Fish and Big Government (and small minds)

When we moved here , about 16 miles south of Savannah, 7 years ago, I thought I would spent the better part of my time fishing, especially with the lagoon in the back yard. Well, at first I did spent a lot of time fishing, crabbing and shrimping, but that has tailed off, not from lack of interest, I still spent a lot of time around the lagoon, but NOT fishing. I've come to the realization that  I indeed did enjoy fishing, but what I really enjoyed much more  was being somewhere to fish, being around water full of life, the beauty to the senses, the movement of life and the smells of nature. At this time of year the lagoon is bursting with life, not only in it, but the air above it is full of winged life, below the surface the little fry are shyly active, feeding and trying not to be an immediate  part of the food train.  In short fishing was just a way to get me around water. However I do fish now and then, sometimes every day, but only to see if I can outsmart the largemouth bass, that lurk around on the far shoreline. Sometimes I have to try and catch a large bass that has taken up a position that allows him to attack my sunfish when I feed them. Always catch and release.

 Which brings me to the title of this rant. A year or so ago Janet and I wanted to go up to the Great Smoky Mountain area, we could hike, paint, and I could try my hand at some long missed trout fishing. So I did my homework about the large park there, run by one of the states, or federal govt, or perhaps men in Black Helicopters armed with M-16s and high powered binoculars. For I learned the the only trout fishing allowed was by artificial lures and tied flies, basically the fish get nothing .....but hooked! They wouldn't even allow you to use any bait found on the very shoreline, or vegetation adjacent to the water, something I love to do, seems only fair to the fish, I give them a worm, pull them out gently put them back and they have something in their stomach. Considering it takes multiple worms, crickets, whatever to hook one, they get a meal of sorts, mana from heaven. Fed up with the smug riperian nazis, I delved farther into their web site, I guess what I found! One of their own reports detailed how the fish in this park could not maintain their population naturally, that it was necessary to introduce farm raised trout on a yearly basis. Reading further I found where they came to the conclusion that the fish were not reaching the neccessary maturity to breed, and why................... for the simple reason of MALNUTRITION...... I guess plastic and bird feathers do not a meal make!