Clinch River: [Conservation]

[Grannyknot]

There is no need for confrontation. No need to educate a poacher or warn them of fines.

Its plain and simple. You see a few suspect fish on the way back to the parking lot, you sit down on the tailgate, power up your phone, call 1-800-831-1174 and make a report. I've done it. It only takes a few minutes. You don't have to stay on the line until the officer arrives. They may come, they may not come, but you've done your part.

Even if the fish turns out to be legal, at least you've got an officer down there checking trout stamps.

[buzzmcmanus]

Originally Posted by Corbo

I don't know where TWRA guys spend their time; perhaps at boat landings on the lakes.....

Saturday was opening day of dove season. Huge southern tradition. I'm sure TWRA had their hands full patrolling the dove fields. A phone call to the poacher hotline would have been nice and maybe one would have swung by the weir dam.

[old east tn boy]

For what it's worth, Ms. Annie and I were finishing up our float down the Clinch back in mid April, pulling into the Hwy. 61 launch and who do you think was pulled right down to the water's edge and standing there waiting for us to land? Yep, Mr. TWRA himself! Nice young fellow. We had about a 30 minute conversation about fishing and hunting. Plainly, I had been fishing as my gear was in full view in the kayak. He did not even mention a license but did ask where I had fished and what I used/caught. Go figure.

[MadisonBoats]

Originally Posted by old east tn boy

For what it's worth, Ms. Annie and I were finishing up our float down the Clinch back in mid April, pulling into the Hwy. 61 launch and who do you think was pulled right down to the water's edge and standing there waiting for us to land? Yep, Mr. TWRA himself! Nice young fellow. We had about a 30 minute conversation about fishing and hunting. Plainly, I had been fishing as my gear was in full view in the kayak. He did not even mention a license but did ask where I had fished and what I used/caught. Go figure.

Many times the officers are trying to reach out to the public and make unbiased survey connections. As you could imagine; this takes a different approach for different types of people. I believe the presence of the officer in the area is the most effective deterrent to unlawful fishing/hunting practices.

One thing to note; I believe it costs TWRA more money in time/effort to issue tickets than they receive. Anderson County Courts get most of the ticket-court costs with just a handful of cash going to TWRA. Oh, the wonderful court system of Anderson County and Clinton.

I sure wish there was a no-harvest period for spawning fish. I would love to see more browns on the Clinch. I see this all the time. Here is a picture of eggs from this past weekend.

[g022271]

Speaking of wanting more browns on the Clinch, I came across 3 guys and one woman fishing just above the weir about a week ago who were bait fishing. I asked them if they were having any luck and they said they were doing OK and were trying to catch small browns to use for bait to catch rockfish and stripes. I don't know if I'm off base or not, but it ticked me off and I asked him why just browns and he said that all the flyfishermen he knew wanted the browns out the river.As far as I 'm concerned why allow any trout be caught to be used as bait. As far as I know, there's not a minimum length regulation.....but.......

Mike

[Corbo]

Mike

I recently joined the East TN Stripped Bass Association; seemed most all of the fellow who attended the meeting wer5e totally catch & release on Stripers PARTICULARLY on the rivers.

A very nice fellow who guides all the tail-waters for stripers provided us with an awesome slide show and shared the techniques he uses to catch these awesome fish. All his clients are required to C & R but they can photo.

This guide mostly uses trout for bait; he buys them from a supplier in North Carolina and drives over there frequently to purchase his bait... he likes the 12 or more inches long and trolls on an electric motor with two sets of planner boards.... essentially he drags trout along the river bank until he hooks up. He uses 4/0 hooks.

My point is that he buys his bait trout and prefers them over all other baits as they are more durable than skipjack and other bait that perishes easily.

There are apparently a few bait dealers in the Knoxville region who sell live trout as bait and it is apparently legal but it seems most guides want a larger fish than what is commonly available at these dealers. The guide I spoke with has a huge tank in his boat and an enormous tank at home with chilled water.

[g022271]

I am aware that live trout are used as bait and that they are available at retail stores...i.e. Gander Mtn. and I see no problem with that at all. I may alienate some guides by what I am going to say next, but if they want a larger trout to use as bait and by what you said , I am assuming that they use caught browns from the Clinch instead, that is kind of like commercial fishing, right? or am I wrong?

[waterwolf]

Originally Posted by g022271

I am aware that live trout are used as bait and that they are available at retail stores...i.e. Gander Mtn. and I see no problem with that at all. I may alienate some guides by what I am going to say next, but if they want a larger trout to use as bait and by what you said , I am assuming that they use caught browns from the Clinch instead, that is kind of like commercial fishing, right? or am I wrong?

I use trout I catch from the clinch to catch clinch stripers. A few die to save hundreds, all the stripers caught die.

[g022271]

Makes perfect sense to me. I hadn't and should've looked at it from that aspect.

[Varmitcounty]

"all the stripers caught die." -waterwolf

quote of the day for me!