Fingerling Bass Key to Restoring Population

A very interesting article by Bob Wattendorf, Wes Porak and Rick Stout in the July 12, 2009 issue of FLORIDA TODAY. The 3 page article goes into good detail concerning all the research and effort that is being undertaken by Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) biologists to restore largemouth bass populations using advanced fingerlings down in the sunshine state.

Comments

[richard ziert]

For those who read the article, we should see that it obtusely points to my ramblings over the months and years. This is not an "I told you so". It is however, something to be thought about carefully.

From timing of released fish ( the annual cycle has profound meaning in survival as it is connected to many other precise occurrences, seemingly unrelated to the hatch at hand), to diet (bass cannot live on crayfish alone - not enough all around nutrients to succeed), to capturing prey, and then being captured as prey (do to the absence of parental guidance - an early learning process), this article runs a good gambit of what happens in nature when we as fishermen do things we are not suppose to. Illegal stocking, bed fishing, in some cases structure planting, polluting the water, and the list goes on.

Carpe Diem - Seize the Day

In concept, this time worn and true yet at times “on the breadline” aphorism is both a summons to enjoy life in the moment and to be wise enough to see that it is also an existential caution. Life is indeed a brightly colored and sullen two way street of what we make of it for ourselves and for all that we prevail over. Seizing the day in the life of a fish and how it leads to our greater success as fishermen is woven together in subtle ways. To see time and space in the life of a fish, in the moment as a single entity, the only concern, is a mistake that leads nowhere when considering our actions or inactions supply the future.