Tonight in Wilmington, NC. Public comment on hooks for Speckle Tout

[gottaflylee]

Public comment on hooks for Speckle Tout at the DMF building in Wilmington, NC tonight at 6 PM. Seems that they want to make circle hooks mandatory with out any study to back it up. NO treble hooks is another thing on their list.

Please come and voice your ideas.

[Fishman]

Can you imagine a circle treble hook an a Mirrolure or just a plain circle hook on a mirrolure. How could you fish this?

[papadave]

How did it end up?
Circle hooks for speck fishing - might just as well say circles hooks only on the backwater - or skip trying to enforce it. How would they deal with folks accidentally catching a trout while flounder fishing, or lizard fishing for that matter?

[gottaflylee]

Dave, we won't know till November when the commission committee meets. This was the advisory committee and it was open to public comment. Shame of it was I was the only one that spoke on the Speckle Trout and knew more that most of the committee members.

The advisory committee decided that they would go with what the MFD commission decides but as I brought up, they are making rules with out data to back it up and that the commission wants circle hooks mandatory for live bait with out research to see what is the best hook. I pointed out that it may not be a good choice as there are other hooks that may be better and what if these rules are put into effect only to find that the mortality is higher as I felt that trying to remove circles in a soft Trout's mouth will brake many of their jaws, trying to turn ti around to remove it. I feel that a "Wide gap Shinner or Kale hook should be looked at but I was told by a commissioner that there was no money for research for this.

I feel that they will make the circle hook the rule as well as 2 fish. Gotta love laws and rules put into effect with out something to back it up. I am on record as objecting to this and if the Nov. meeting is held when I am in town, I will go on record as to objecting to it again. I feel that circles will do as much damage as a treble hook for live bait, guess we will see.

The main thing here is circle hooks are not the end all, there are other hooks out there that I have found that work much better than circle and are less harmful to the fish, a hook study needs to be done badly.

[95lbBull]

Lee, you are absolutely right on circle hooks not being the best solution to mortality release. In my opinion requiring anglers to pinch the barbs down regardless of whatever hook is used would be the best place to start. I currently fish with my barbs mashed and land just as many as I did before this practice. I feel 100% that this should be looked at before anything else. It has been a practice in trophy trout waters(bows, browns, and brookies) for years with proven results. Single hooks with mashed barbs is the way to go. For anyone who needs proven research to come to a solution, bury two hooks in your hand, one with the barb mashed and the other not and let us know which hurts/heals better.

[papadave]

Dave, we won't know till November when the commission committee meets. This was the advisory committee and it was open to public comment. Shame of it was I was the only one that spoke on the Speckle Trout and knew more that most of the committee members.

The advisory committee decided that they would go with what the MFD commission decides but as I brought up, they are making rules with out data to back it up and that the commission wants circle hooks mandatory for live bait with out research to see what is the best hook. I pointed out that it may not be a good choice as there are other hooks that may be better and what if these rules are put into effect only to find that the mortality is higher as I felt that trying to remove circles in a soft Trout's mouth will brake many of their jaws, trying to turn ti around to remove it. I feel that a "Wide gap Shinner or Kale hook should be looked at but I was told by a commissioner that there was no money for research for this.

I feel that they will make the circle hook the rule as well as 2 fish. Gotta love laws and rules put into effect with out something to back it up. I am on record as objecting to this and if the Nov. meeting is held when I am in town, I will go on record as to objecting to it again. I feel that circles will do as much damage as a treble hook for live bait, guess we will see.

The main thing here is circle hooks are not the end all, there are other hooks out there that I have found that work much better than circle and are less harmful to the fish, a hook study needs to be done badly.

Thanks for the update. Guess that will mean no live bait at all without a circle, no way to distinguish what you're after with a small hook.
2 fish limit seems somewhat extreme also ........... There's always an argument about flawed science from one side or the other, but how can anyone say "we can't afford a study", AKA NO science, and still justify a need for making changes? Guess it's time to start lobbying our reps.

[gottaflylee]

Lee, you are absolutely right on circle hooks not being the best solution to mortality release. In my opinion requiring anglers to pinch the barbs down regardless of whatever hook is used would be the best place to start. I currently fish with my barbs mashed and land just as many as I did before this practice. I feel 100% that this should be looked at before anything else. It has been a practice in trophy trout waters(bows, browns, and brookies) for years with proven results. Single hooks with mashed barbs is the way to go. For anyone who needs proven research to come to a solution, bury two hooks in your hand, one with the barb mashed and the other not and let us know which hurts/heals better.

I must agree with you here and it doesn't matter wither it is a treble hook or a "J" hook, I have seen it work on the Roanoke for Stripers.

The main thing I have seen on the mortality, is the mishandling of the fish, from dry rags, dropping fish, lifting fish with out a net by the line and hook, not taking time to revive the fish, keeping them on the deck for to long of time and way out in left field, kicking the fish back into the water.

Our licensing in NC provides for education and more need to be said on the proper handling of fish and teaching people on how to do that. I try to do this with my clients all the time and remove the hooks while the fish is in or over my rubber net, so if I do drop or have the fish fall, it will be in the net so there is less stress to the fish.

As I have said before, circle hooks are not the end all and much more needs to be looked at before that is put into effect.

Thanks for the update. Guess that will mean no live bait at all without a circle, no way to distinguish what you're after with a small hook.
2 fish limit seems somewhat extreme also ........... There's always an argument about flawed science from one side or the other, but how can anyone say "we can't afford a study", AKA NO science, and still justify a need for making changes? Guess it's time to start lobbying our reps.

Dave, going to the meeting will do more in the long run than lobbying our reps. It works for the commercial, and it will work for the recreational guys if they would show up in numbers, problem is the "why bother" attitude from this side. That would change is we would show up in numbers at the meeting, they would put more weight on what is happening. Believe it or not, the 2 fish limit is coming from CCA who is pushing that and is Regulation with out science to back it up...just saying!