Thursday, May 17, 2007

Some tips can help average anglers keep conservation in mind

  • Do not leave baited fluke rods unattended by a practice called dead-sticking, because that's what you will be doing, killing fluke unnecessarily. If they have too much time, even a small fish will chew its way up a large bait, so the hook is deep in their gullet before being set.
  • Use larger baits and hooks sizes 4/0 to 7/0, so smaller fish will have trouble swallowing the offering.
    Set the hook quickly after detecting that distinctive "tap-tap" strike from a fluke.
  • Don't cull through huge numbers of fish when they are mostly short. Catch a few keepers for the table, then go cast or drift baits for something else.
  • Bring tools for surgery on deep-hooked fluke. Buy a jaw spreader and use a long-nosed, squeeze-type Baker Hook-Out style plier to grab and remove hooks.
  • Often hooks are simply looped around, but not impaled in gills. So don't hesitate to work from behind by cutting the hook free, spreading the gills and simply pulling it out from the back side with little damage.
  • Greenville Dam: there are no changes to the special regulation when fishing below Greenville dam. Fishing is allowed on the eastern half of the pool, from the rocks (painted red, but often faded from weathering) at the head of the island at the mouth of the pool to the center line to the base of the dam to the west shore. This means anglers can't cast baits or lures across either of these imaginary lines.

  • (Bob Sampson)

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