As anglers we do need to be conscious of policing ourselves about conservation and making sure our actions are not dangerous to our own sport. If we are not policing ourselves their will eventually an outside group doing so. We need to look no further to what happened to our Boys in Blue earlier this year and all the other private groups that now how Watch Dogs. I was always curious about what programs B.A.S.S promoted, in regards to conservation, that were aimed at the anglers actions and behaviors. B.A.S.S is well know for conservation programs to restore habitat, livewell procedures, anglers rights, access, etc but you rarely hear about programs focused on the individual. Its better for us as anglers to ask these questions amongst ourselves first before the loonies start breathing down our necks, asking the same questions, and we are caught short. For what its worth I'm for any measures that save our sport for my kids and my grandkids to enjoy as I have and against any that would take away from that, whether its no soap in the water, peeing in the water, no-puncture cull tags, catch and release, or closed seasons during the spawn. What worked years ago may not be appropriate in the future, there are a tremendous amount of anglers and boaters than ever before and what was acceptable years ago may not be any longer. Just my two cents.
Yes the Potomac was on fire (literally) in the 70's, conservation measures in the 80's helped restore and clean it (B.A.S.S was a big part of that), was a premier bass fishing water in the 90's, was in B.A.S.S top 20 in late 90's early 2000's. However, in recent years 2010 and later the size of limits and the number of people catching limits in Tourneys has decreased. It evolves in cycles and policies and behaviors need to be adjusted in accordance of what the current state of a water is in.
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