Lots of people showing up at NRC meeting to speak against bass season change

[djkimmel]

Where are the people in support of the bass season change? There's about 10 people signed up who will probably speak against Option 4, and against any change other than catch and release only maybe. The NRC is being sympathetic to them right now. We need people at the March 19th meeting who actually want Option 4 to show up and say so.

[djkimmel]

We need more written comments and more petition signatures.

[TheFishinPollock]

I'll be there with spinnerbaits on and a short speech in my hand!   Time for someone who lives up north  and fishes Traverse city waters to discredit all the BS flying around about " how bad the fishing is up north"

[djkimmel]

Had another person try to tell me the fishing is 'bad' and I have to ask "compared to what? Heaven?" Sheesh. We need more people to show up at this meeting to say they support Option 4.

[Waterfoul]

Still planning on going to the March 30th meeting in Grandville.

[djkimmel]

Yes. That's another chance to be heard, and get to know your local MDNR Fisheries people. I should be at the one barring a scheduling conflict.

[justinhahn88]

I'd love to be there to show my support,  darn work haha. I did sign the petition.  Is there anything else I can do?

[Frank]

where and when

[TheFishinPollock]

today starting at 1 pm in Higgins lake, north side  , DNR  facility Frank.   Unless you signed up to speak you won't be able to though, buttttttttttttttttttt showing up to help support this still helps.

[dartag]

Anything to report on the meeting.

[TheFishinPollock]

I was at the meeting and spoke. What a long day. Few things about this.

It seemed to me that half the board was for some kinda of change byond CIR. The other half, well they were not impressed or on their smartphone while people talked. Every single person that spoke against option D were from downstate and lake St Clare. Not a single person besides myself was from north of bay city or west of lake st clare besides Dan Kimmel. TBF president was there and spoke for . Those opposing cited a plethera of information. 99% of it is what other states like NJ,NY,PA,OH,IN did. Not what Michigan did. They had pie charts, graphs, all sorts of stuff, but again it was all based on what other states did , are doing, or will do. Basicly a bunch of horesfeather info.

Dan hit the mic with a note pad binder and pretty much crushed, in my opinion, everything they spoke of.  Now if you want to see a man that can talk solidly and  directly. Go see Dan speak at a meeting.  Everytime one of the opposers  directly confronted Dan he just sat there , unimpressed and didn't even aknowledge them. It was impressive. I have no idea how he keeps his cool like that.

I also got to see pure hatred for any kind of tournment angler. When I say hatred , I mean they would string us all up or shoot us if we are tournment anglers. At least the council ignored those few people . Lot of personal grudges by those folks against any of us. It was sad to see because by the look of the people hating us. They have been ticketed a zillion times and are mad that none of us gets ticketed for anything.

After I spoke I stepped outside for a smoke. Upon returing I got shot a look by that " sportswriter" from the Free Press. I should have dropped dead on the spot. She is one piece of work I tell ya. She sat right in front of us the entire time making snide comments to her buddies and son about our ideas. I will tell all of you that those opposed to option D have ABSOUTLY NO CONCERN for any other lake in this state besides lake St Clare. They could care less what happens to lakes down south or up here. All they talked about , including Stricker, was lake. St Clare this and St Clare that. Not a single mention of any other body of water in the state. Don't think these people have your intrests at heart. Because they don't.

There was mention of a "test period" on certain lakes in Michigan for a expanded C&K season.   Every single lake that would be included in this test period were downstate. Not a single lake was north of Flint.  This tells me that opisition to  proposal D are not concerned  with fishing across the state fairly.   It also tells me that they realize  lakes  in my area of michigan and the UP have been and always will be fished during the spawn. Kinda makes them hyprocrites in my book.  Concidering they repeatedly said fishing during the spawn would damage a lake byond repair.

[Waterfoul]

They already did that catch and keep study on downstate lakes (and a couple up north) many years ago.  As I understand it NO detrmental effects were noticed.  I also understand that all the data was "lost" at some point.  I actually took part in this study by fishing Hardy Pond during that time.

[Team houston]

Thanks for the report, and for showing up and speaking.

[Firefighter Jeff]

  Yes Matt, I'd like to thank you also for going and speaking up.

[dartag]

Thanks for attending Matt.  Was there any conclusion at the end of the meeting.  Interesting they show up now with all the charts and data when the process has been going on for 2 years.  Hope it doesn't throw a wrench into all the work been done so far.

[TheFishinPollock]

You guys are welcome. I just hope that hearing from an everyday Joe such as myself made some sort of impact in their thinking.  It was interesting to see how those meetings go . I hand a good time even though it was longggggggggggggggggg LOL.  

Dartag-   I didn't get to stay till the end. I had to go buy a jackplate for my boat before it got too late.  Not sure how it ended , but I think Dan stayed till the end cause his boss was there to speak. Hopefully it took some of the target off Dan's back .

I know it probably isn't that interesting , but if you guys want a copy of my speach . I can email it to ya so you know what was said.

[djkimmel]

The NRC Commissioners order the MDNR Fisheries Division to write a new recommendation without the CDR part. They said they supported catch and immediate release year-round but 'new data' and 'fact-checking' caused them concerns. They announced this BEFORE the public speaking part even happened.

The Commissioners said they wanted the MDNR to have a 10-15 lake Southern Michigan CDR study of unknown everything else to be included in the new MDNR recommendation / Fisheries Order. We were beat on the CDR part or Option 4 before the meeting even started thanks to the group from Detroit who mostly spoke only about Lake St. Clair.

There was no true new science presented. Lots of emotion. Lots of misinformation or emotion presented as 'science.' It was disappointing that it worked as well as it did. We are working on a response that may accomplish nothing positive. We don't want to lose more than we already have. We are still the majority but the minority is winning on the parts that would provide more bass tournament and fair, equal opportunity for all bass anglers.

[djkimmel]

So what can you do about it:
1) Write your comments and opposition to whatever, any, all parts of the latest non-science coming out of the process to nrc@michigan.gov. Tell them you want true scientific management based on what is known and what has already worked in Michigan, not what might happen (and probably never will). Tell them you demand that they meet your demand to fish the way you want to based science and real-world experience of Michigan and other states. You do not want to be restricted from fishing your preferred way just because some people don't like bass tournaments, or the small number of people who still harvest some bass.

2) Write letters to your local paper editors about the topic of more bass fishing, especially the editor of the Detroit Free Press where we are under attack by someone who is influenced personally to not want more people fishing Lake St. Clair. Actually I think she wants less people to fish though there is no science showing that is necessary.

3) Take some of your time to schedule an appearance at the final NRC meeting to speak in favor of Option 4 or whatever the most new additional bass fishing opportunity we can get during the public speaking part of the meeting. The meeting is Thursday, April 9th in Lansing. You would want to be there by 3pm or so. The other side took the time to prepare and show up the other night. Will you do the same?

For #3 it may be too late to make a difference at the meeting because they are going to want to vote that day for the latest recommendation. That's how they are handling this so it's better if they get inundated with requests long before then. If they don't get an overwhelming response from people then there will be no further positive changes at this time most likely. If pure science were winning we would have Option 4. If there wasn't such an emotional protectionist streak on Lake St. Clair we could probably have Option 4 for part or the rest of the state.

The NRC is supposed to use sound science so keep reminding them that until we get sound science not emotion providing the most bass fishing opportunity for the most anglers not just those who want people to think and fish just like them.

[dartag]

will people be able to stay and watch the vote. 

[djkimmel]

Yes - it's all public. It will be in Lansing for the next meeting I believe at the MSU/MDNR animal lab conference room on Beaumont Rd.