# 2011 Michigan Bass Regulations Proposal Petition



## KWB (Mar 1, 2009)

Will Schultz said:


> There isn't a clear cut answer on this one at all. I'll have to back up a few years to the implementation of the current season...
> 
> When we first reviewed the current Bass CIR season, in the coolwater regulations steering committee, one of the problems I suggested was that the current seasons were nothing more than tradition and not biologically sound. However, I'm one to lean on real biology and not on speculation and at the time the SALBRC report didn't have any proof one way or another. There is a very disticnt line in our region where bass management changes due to climate, lake type and biomass. We can't even compare Michigan to Indiana, Ohio or Illinois. Since the DNR (now DNRE) didn't have the data I challenged the Bass Federation to sponsor research here in Michigan to prove or disprove the impact of CIR. This was basically a "put up or shut up" challenge and to my knowledge there still hasn't been anything done by the Federation or BASS. My first question, if this comes to the committee, will be where is the supporting data? No feelings, no speculation, no "the DNRE can't prove it will harm the fish", I want to see the supporting data from Michigan waters.
> 
> ...


Will,

This is exactly what I wanted. Just some things I have noticed:

1) I have probably got about 75 emails telling me that they could care less about extending the C&R season unless it is noted that they can catch & use delayed release, basically they don't care about "fun fishing" as they say they will do that no matter what the law says, they just want to be able to fish tournaments. Many of them have stated the only reason they fish for Bass is because of the tournaments, which baffles me as I thought fishing was supposed to be "fun" and not something you only do to compete, but whatever...

2) Along with all those emails they do state how they spend most of the early season in surrounding states where they can fish tournaments instead of fishing here in Michigan, so yes I would say there is some economical impact, but no amount of economical gain is worth risking the quality of our Bass fisheries in my opinion.

3) The only studies I can find supporting any type of change were done down South and as you put, our fisheries cannot be compared to the surrounding states.

I was basically told the same thing you have stated here by a MDNRE biologist, it's just not as simple as just doing away with the closed season in the entire state. One reason being there is a lack of studies showing the effects (good or bad) that could come of the regulation change and second "seemingly the main reason", there is a possibility of a negative impact on the other fisheries in the state. In his opinion if it was just in regards to the Bass, there probably wouldn't be an issue with it, but you have to take into consideration the effects on other species.

Long story short, what started all of this is a couple weeks ago when it was really warm outside I would have loved fishing the lake behind the house for some Smallies, there is no doubt in my mind I would have had no negative impact on that fishery by catching and immediately releasing some Smallies, but I guess it's not always so clear when you look into the grand scheme of things. I for one am not willing to break the law, especially since they can take away your fishing license for breaking such laws and I cannot think of anything worse than that.

While I would love to be able to fish for Smallies early in the Spring, I really wish there was more studies done on the effects it could have. I guess that judgement will have to made by the MDNRE when the signatures are submitted, at this point there is certainly not enough support to get anything changed...

Thanks for your time Will,

Kory


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## thedude (Jul 20, 2004)

tournament fishing will be the primary economical impact.

Consider the amount of money an elite series BASS or FLW event would bring in to a place like detroit or saginaw. A pre-spawn tournament would be very appealing to these groups. We have the most contiguous acres of prime smallmouth fishing of anywhere in the world - to think that we don't see multiple types of these huge events every year is amazing to me. These are events that bring in out-of-state money and money that goes directly to the communities that host them.

Its important to highlight money that MI residents spend out of state, but its also very important to highlight new money that could be brought in as well. 

i feel a C&R season year round is a step in the right direction, but we do also need to have a provision for tournament fishing from ice-out to ice-on. Not so much that we can have MORE tournaments - but so that the tournaments we do have can finally be spread out to relieve some of the pressure these fish see all summer long. We've effectively given ourselves 12-14 weeks to cram every tournament we possibly can in - and we've made it so that those 12-14 weeks are either during the SPAWN or during the most stressful periods of the year for fish when they have to ride around in a livewell for 8hrs in 85 degree water.

Take a look a muskegon lake for instance - it sees on avg 10-15 tournaments a week ranging from 10 boat clubs to 50 boat weekend tournaments. From memorial day through labor day - those fish do not get a single day off. Its still a very good fishery, but if we want to be resource minded here - we should be looking at the kind of pressure we are unnecessarily applying.


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## KWB (Mar 1, 2009)

thedude said:


> tournament fishing will be the primary economical impact.
> 
> Consider the amount of money an elite series BASS or FLW event would bring in to a place like detroit or saginaw. A pre-spawn tournament would be very appealing to these groups. We have the most contiguous acres of prime smallmouth fishing of anywhere in the world - to think that we don't see multiple types of these huge events every year is amazing to me. These are events that bring in out-of-state money and money that goes directly to the communities that host them.
> 
> ...


Some good points made there. Thanks for your input.


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## Will Schultz (Aug 4, 2004)

KWB said:


> Thanks for your time Will,
> 
> Kory


No problem at all. If you really want to see some change I would get in touch with Ron Spitler of the Federation and ask them to sponsor the research needed to evaluate this. I'm sure he knows the right people but if he doesn't I would be happy to get him in touch with the people I've worked with on research projects at UofM and CMU. There's tons of money at B.A.S.S. that can help fund this research.

I do argee with the post above that there are too many bass tournaments particularly during the hot water period. There needs to be some regulation of these events put back in place.


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## KWB (Mar 1, 2009)

Will Schultz said:


> No problem at all. If you really want to see some change I would get in touch with Ron Spitler of the Federation and ask them to sponsor the research needed to evaluate this. I'm sure he knows the right people but if he doesn't I would be happy to get him in touch with the people I've worked with on research projects at UofM and CMU. There's tons of money at B.A.S.S. that can help fund this research.
> 
> I do argee with the post above that there are too many bass tournaments particularly during the hot water period. There needs to be some regulation of these events put back in place.


 
I will do what I can to contact Ron Spitler and see if he is interested. Thanks again for all the information!


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## nofolkinway (Dec 7, 2004)

Internet petitions!

http://www.snopes.com/inboxer/petition/internet.asp


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## KWB (Mar 1, 2009)

Basically every bit of evidence in that link had zero relation to this particular petition. The only thing that I thought of when creating the online petition vs. a hard copy one was in regards to "false signatures", well it really doesn't relate as the petition is just a very small part of the entire effort, written statements from businesses and cities/towns who support this and most importantly scientific backing are the main things pushing the effort, However, lack of scientific evidence as to what the real effects would be on this change are possibly going to delay any consideration until further studies have been done. As to there being fake names, I would certainly suspect it if we had 10,000 signatures, but using some common sense and seeing the signatures along with the comments, I highly doubt there is any false signatures. Also I set it up as to there could only be one signature per IP address, which would make it VERY difficult to create false signatures...

Snopes can be useful, but in this case I don't agree...


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