Quote:
Originally Posted by 58thecat
About every ten fish we catch on average are keepers but we let them slip into the water, I see many do the same to, lake has not got the pressure it had when the oil patch was booming, trust me those were some scary times, a lot more boats out there then.
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There is no question the % of keepers being caught today is at a fraction as compare to when the size limit first increased a handful of years back. I know several local residents whom have fished all year and haven't been able to keep a single fish so far this year on the open water catching in instances over 50 a day. Often many fish into the low 70's very few get over 75 these days. Although I'm not out there as often as the locals, my own observations are the same.
I'll agree there may be slightly less boats on the water but I'll argue all day long that ice fishing pressure has certainly increased in recent years. A little easier for those without the fancy toys to get out on the ice and ice fish than it is to get out on the water with a boat.
If you are catching a keeper every ten fish I'll respectfully suggest that your likely just "eye balling" it.
She's been thinned out. I'm a C&R guy nevertheless when it comes to Lakers but it would be nice to catch the odd 20lber - 30lber like we were ~10 years ago.