Latest PFBC Meeting

[JackM]

Is Mr. Shetterly really the one who is standing in the way?

 

[Cornholio]

I'm all for stopping stocking on class b streams. I guess i might as well send out an email to show support.

 

[TimMurphy]

bikerfish wrote:
or the commish could grow a set and tell the naysayers this is how it's gonna be, your not going to get stockies, be happy fishing for wild fish! :-D
I think if people are properly educated about wild fish, trying to reduce the "stocking mentality", they may just figure out that the fishing for wild fish will be better and much more rewarding, not to mention better to eat! but, the truck chasers are a stubborn bunch, very resistant to change and very close minded. "been that way for years, why change it now"
bottom line, if there is no money for these stocking programs, then there aren't gonna be stocking programs, and the old guard needs to understand this.

Dear bikerfish,

I nominate you for Fish Commission Executive Director! ;-)

Far too many PA trout fisherman think that all fish come from trucks and they are entitled to their fare share and usually more just because they bought a license.

That thought process is even more pronounced out in the toulee weeds. Rural Pennsylvania has an entitlement mentality that is vastly disproportionate to their population base. They want their trout and judging from the other thread on this page, their deer, just like they believe everyone in a more urban setting wants nothing more than food stamps and welfare.

I'm with you, screw them! Stop all stocking if you want, I won't stop fishing.

Regards,

Tim Murphy

 

[oncorhynchusmykiss]

I doubt the FBC would want to stop stocking even if "the government let them" it's the main reason most meat fishermen buy a license.
I don't see why they have to stock over reproducing brook trout populations anyway. It would be better if they would concentrate on improving existing populations and habitat and not bastardizing the gene pool. I don't see any problem in stocking over small sections of streams with wild browns or bows because they're hatchery strain fish anyway.

Tight lines

 

[Chaz]

Raise the cost of the trout stamp and make a conservation stamp for wild trout afishianados so that we can enjoy our fishing on a C & R basis while not supporting the hatchery program we hate so much. I never keep any trout anyway.

 

[sandfly]

wonder how they can say sales are down, but there are hundreds if not couple thousand new ones from the gas industry. i have seen it personally here..

 

[oncorhynchusmykiss]

by Chaz on 2012/2/4 16:45:40

"Raise the cost of the trout stamp and make a conservation stamp for wild trout afishianados so that we can enjoy our fishing on a C & R basis while not supporting the hatchery program we hate so much. I never keep any trout anyway."

I was thinking of something along those lines a few years ago. I thought it would be nice to make a C&R license for fly and artificial lure use that would cost less than a standard license. Then offer tags for fish that you could purchase along with it incase of accidental fish kill. I highly doubt they would be interested in it because it would probably take away from their profit.

Tight lines

 

[Cornholio]

Put all fake trout fisherman in concentration camps! Problem solved

 

[Mike]

Jack,

I have no idea what Mr Shetterly's position is on the matter. I only said to write to your regional commissioner because he is the one who represents you. If you lived in the north central region, then I would recommend that you write to the north central commissioner, and so on.

 

[hack]

tyeager wrote:
Just to play devils advocate......why not change the license price

I wholeheartedly agree! It is actually cheaper for me to get an out-of-state license in Delaware than a resident PA license. (I am pretty fumed at the PFBC and DCNR for allowing drilling in parks and under public water, so I am still considering it. I will likely buy my PA license online, but the thought of not fishing in PA this year as a protest has crossed my mind.)

My personal economic theory is that I would prefer to sell a bunch of $1 items over a few $5 items. People who are going to spend $5 will spend it regardless. Maybe a cheaper, easier to obtain license will convince more people to buy one. Fishing is certainly a less expensive hobby than golfing or even camping, but to some people - and I have been one of them - laying out the $30 to go fishing a few times can be a difficult decision when you are trying to stretch a budget to get through the day, week or month.

IMHO - I would like to see a dramatically cheaper - like $12 - license, with a higher stamp cost.

just my $.02 - keep the change.

 

[salvelinusfontinalis]

Raise the cost of the trout stamp and make a conservation stamp for wild trout afishianados so that we can enjoy our fishing on a C & R basis while not supporting the hatchery program we hate so much. I never keep any trout anyway.

+1

This is a good answer too. I have said this before myself.

 

[tomgamber]

hack wrote:
It is actually cheaper for me to get an out-of-state license in Delaware than a resident PA license.

I should hope so...Delaware sq. miles including water is about 6400...pa including water is almost 120,000...which has more opportunities thus being more valuable.

Everyone talks about how wonderful the resource is here in Pa. Its gonna cost more. With no direct assistance from the general fund as some other states get, they gotta get money somewhere.

 

[TYoung]

Pennsylvania has one of the highest stream mile densities in the country. You have to take in to account that a good chunk of those stream miles are stocked with trout by the state. Because of this, Pennsylvania spends a ton of money on stocking trout. The fish commissions biggest expense is raising and stocking trout. All that money comes solely from the sale of licenses and trout stamps. This is why Pennsylvania fishing licenses are so expensive. Also, because of the increasing cost of raising trout, and the greatly increasing cost of the fuel that has to be used to deliver the trout to each stream, it's obvious why the cost of a license and trout stamp have have been increased a bunch of times over the last decade.

When people complain about the cost of a fishing license, the tend to mention how you can get a license from this state or that state for a lot less money. The states that tend to be mentioned are all states that don't have to stock nearly as many trout because they have very few streams that can support stocked trout, or they have many trout streams that aren't stocked because they have plenty of stream born trout in them.

 

[CRB]

Problem I have,
Fewer fish to fish for = Drastically lower license sales.
Problems up here on the steelhead streams + problems with pollution(mine and drilling) + problems on the Schuylkill and Susquehanna River =bigger problems than how much stocking cost.

 

[tomgamber]

Sounds like a DEP problem not a PFBC problem...

 

[afishinado]

From the article posted in the deer hunting discussion raging in another thread (that was really intended to be a fishing discussion):

And as for fishermen sitting back and saying, WOW look what is happening to the Game Commission, well, I think you’re next. Already vote-grubbing politicians have reached into the Fish and Boat Commission with attempts -- and with success – in changing science-based decisions on stocking species and locations.

Sportsmen who have gone to their legislators arguing that a declared wild trout stream should be stocked with inferior hatchery-raised fish have bolstered the case for the political hacks to destroy the one agency that has taken the forefront in fighting the renegade polluters in the shale industry.

I ask you sportsmen, who do you think is a bigger threat to your sporting activities -- the politicians and polluters or the two fish and game agencies? Sportsmen, including those from the smallest rod and gun clubs who donate money to USP, to the larger umbrella organizations, need to re-think their positions. As I see it, let the politicians ruin the rest of the world but keep them out of our rivers and woods.

Jack, apologies for the last sentence.....

 

[JackM]

I listened to someone go on and on about how the Mayor is an idiot for doing this or that or failing to do this or that, and all I kept thinking is that this guy is so dang smart, why doesn't he run for Mayor? Thinking and imagining that you know how everything should be run is just not enough to actually get things done that way.