Rules for thee but not for me!!

[nightbasser]

Ok so it’s bad to have tourism, because low paying jobs and only the business owners profit- I’ll say this and I mean no offense by it- were it not for tourism somerset would be like Whitley city Albany etc just a spot on a road that’s slowly dying. No thanks

I have to disagree on that one!! I’ve been here my whole life and my family has lived here since the early 1800s! We do not want what they are trying to transform this area into!!! Outsiders will take over and ruin everything at the rate things are going!! I travel for work and see plenty of s******s and I do not want my home to become one! It’s getting to were locals can’t even enjoy the lake during the summer for arrogant drunks endangering our families. Traffic and crowds in Somerset are getting worse all the time as well. Tourism is a plague for locals!

[agreynolds]

First the length limits are based on fishermen harvesting fish not keeping them a short time and then release them you can catch all the smallmouth you want at lake cumberland as long as they are released. These wavers are granted all over the country.

[HH45cal]

I get yAll s points - I’d like to have it to myself but ain’t happening. I do like growth - new restaurants esp and property values that are appreciating- can’t have it both ways. Btw the new charred oak restaurant downtown is hipster and pretty solid. The coming distillery and hotel are gonna be real nice additions as well

[JR19]

First the length limits are based on fishermen harvesting fish not keeping them a short time and then release them you can catch all the smallmouth you want at lake cumberland as long as they are released. These wavers are granted all over the country.

I respect your opinion but if that were the case then why even have a size limit if they are going to be kept a short time and then released. With the logic of lengths limits being based off off harvesting that would mean Cedar Creek Lake has a very low population of bass because they have a 20" one fish size limit so they need protection from harvest. That would mean Green River Lake has a very high population of bass because they have a 6 fish 12" size limit and encourage harvest. In my opinion I don't think the size limit for either one of those lakes is based on fishermen harvest.

I know each person has their opinions, likes or dislikes. For me personally it about segregation. The act of excluding a group of people from a law that is suppose to govern everyone is not right. If they want to change it to 15" then so be it but make it for everyone. I had rather see it 18" because I think it allows the opportunity for the population to grow bigger. My primary reason for bass fishing is for fun. I very rarely eat a one so I like the 18" limit but if they go to a 15" limit it would not bother me as long as everyone abides buy the same law.

Here is another thing that bothers me. People tend to tell a story and once it passes though several people the story tends to get filtered and changed. It may start out as KDFW allowed XFLW to weigh 15" smallmouth but after that story passes thru a dozen people it becomes did you hear about the smallmouth limit being changed to 15" at Lake Cumberland, leaving off the important details this was a special exemption case for a particular event and not for everyone. I have had more than one instance where I ran into someone and they thought the size limit was 15". I personally had two guys at Cumberland ask me one day what the size limit was and when I told them 18" they both said they had heard it got changed to 15". On another occasion I was at a tackle store shopping, just minding my own business when I overheard a guy tell his buddy hey lets not go crappie fishing lets go smallmouth fishing. Now that they have change it to 15" we don't have to throw 3 pounders back. The perception is out there that its okay to keep 15" smallmouth. There is growing cases of people who have heard about a size limit reduction but don't read the game law book. They just go buy what they heard and as I said that story gets filtered after it goes thru several people.

If KDFW continues to allow 15" smallmouth to be weighed in at events on Cumberland then I think KDFW should go to every boat ramp on the entire lake and post a sign stating the size limit is 18". This might help curb some of the misinformation that is being spread. True die hard fishermen that keep up with tournaments and bass fishing know the correct game laws and they are pretty good at knowing the rules. Its the people who fall outside that group that concerns me. Die hard fisherman and bass anglers are a tight knit group but we are also a minority among the overall number of people who fish.

FYI Andy no personal attack just my opinion. Also two thumbs up on your recent BASS Team Championship qualification. 27 out of 142 boats is a solid finish. I know a top three was everyone's goal so they could via for the last 2021 Classic spot. The road to the Classic is a up hill battle that's hard to win. My neighbor across the field from where I live was also in the event. They had 10 something day one and zero day two. I have yet to talk to him to see if day two was a true zero or if they chucked them back because they knew they would be outside the $ line cut. I need to go see him Monday about some business so I will get the low down from him.

[nightbasser]

I get yAll s points - I’d like to have it to myself but ain’t happening. I do like growth - new restaurants esp and property values that are appreciating- can’t have it both ways. Btw the new charred oak restaurant downtown is hipster and pretty solid. The coming distillery and hotel are gonna be real nice additions as well

Appreciating property values hurt local people!!! It makes it much harder for people that are local here to purchase property until they are eventually forced out! Do some reading on Idaho and Montana and what is happening there to families that have lived there for generations. Also higher property values also increase property taxes which locals here do not need at all!

[nightbasser]

First the length limits are based on fishermen harvesting fish not keeping them a short time and then release them you can catch all the smallmouth you want at lake cumberland as long as they are released. These wavers are granted all over the country.

Do some research on delayed mortality... the smallmouth are also being heavily targeted by striper guides using live bait... pressure will eventually decline a fishery! We are seeing less and less smallmouth over 5lbs.

[Les Young]

Do some research on delayed mortality... the smallmouth are also being heavily targeted by striper guides using live bait... pressure will eventually decline a fishery! We are seeing less and less smallmouth over 5lbs.

[Rude520]

Drives me absolutely bonkers. There is zero reason to drop the size limit other than show. It allows the illusion of several limits of fish being caught. Listen I have zero problem with FLW being there. At all. But let’s play by the rules. I equate it to having a dunk contest at the local high school and inviting Lebron James. Then lowering the goal to 8 feet for him.

These anglers are supposed to be some of the best of the best. Make them play by the regulations.

[spec]

Everyone entitled to their opinion, but see no reason for start targeting the local striper guys. Doubt the SM in question, even if they ALL perished, would have any impact on a few of you and that elusive 5lber. Maybe just a bad spawn cycle. I was a "tourist" for 4 days in Campbellsville and I took note of all the jobs that could be a result of tourism around GRL. Range from laundry gals at the motel, older gals cooking at the local gas stations, to those than build and maintain all those boat storage sheds. And they ALL have to pay taxes. Called making a living. Think that stretch of 55 is nice and wide with turning and passing lanes is like that cuz the residents of Taylor county are such wonderful folks? Yet THEY benefit each and every day. On my itemized bill, when I checked out, each and every day I was charged a local occupancy, a state tax, AND a state tourism tax. Still think tourism numbers don't matter, check with the good folks of Calloway, Caldwell, Lyon and Trigg counties and ask them about the loss of big tourneys (hint: tourism) in the last 5 years.

[Les Young]

Everyone entitled to their opinion, but see no reason for start targeting the local striper guys. Doubt the SM in question, even if they ALL perished, would have any impact on a few of you and that elusive 5lber. Maybe just a bad spawn cycle.

You're bad wrong if you think some of the striper guides don't target smallmouth & in turn it causes a lot to be lost to meat eaters because of it.