I have fished for as long as I can remember. I was probably in diapers when my Dad use to take me to Webster Lake fishing for trout. I fell in love with this sport to the point of it being an obsession. I grew up in Worcester, MA not far from Watchusett Resevoir. I use to beg my Dad at an early age to bring me. I would occupy myself for hours by the water. Not only fishing but looking at nature. Lifting rocks for crayfish and helgramites, catching frogs, I even had a spot that I could catch suckers with my hands, once even caught a brookie with my bare hands under this waterfall where the suckers hung out. When I was 11 I wrapped my first rod, a fly rod. Learned by reading Dale Clemens book. Right about the same time my Grandfather and his friends started bringing me to Plumb Island fishing for blues and bass. Hooked on the salt I was. Couldn't beleive it, fish the size of my legs!! Built many surf poles that my family still has to this day. Probably built 10 or so before I was 15, nice diamond butt wraps, the works. Throughout my teens I was obsessed, did not give a crap about girls. Fishing kept myself and my buddies out of trouble. We didn't hang around on the streets. We were by the water. Anyway I am 41 years old now, mostly a saltwater angler and fish for all that the northeast has to offer. I have 2 boys who love this sport. I have taught them from a very young age to never take more than they are willing to eat. They also know to never kill something while hunting they are not going to eat. It is about respect of the fish or animal that makes conservation work. Sportsmen are the ones that care the most in my experience. It seems to me the only thing the environmentalists care about is their agenda, and not the actual resource.

What does fishing mean to me? EVERYTHING!!!! Family. Values. Tradition. Brotherhood. Bonding. Conservation. Education. Economics. Community. Friendship.

You can bet that I will never vote for anyone who would try and take this family tradition away. I fish and I WILL be voting for change to all of this crazy crap going on in the the great US of A. Our founding fathers are rolling over in their graves.

THEY WILL TAKE MY FISHING POLES WHEN THEY PRY MY COLD DEAD HANDS FROM AROUND IT!!!!! My right to bear a 50 Wide.... and put it to use!!

Mike Krawczyk
Greenfield/Marshfield MA