shiftyandquick said:

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AggieChemist said:

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And you guys need to stop referring to drum as trout.

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It's actually "spotted weakfish"

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Did you know trout are drum? Same family. I've won a lot of free beer with that. Lol

Different argument here but your point isn't missed. That area is the area I grew up fishing, where I really cut my teeth wadefishing and where my folks live now. I won't comment on the numbers you tossed out but there's absolutely an abundance of guides down there. I don't know exactly how many registered guides there are or how many days on average they are booked but it's a lot.

Lazuras_dc is right, not all of them go out and are capable of catching limits of trout on a consistent basis. A lot of those scrub guides don't even target trout, they just chase drum and reds and they've done a pretty good number on the drum population down there. You just don't see the big schools on the flats anymore especially in areas like fence lake or paul's mott. Granted part of that is probably also due to the abundance of recreational boaters with more money than sense and zero boater courtesy that are constantly burning those areas.

There has been a shift though since the culmination of Cedar Bayou opening up, more rain and starting the 5 fish limit. Trout fishing has improved especially with numbers so more of the scrub guides are starting to at least try to go catch trout before they go hammer drum. But scrub guides hammering drum is nothing new down there. You can still go sit at the cleaning tables at Goose Island, Cove Harbor, Conn Brown or Hampton's and still see guides roll in there with nothing but black drum.

As for how many trout get killed a year, I have no idea how close or far off your number is but again can agree it's a lot. In fact you make a pretty strong argument for doing what Louisiana does and lower the lower slot length of trout. That allows people to keep some of these small trout they're killing with their treble hooks and shrimp and will thin some of the male population. That'll help the guides fill their trout limits quicker since they won't have to sift through dinks (aka ninjas) before going to harass the puppy drum.

You do realize the "nerds" also dedicate their lives to their research and a lot of those field biologists spend quite a lot of time on the water and are pretty salty fishermen themselves. You should at least pay some attention to what they say bc they're the ones who manage the fishery.

I've been following this thread and there are interesting points. I'm a newb when it comes to salt water fishing and mostly fish live bait. I use circle hooks though. I guess that's why I've never gut hooked a fish. I will take any advice from any of y'all. That to me is the point of learning. Take something you're taught and make it your own.

Just watched a video that is a good example of how to kill a saltwater fish. Let the fish take the bait and run with it. For a long time. Make sure the bait is good and swallowed. Then set the hook. Use light tackle so it's hard to bring in the fish, so the fish is completely worn out. Then take the fish out of the water. Make sure you got great footage for your youtube channel. Then put the fish back in the water. And the fish just lays down. Dead. Of course, don't eat the fish. Just announce you'll use it for bait.

If you are using bait I agree, in most cases we fish artificials only, and seldom do we have mortality issues with fish we release. Now, if they are hooked deep, or in the gills, yes, sometimes, but for the most part, we don't have fish taking our plastics and topwaters deep into their throats.

I didn't read the entire thread, but my crew has released a lot of fish with the new five fish limit.

When we were younger, we'd string fish until we had 10. Now, we find ourselves releasing a lot of the smaller fish hoping for the 18-21" trout. Lots of times we come home without a limit though we caught one.

I released two 6lbs trout in consecutive casts on on Tuesday and will catch redfish all morning and not even carry a stringer.

The new limits are good.