Trout fishing hoarding and killing in Maryville

[CATCHDAWG]

@Ruprecht If you live in Maryville, why not go just up the road to the park where you can catch real trout and not have to worry about the nonsense where the stockers are?

 

[BigCityBubba]

I'm originally from up north where there are wild populations of trout. Those wild caught trout are delicious plain and simple. I went to Lake Junior in Chattanooga last spring and caught a couple stocked trout on some sort of marshmallow bait. By the way that would never happen up north. But I kept the 2 fish, because I haven't had a trout in the 23 years since I moved to Tennessee. I can say I was not impressed. When I gutted the fish, their bellies were completely empty. The flesh was white and pasty looking. I put them in a vacuum bag and froze them, planning to make breakfast with them some morning. I still haven't eaten them. I figure they will taste like farm raised catfish - bland, flavorless chucks of nothing. Or maybe the turd or dog food others have spoken about.

Someone said these fish are put and take. I agree whole heartily with this. I don't agree with the folks who take more than their limit or catch and release gut hooked fish. That's bad. The put and take is good, it gives people a chance to catch dinner, as others have said. They can do it easily, and have fun doing it.

Thats because they are eating purina trout chow. The hold overs are a little better tasting but there are no hold overs in the winter stocking. They die if they are not caught before the weather warms up.

 

[Setterman]

@Ruprecht If you live in Maryville, why not go just up the road to the park where you can catch real trout and not have to worry about the nonsense where the stockers are?

Can't fish bait in those streams would be my guess

 

[killingtime 41]

They stock em by the thousands every year and every year for years to come. Very few that are released ever live to begin with or there would be no need to keep stocking. Just ask a TWRA agent the next time you see one. A tunafish sandwich tastes better than the stocked ones anyway. They been raised on eating dog food or fish food whatever you want to call it. Basically stocked to give people a chance to fight a wet sock. Bigger ones fight decent nothing compared to the natives. I watched Mexicans using cast nets and hoarding them. now that I have a problem with.

 

[agelessssone]

Best dog turds I've ever eaten I guess lol, I like them fine fried in a skillet with a slab of butter, fresh lemon, and some garlic. I just very rarely catch more than 1 or 2.

Crappie are excellent, just a whole different meal. Apples to oranges in my book

I won't eat a trout or crappie, just personal preference.
But let me catch a legal sized largemouth bass...and it's goin home with me.
Same with a sauger or walleye, legal length is goin home!
I love them little yellow bass too. Just took a sealed bag of yellow bass filets out of the freezer for tomorrow night's dinner.

 

[Urban_Hunter]

I won't eat a trout or crappie, just personal preference.
But let me catch a legal sized largemouth bass...and it's goin home with me.
Same with a sauger or walleye, legal length is goin home!
I love them little yellow bass too. Just took a sealed bag of yellow bass filets out of the freezer for tomorrow night's dinner.

Sauger and walleye are at the top for me, I just can't catch them

Yellow bass and crappie seem the same to me

I'll eat a spot all day. Largemouth doesn't do it for me

 

[Crow Terminator]

My uncle used to basically live on trout during the summers when Inwas a kid. We'd go camp and catch some...clean em and cook em at the camp site. From swimming in water to cooking in grease probably less than 30 mins time. They'd still be flopping when cleaning them. And they still taste blah to me. But under the recommendation of one of our guides...we ate at Gastons on the White River and tried the dish he recommended. It was trout with mushroom Hollandaise sauce on it, on top of rice. It may have been the sauce masking some of the taste...but that was the best trout I've eaten.

 

[MidTennFisher]

Now Mid Tn Fisher... lemme tell you, when I get on a redfish bite, I'm going to catch every dang one of them until they stop biting, move on, or it gets dark. But redfish and trout are totally different animals. Release survival of redfish caught on artificials approaches 100%. They are some tough critters. The only ones you have to take any care to revive are the big bulls caught in summer. But specks are much more fragile, and have around a 25% average mortality rate after release.... much higher when fishing around dolphins. You have to really care for specks to get less than a 10% mortality rate.

Hey that's fine with me. I don't knock people for catch and release fishing.... until they even begin a sentence whining at me for keeping my limit of whatever the heck I want to eat. Trout, bass, redfish, stripers, whatever I want.

I'll quickly point out the glaring hypocrisy of being a guy who whines that I kept a limit of fish while they caught and released 40. Knowing that there is some percentage of catch and release mortality. So in most cases they killed more fish than I did, but for absolutely no reason. But I'm wrong for routinely fishing with the intent to take fish home? Cracker please.

 

[agelessssone]

Hey that's fine with me. I don't knock people for catch and release fishing.... until they even begin a sentence whining at me for keeping my limit of whatever the heck I want to eat. Trout, bass, redfish, stripers, whatever I want.

I'll quickly point out the glaring hypocrisy of being a guy who whines that I kept a limit of fish while they caught and released 40. Knowing that there is some percentage of catch and release mortality. So in most cases they killed more fish than I did, but for absolutely no reason. But I'm wrong for routinely fishing with the intent to take fish home? Cracker please.

Nope, take whatever you want that is legal and eat what you want.
I will be eating yellow bass for dinner tonight, had walleye a few nights ago.

 

[megalomaniac]

Hey that's fine with me. I don't knock people for catch and release fishing.... until they even begin a sentence whining at me for keeping my limit of whatever the heck I want to eat. Trout, bass, redfish, stripers, whatever I want.

I'll quickly point out the glaring hypocrisy of being a guy who whines that I kept a limit of fish while they caught and released 40. Knowing that there is some percentage of catch and release mortality. So in most cases they killed more fish than I did, but for absolutely no reason. But I'm wrong for routinely fishing with the intent to take fish home? Cracker please.

I have no problem with self guided individuals keeping a limit of whatever fish they want to keep. Personally, I keep enough for 1 or 2 meals each time I go, but don't keep a limit, as that would mean I'm putting another 10 meals in the freezer... and I prefer fresh fish over frozen fish.

I have a big problem with the locals who get a 'commercial' license for an extra $100, then keep 12 or 15 redfish each trip. And get to keep specks 14in and up, while everyone else cannot keep unless 15in and up.

I also have a problem with the meat haul guides that slap fill their boat up 5 days out of the week. I understand paying clients want to take fish home after they spent $500 on a guide, but I just don't see the justification for keeping a limit every trip. The guides need to be pushing conservation values on their clients. Again, keep enough for 1 or 2 meals, no need to stuff the box with 3 clients on 1 boat, all keeping their limit, plus sometimes the guides limit

 

[WTM]

there are a couple of crappie guides on KY lake that hammer the bigger bluegill every year, then wonder where all the bluegill have gone.

 

[knightrider]

Snot rockets

 

[Pilchard]

I also have a problem with the meat haul guides that slap fill their boat up 5 days out of the week. I understand paying clients want to take fish home after they spent $500 on a guide, but I just don't see the justification for keeping a limit every trip. The guides need to be pushing conservation values on their clients. Again, keep enough for 1 or 2 meals, no need to stuff the box with 3 clients on 1 boat, all keeping their limit, plus sometimes the guides limit

AMEN. I said this the first time I visited Louisiana. The liberal limits drive tourism dollars and collapse the fishery at the same time.

Fortunately some are starting to wake up but most are still fighting it.

 

[Lt.Dan]

Sauger and walleye are at the top for me, I just can't catch them

Yellow bass and crappie seem the same to me

I'll eat a spot all day. Largemouth doesn't do it for me

 

[Lt.Dan]

I won't eat a trout or crappie, just personal preference.
But let me catch a legal sized largemouth bass...and it's goin home with me.
Same with a sauger or walleye, legal length is goin home!
I love them little yellow bass too. Just took a sealed bag of yellow bass filets out of the freezer for tomorrow night's dinner.

I with ya on the Walleye and the Sauger

 

[Dbllunger]

View attachment 212877

Good googly moogly.....That dude will feed a family of 4! Love me some walleye. Can't wait till the spring run near Rock Island.

 

[Lt.Dan]

Good googly moogly.....That dude will feed a family of 4! Love me some walleye. Can't wait till the spring run near Rock Island.

That was caught a few weeks ago. She was 27.75" A quarter inch short of making the T.A.R.P. Caught a bunch more that day. Three others were over 20". You would have thought we fished up north, but it was right here in TN at Watts Bar

 

[Wooden Arrow]

Largemouth doesn't do it for me

i don't keep smallmouth either. too much fun to catch!

 

[agelessssone]

Good googly moogly.....That dude will feed a family of 4! Love me some walleye. Can't wait till the spring run near Rock Island.

Let me know when you want to go!!

 

[Iglow]

I've been a long time trout fisherman. I've seen just about every type of fishing "jerk" on the rivers or lakes in East Tennessee. I don't think there's anything worse than a trout hoarder, and they are becoming more and more common.

I live in Maryville and during the winter months the local downtown river arr stocked with trout. I really wish TWRA wouldn't release the dates of stocking, and just randomly drop trout, as it causes more problems than it's worth. The day of, and the several days after stocking, is just a mess. I'm guessing the same thing happens up at the Halls duck pond or any of the winter stocking locations. People just hoard and kill off fish, with ZERO care for conservation, other fisherman, or TWRA.
Hoarding, to me, is catching more fish than is permitted. In Maryville it's five fish a day. That doesn't stop these guys from fishing, catching five, leaving for an hour, and coming back and fishing for five more. I've seen this play out with certain guys numerous times throughout the day. I've spent entire days just watching people fish, and I've seen certain guys do this routine 4-5 times. That's up to 25 fish they take a day! I even wonder if they even cared to buy a license? Do you want anyone else to take a trout home for dinner?!

The next jerk is the one who has no intention to take a fish home and cook it, but just loves to catch and throw back. This is actually worse than taking more fish home than allowed. I met a guy last week who just kept bragging how he caught 40-50 trout on this day, and how fun it was. He threw every fish back. He was fishing with bowerbait and a sinker. No tension on the line and almost every fish he brought in had swallowed the hook. He'd just yank out the hook and throw the trout back, sealing the trouts fate. I offered a little advice on proper release to help increase the trouts survival, but I might as well have talked to a rock. Watching bleeding fish thrown back in the river made me sick.

Trout are sensitive fish. They die fairly easy if not handled properly. For instance: if squeezed tightly while removing a hook you will crush their organs. If you use a cloth to hold them you remove all their protective coating. They definitely die if you yank out a swallowed hook in the gut. Just read online about trout (not other fish) survival rates, as there are so many article online about it.

I love trout fishing. I enjoy eating trout. I only fish for species I will eat, as I don't like to kill an animal just to kill it. I've never understood killing to kill. I fish, and if I catch my limit, I then go home. If I see a kid or someone who doesn't know how to fish, I'll offer advice. If I catch a trout and it's hooked properly and I know I can release it, I will do so, but if it's questionable, it goes home with me. I club its head and put it out of it misery asap.

I guess my problem is how people just brag about being terrible fishermen. No care cause no one has ever held them accountable. I buy a license and stamp every year, but in the 40 plus years I've fished I've never been approached by a TWRA officer to check to see if I'm legal to fish. I know it happens, just never seen it. I imagine these guys and girls work hard but I've just never seen one. You would think they would at least monitor areas that they've just stocked trout in over the next few days after to make sure people (like the one I just mentioned) don't steal or kill every fish???

This was not meant to put blame on TWRA, but it would be nice to see an officer or two in Maryville around stocking dates.

Man, you got waayyy to much faith in humanity, waayyy to high of expectations for it to do the right thing. You should feel good that they use a rod and reel instead of herding them in the shallows and throwing a bait net over the whole bunch.