[WayneChristie]

If I didnt have a few slow or skunk trips Id be worried. no one is good enough to catch everything they want all the time. There are always factors that change the way the fish feed, or their locations, its not that they arent in the lake, they are just not where you are looking for them, or they are there and just not biting, Ive seen so many fish on the camera that one week wont stay off a hook, and the next time will kiss your bait give you the fin and swim off to do their own thing. Just because SRD test netting doesnt catch fish in the areas they are set, doesnt mean the lake is dead. Finding every fish floating belly up means the lake is dead. 2 trips to a lake with a collapsed pike population, and easily 60 or 70 seen on camera, from fry to keeper size. thats one small location in a very big lake with a variety of structure, depths and bottom cover. how many are in the rest of the lake? The bad thing Ive noticed just from 2 outings is the pike arent as heavy as they could be, with the amount of feeder fish that can be seen on camera all day long I wonder what it is thats keeping them from putting on more weight than a kid in a cake shop. Maybe there are environmental factors involved, Im far from an expert, I just fish. I think the government needs to invest more money into an accurate survey of fish populations in our lakes, not base everything on a few or even a lot of random test nettings. those can only cover so many locations. fish dont sit still , they move around. who is to say they are going to move to where the test nets are? Like I said maybe some of the problem isnt the lack of fish, its the lack of fishing luck/skill of the people crying dead lakes. People wants to spend as little time on a lake especially in the cold winter as they can, and catch their limit, as quick as possible, catch and release or take home and eat, doesnt make a difference. Good fish take time, I caught some awesome fish this year and I spent an unbelievable amount of time to do it, it doesnt come quick and it doesnt come easy, the odd drop your bait or lure right in front of a monster fish once in a blue moon excluded. everyones in a rush, thats not fishing to me anyways. I think closing Newell to pike retention for a long period say 10 years, is going to do a lot more harm to the pike fishery than good.