Hi Tyler,

This bill is co-sponsored by the chair of the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, (Sen. Odell) and the House Fish and Game Committee (Rep. Newton). I have done some homework and discussed this bill with Rep. Newton, as well as with a former F & G committee chair. The latter two I know to be avid fishermen.

Neither of them share your concerns. They describe the change as being from size (length) to weight. It appears that the one ounce jig is close in size to the one inch limitation that is already in place, but that it is more specific, and eliminates the problem of a length measured device that has broken, but still has the weight. Since the size is so close, if not identical, in the store, it appears that sale of "old inventory" will be affected very little.

I have also had contact with the NH Bass Federation. When they wrote to me, they were also opposed to SB224 for some of the reasons you mention.

The public hearing in the Senate was on January 19, but the bill has not come out of committee yet, so we don't know if it will ever come to the House.

You can watch the progress of the bill at

http://gencourt.state.nh.us/bi...4&q=1
That will show you, when or if, the bill makes it through the Senate, and when the public hearing will be held by the Fish and Game Committee. If you would like to personally testify at the public hearing, I'd be happy to help you with that. It is fairly informal, no oath, etc. Direct contact with the Fish and Game Committee is also helpful. We all like to hear from people who are directly affected by pending bills. Their contact info is at
<a href="http://www.gencourt.state.nh.us/house/committees/committeedetails.aspx?code=H42
" class="zf" target="_blank" >http://www.gencourt.state.nh.u...H42
</a>

Cordially,

Rep. Chris Christensen
Hillsborough District 19
Merrimack, NH