IMPORTANT DH MEETING - April 19th

[NGTO]

PUBLIC MEETING SCHEDULED REGARDING DELAYED HARVEST TROUT FISHING
The Georgia Department of Natural Resources, Wildlife Resources Division (WRD) will hold a public meeting to discuss delayed harvest trout fishing regulations for the Chattahoochee River below Morgan Falls Dam at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday, April 19 at the Gwinnett Justice and Administration Building. WRD encourages anglers to attend this meeting to provide input that will assist WRD staff in making decisions about a formal regulation change for delayed harvest trout fishing below the dam.

[THE EG]

I have to do little league at the same time so I can't make it. Anybody able to be my proxy?

Since there was no discussion on the board concerning this I'll go ahead and submit my naive opinion.

I'm for it simply because it may create better fishing in that area which would be beneficial to the folks on the south side of town and also dilute the pressure on the other trout streams in Georgia. With a growing angling population it can't hurt.

As long as the hatcheries have enough stockers to go around and it is economically viable, it seems a good idea to try.

However, the only beneficiary may be the Stripers. We don't know unless it's tried.

[NGTO]

I too am going to have to miss.... someone please us all in.


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Trout Now!

[Windknot]

I went to the meeting early to get a good seat - boy, talk about unnecessary energy! I met Mike W. & Russ F. from the NGTO board, and then was introduced to around ten (10) DNR/WRD reps. The Fisheries Section was well represented, as was Law Enforcement. I won't try to do the names from memory, but if you ever had a question for WRD's Fisheries Section, last night was your best shot.

Lisa's proposal was to open the Morgan Falls to Peachtree Creek section to Delayed Harvest. Among her priorities for this project is the desire to re-build a damaged fishery using DH, and an attempt to lure fishermen back to a former prime location in the metro area. The responses to questions about "feeding stripers" indicated that the big line-sides don't come upstream until summer, so the DH period would be over.

Enforcement would be easier to accomplish than in a more remote area, but would be complicated by the presence of other species of game fish. The idea is - if you have a trout on a stringer during the DH season, you have a problem. All anyone has to do is just release any trout caught, regardless of what they intended to fish for.

The fish stocked in this section will not, according to Jeff Durniak, come from Smith's or Ami allocations. He said production could be increased to handle the new DH season requirements. Worst case, the overall State annual trout allocation might be slightly lower, but he seemed to think it would be transparent to the user.

If trout fail, DNR will explore other options. One mentioned was the installation of stripers, but that will take careful coordination with the management of West Point Lake. I was too slow to blurt out "shoal bass" - actually didn't think of it 'til I was half way home.

Jeff was kind enough to explain why it has taken so long for Georgia to do nice things for its cold water fisheries and fishers. In 1995 the Fisheries Section began taking its orders from the DNR board rather than the Legislature. First Smithgall Woods, then Smith's, then the Ami. He said we should like what we see in the future.

They counted us as four "favorable" votes (The EGs proxy was exercised). They would like to hear from you on this or any other fisheries issue. That isn't just a phrase - every speaker truly seemed to want feedback.

Tight lines,
Don

[huntfish]

Well said.

[BLACK KNIGHT]

Enforcement is gonna be a nightmare. People bait fishing for other species are going to gut hook trout that they can't release because they're going to die, and they can't keep 'em either. What a waste. This glass is half-empty. I'm all for more trout, and more DH- but if you can't enforce the DH laws, it weakens the ones that you can enforce.