[rustynailz]

rem, I totally agree - it was the 10 fish per day, any size limit that put a lot of our lakes in trouble. Combine that with the ridiculous mortality associated with barbed hooks and bait and you've got a train wreck on your hands. And to be fair to SRD, those regs were in place for years and years and Keho, Badger, Newell, Clear, etc. all developed into fantastic fisheries.

The fact is that SRD saw a problem and took steps to rectify it. Derbies have gone to C&R. The lakes are now mostly closed to fishing when the big pigs are at their most vulnerable. Everyone is fishing barbless. These are pretty large steps and we won't see the full impact for another few years. They were taken because the situation changed.

I see a whole bunch of arguments here about releasing big fish, and the "damage we're doing to the fisheries" and a bunch of other talk. What I don't see is any scientific proof to support those claims. I don't see any discussion about what a sustainable harvest looks like, or growth rates, or anything of the sort. Someone here said that Clear is being "overfished recreationally". Really? Based on what, a bunch of guys here on the board who probably couldn't rub together a tenth of a fisheries biology degree between all of us.

If we want better trophy fishing, we have to get regulations in place that facilitate that. Period. Berating people who are following the regs only serves to divide the angling population. There's no need - we can have our cake and eat it too if we realize that we're on the same team.

You can add me to the list of people who've fished Clear for a couple of years and never caught a real hog. I still think it's an awesome little lake, close to a lot of people, with good access and good fishing.