Second Chance, Good post.

I only hope that those of you who are true sport fishermen (and women) realize responsbilities go along with being just thst. I'm not trying to pat myself on the back but, Let me tell you about a couple of things about myself. I have seen many changes through the years that have had an impact on me. I have seen fishing go from over abundance to next to empty, wasted days on the water. Anyone who has fished for many years has seen this transpire. I almost gave it all up.

Long ago here in Jacksonville (15 years or more), My wife and I would fish the river from downtown to the jetties. I found an alarming number of trout and puppy drum with open festering sores on them. This led me to contact the powers to be about it. I still have pictures that I sent to the FWC and City officials. I wanted some answers. After all, We were eating some of the trout that we caught. I really never got any straight answers about what was going on but, I was told that the fish were ok to eat. We stopped fishing the river after that. Something had to be impacting those fish. We started fishing the ICW and near shore spots. Never found any fish there that were sick. I have my own opinions on what was going on but, My point is that I did something about it. I spoke up.

Now on to gill nets. Do I need to say more. Nothing has impacted our sport more than them, I believe. I could go on and on about this. I spoke out on the issue.

I freshwater fish and hunt also at times. I joined BASS many years ago as a life member and firmly believe that hey have a big voice. All you have to do is read some articles in Bassmaster magazine and Bass Times. This may be upstream for a lot of you but water does run down hill.

Kudos to Second chance for what he said about proper fishing methods. Maybe we all can enjoy our different styles of fishing. I believe that with proper handling, The big Reds can go on and breed as they should with nothing hurt but their pride. My whole point is, Look beyond your nose to see the whole picture.

My $00.02 worth.