ME Council TU opposes kids ice fishing on Tibbett's Pond

It wasn't in plain enough english for this simpleton. Why exactly can't the kids ice fish there?

Apparently the Maine Council of Trout Unlimted opposed it because some of their members had done work to improve the open water fishing for the kids, but opposed having them ice fish. It's a totally put-and-take fishery where only kids are allowed to fish, so the worry was not destroying a "wild" population of trout, only the method of kids catching them.

IF&W passed the rule so kids can ice fish there, despite TU's objection.

I should've known that one was coming Mike...

Sorry..

I think that TU has really stepped in it this time. I can safely say that my TU membership check is not in the mail...

Perhaps they should consider changing their name. They could keep the same acronym, but instead of "Trout Unlimited," they could be "Trout Unavailable."
:roll:

They're available Naran, but only to fly fishermen... :roll:

I'm amazed that they came out against this while their local chapter didn't even make a comment.

This is no fluke. (parden the pun) If given the opportunity, they would ban all ice fishing everywhere.
This used to be a group of fisherman who enjoyed fly fishing and they formed a group to furthur the sport.
It is a far cry from the arrogant, elitist group who looks down thy're noses at anyone who dares to fish without a flyrod.
I saw an example of this a few years back at an DIFW hearing on banning salmon fishing through the ice at Moosehead. They were trying to intimidate anyone speaking for ice fishing. What was more troubling was that the head biologist up there was cahoots with them too.

Swampy, does this sound familiar?

http://www.kennebecriveroutfitters.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=1553

So the bone of contention is that fish will be caught and consumed--not thrown back in, correct? Why is that an issue? Doesn't the money from the sale of licenses go towards restocking these places? Are there hundreds of kids on this body of water all winter long depleting the stocks that much? It's not like they're shooting fish in a barrel--it's FISHING for Pete's sake.

You get it KathyP. Unfortunatly there is a new religion that is emerging in Maine, it's called "Progressive Fisheries Management". Unfortunately teaching kids to fish with Ice Traps or Snoopie pole's and bobber and worm's is not on the TU agenda. Eating fish is almost a sin for many of these folks. TU Fly Fishing Summer camp for only 12 lucky kids is TU's idea of helping kids. 12 kids!!! Problem solved. It's for the children... We need to get many more than 12 kids out fishing for crying out loud... God forbid they go fishing vice become addicted to Nintendo or other video games, TV, etc... Tibbetts pond will be a great opportunity to teach all the area kids to fish and enjoy our Maine outdoor heritage...

Currently over to NEOV we are working to hold a kids Ice Derby on Tibbetts Pond sometime in February that will be free to all children to learn to fish for stocked trout. Nothing fancy is planned, free fishing, free bait, instruction, free hot cocco and hot dogs. I will post information as things develop. Hopefully we will get loads of support for this idea and we can grow this into something special. At the NEOV Family Picnic we were able to raise $500.00 toward our goal to make this happen. We feel we are well on our way to success.

Well, this group doesn't seem like they want to invest in future fishermen/sportsmen. If these kids can't have fun, enjoy the outdoors and the sport, why would they want to promote it/pay for it when they get into adulthood. Role models and mentors are very hard to come by these days, especially when it comes to enriching kids lives with outdoor activities like that. I would think they would be thrilled that kids want to get out there and do some fishing, no matter what time of the year, and getting outside like that is far more wholesome than sitting inside building a page on MySpace or playing video games.

Way to invest in the future.

Where is Tibbets pond?

Hey Butch,

How about we form a new group? PETT (people eating tasty trout)
THe passage you displayed is from none other than Bob Mallard. He is a big feeling person.
I'm all for catch and release if that's what you choose to do. But it should be your choice. Besides, we have bag limits the last time I checked.

I will say that it looks like the Department got this one right.

Good for them!

Hey Butch,

How about we form a new group? PETT (people eating tasty trout)
THe passage you displayed is from none other than Bob Mallard. He is a big feeling person.
I'm all for catch and release if that's what you choose to do. But it should be your choice. Besides, we have bag limits the last time I checked.

I will say that it looks like the Department got this one right.

Good for them!

Rocky,

Tibbetts Pond is a small 5 acre stocked pond off Rt 16 in the Bingham area. This is where Google earth says it is: 45° 0'31.77"N, 69°51'56.53"W.

Personally, I catch and release 95-98% of the time, but there are days I want to keep a fish to eat and I don't like someone looking at me like I've just committed blasphemy.