 pounds caught but just talk to anyone who fished in 80's or 90's and still fishes to this day, they'll tell you about the change.

So thats what it goes to say "change the limit back to 25" and watch the size increase.....Like stated before alot of people dont or cant catch 15 muchless 25 so raising the limit would hurt what....I dont know Im asking...Was there a shortage when they lowered it to 15....What was the REASON for the LOWERING of the Limit from 25 to 15....Looks like there were bigger fish caught when the limit was higher...Yeah there are more boats....But how many TROPHY fish are caught on SAT OR SUN....Prolly not too many....just because of the number of boats....But ask all the big fish catchers when they catch....I would assume M-F....JMO.

I'm by no means very educated on the topic. However, from the information I have read, lowering the limit in order to produce a better trophy trout lake makes zero sense. Maybe one day we will be proven wrong, but I doubt it. The limit change bothers me because if that can be changed, no telling what else can happen in the future.

I fish over 100 days a year and before I worked 7 n7 I still fished a good bit , from my experance the adv size of over all trout is down

Only hard Facts I can give u are

Look at STAR weights under 25 trout limit vs 15 trout limit

It took a upper 9 lb trout to win STAR and the top 3 were almost all 9 over

Look at the CCA trout shoot out..... Took upper 8-9 to win 25 limit now if you catch a 7 you won...or even upper 6

Jeff Poe will also tell you that when he fished int he late 80's he could go a full day on the water without seeing another recreational fisherman. Not trying to be a smart a**, just going make to the point I made earlier that you can't do an exact comparison of creel limit by holding all other things constant.

That being said, even on the days that i could catch 25 trout, i would start throwing them back before then because i don't want to clean that many. So I'm good either way.

I would like to know what inchspinner asked about how many 10lbers have actually been caught. I wonder before the boga grip how man fisherman got an acurate reading on there fish and how many so called 10lbs were actually that big.

Now years after limit change I'm now 100% against it because I can see it has taken a toll on the over all trout size

It was don't with Zero Facts by guys who have a lot of money and fish less than 30 times a year and that's pushing it

Nobody even weight trout back them...they all got the knife..... Terry Shaunessy said he has caoughy over 6000 6 or 8 lb trout if I remember that right in trout masters book

I know my dad had lots of numbers of big trout in the 6-8 lb range in some pics

When they were catching all those big trout back then, do you think there were more trout getting caught overall?

Even if the limit was 25 back then, I would imagine there were less saltwater fisherman then there are now.

So It seems me based on what we said earlier that a
25 limit w/ less fisherman=15 limit w/more fisherman so it would almost be a breakeven.

Just a thought and nobody knows the answer how many trout are caught a year in bl over seven.....just think how many you have if any and the ones you hear about....not a buttload....jmo...in one physical year

I agree, for all I know W's theory is completely accurate. The only point i was trying to make is that it is difficult to say that the only reason less big trout are being caught is because of the creel limit. It could be a variety of contributing factors.

I know this ......I have pics at my Dads house were they had over 1500 trout in one weekend.......

all 3-7lbs trout

Please postem....im not saying i don't believe you just want to see'em. Like old school fishing pics