By Shannon Messer
Now, before someone calls for a lynch mob, hear me out on this. Let’s look at a few things here and get some conversation started on how to best allow our trout to reach the sizes of years past, when catch and release was more catch and keep.
Catch and release waters provide great opportunities for anglers and, as a guide service, we certainly depend on these waters to produce, and in most cases, they do when that regulation is in place. However, I am more interested in fisheries such as the Great Smoky Mountain National Park, where no stocking program is taking place and you are seeing more anglers practicing catch and release versus catch and keep.
Posted and printed regulations allow you a daily creel limit of 5 fish, 7 inches or longer in the GSMNP. One would think that biologists have taken into consideration that harvesting these legal limits of trout would not hurt population sustainability and, in fact, these regulations have not changed much over the years. Let’s look at what has happened to fly fishing over the last 20 years in Western North Carolina.
I remember walking into Lowe’s Fly Shop in the 90’s, which was the first local fly shop that I patronized. It was a true fly shop; Not the Army Store or Sky City, but an actual fly shop with local tied flies, tying materials, all the gear you would ever need, and of course, a fantastic environment to learn knowledge and that, my friend, was the best part! Other Fly Shops at that time, would have included Hunter Banks in Asheville and Davidson River Outfitters in Brevard, so that was a total of three. Fast forward to 2017, and currently, we have 3 fly shops in Jackson County that offer wade and float trips as well as all the necessary gear that anyone could want. We have had a tourist explosion, for better or worse, it is the sign of the times. People have found out what locals have known about for years, we have awesome fly fishing!
Anglers are practicing catch and release more now than ever and that includes waters where we kept our legal limits, and we enjoyed eating the trout. In my opinion, we are taking smaller trout than we have in years, not due to overfishing, but the lack of harvesting legal size limit trout. For instance, on most trips in Straight Fork we would catch larger Rainbows and Browns and we would be selective of what we would keep for eating. We did not freeze them- we ate them so they were not wasted. Now on Straight Fork, you can still take good trout but you are seeing less of them. You will see more anglers practicing catch and release where we practiced catch and keep.
Everything that you read says that we have a great diversity of insects, but we don’t have a great abundance of them, so the trout have fewer insects to feast on. My hypothesis is that, less trout being taken means more trout are fighting over a small amount of natural food. It doesn’t take a genius to understand this; more trout and less food should equal smaller trout.
My theory is that, by taking and eating trout, we are doing our part to assist in managing trout populations based on what biologist deem acceptable catch and keep sizes and daily limits. I would question and challenge biologist to reconsider, or reevaluate, current regulations to see if they are up to date based on current trout population surveys.
Hunters and fishermen play an important role in maintaining a good balance of harvestable game and fish for generations to come. If you hunt or fish, you are a conservationist. I think that if you enjoy eating trout you should consider keeping them. It is not going to hurt the population, but should actually help the fisheries. Now, let’s not keep 232 Brook Trout and trade them for getting a tooth pulled like in the early 1900’s, but abide by the rules put into place by biologist years ago. Also, understand the definition of a daily creel limit, total trout per day, per person, not going three times in one day and stuffing your cooler or stringers with 32 trout and posting that picture on Instagram for the world to see.
I think that we should look at what we can do to help ensure good sustainable trout populations, sizes, and healthy fisheries for all to enjoy. Regardless, if you practice catch and release, or catch and keep, we have an obligation to our fisheries, and each to other, to ensure that we all are doing our part to protect our cold water fisheries for generations to come. Don’t look down on an angler keeping legal trout. As long as they use the trout in the way the good Lord meant for them to be used, I am good with it.
Stop by the shop and let me know what you think. The door is always open, and you can even tie a fly while we chat.
Shannon Messer is the Manager of Blackrock Outdoor/Orvis Fly Shop located in Sylva, NC.