Catfish Conference

Are any of you all attending the Catfish Conference in Louisville, KY this weekend?

Dang it! I thought it was a few weeks away yet!

I’ll be in Cincinnati for baseball this weekend, May have to drop down to Louisville. Would like to meet Steve Douglas.

I'm excited about it. I've had to work on the weekends they've had it on the last 3 years. We are going Friday afternoon and may go back Saturday.

The Catfish Conference is to commercial fishing as PETA is to trapping. No thanks 👎

There is a nasty push by anti commercial fisherman to shut down commercial catfishing. Or put ridiculous limits to harvesting catfish where no one can make a living. This cancer started here in Indiana and has moved to several other states. Kentucky is the motherland of commercial fishing here in the Midwest and the fight is now a blaze in Kentucky. There has been a ridiculous amount of meetings where the DNR has been put in a political headlock and forced to make decisions not based on science or biology but on political pressure. There are biologist that have studied the catfish and the fisheries is in perfect condition.
The Catfish Conferences are the antis gathering to organize the demise of commercial catfishing. We commercial fisherman have been dealing with boat ramps covered with roofing nails, false complaints filed with game wardens to criminal destruction of commercial fishing nets and gear.
As trappers does this sound familiar?

I wouldn't go as far as comparing them to PETA. There have gotten to be rather elitist like the assfishers and throw them all back crowd.
I consider myself a cat fisherman first and think this whole "trophy" catting and cpr bull has gotten way out of hand and some of those arrogant arse wipes need knocked down a peg or two.

Man i wish we had something like that around here. We have a few outdoor shows mostly for hunting, but none really for just fishing let alone catfishing. Closest thing we have is during Cabelas Fishing Days

I believe that's the same bunch mixed up with in fisherman magazine that got commercial fishing closed down on the Missouri river putting a lot of people in a real bind. No biology behind it just a bunch of jack wagons jealous over someone else's catch and knowledge. Don't go. I could easy see that crowd whining that they can't call in a bobcat cause trappers are catching them all. Then just like the fact that their "trophy" catfish catching didn't improve on the Missouri river, their cat calling skills won't be any better either. I hope no one goes.

I have no problem with a man making his living commercial fishing. What I do have a problem with is those selling a lot of big fish to these pay lakes where they starve out and die. Look up the videos of "catfish paradise" and it will open eyes. it definately changed my thoughts and feelings on the subject. I'll be attending the conference with Abu65 and plan to have a good time

So pay to fish people starve their money makers? I bet you want to shut down deer pens too? Are you not an antler hunter? What's wrong with buying your trophy? If more people bought their antlers from deer pens I'd get back a lot of trapping ground. What about the live coyote market? Shut that down?

I'm not a trophy hunter and have nothing against those that are. I'm just saying what I have seen and know what happens to those fish once they hit the pay lakes. There are no forage fish in the majority of those lakes. Full fish don't bite. Plenty of info out there about it.

sako22, you sound a lot like the people saying its time to stop the commercial sale of trapped fur. Saying those poor coyotes are left to starve to death in cruel traps when they don't manage to chew their feet off.

That's a nice apples to oranges analogy. Deer are born and raised in captivity. They are privately owned livestock. The catfish that are put in pay lakes are netted from public waters and then sold to pay lakes. That in of itself doesn't bother me, but it's very different from a deer farm.
The issue for me, is that the commercial fisherman were nearly unlimited in how many large catfish they could remove from public waters. That may have changed by now, I'm not sure. But times have changed in that these days that trophy catfish provide a bigger economic impact recreationally than commercially. The general catfish population and the trophy catfish population are really two different things, but aren't treated as such. There should be a balance that can be found, but as usual you have two sides fighting for the extremes. The anti-commercial guys want it stopped all together, and the pro-commercial guys want no limits.

Once that fish is caught it becomes private property.

The issue for you subscribers to in fisherman magazine is jealousy. You want to brag and you are worried that a guy with a hoop or trammel net, or a 100 hook trotline, is going to catch a bigger fish than you will on a rod and reel.

Its a fish. There is no danger of the population being harmed by current commercial fishing regulations.

LOL
I love it when the only thing a person can bring to a debate or discussion is baseless insults because they don't really know enough about the subject to make an intelligent reply. I don't even know where that crap came from, but if that's all you can bring to the discussion, you may as well not get involved.

Its your crap. Unless somehow you typed all that by accident.

You either need to get better at posting full sentences/thoughts and making a little sense, or just stop. I honestly have no idea what you're trying to say. That quote of mine has nothing to do with the childish garbage in your previous post.

those two aren't even close to being similar. but I guess things are a lot more different in Kansas. I guess people should ride around and shoot trophy bucks with a dart gun and transport them to a big pen so people can get their trophy. take resources from group to satisfy another.

You two, just like the boneheads at PETA , are trying to stop a commercial harvest that does ZERO damage to the resource. You are doing it because of your failure to catch "trophy" fish and instead of looking in the mirror to find out who is responsible your blaming people who make a living at it.

P.S. I cant help you in your failure to comprehend written English.

So was I right about the mad catters being like PETA? Sako and Magis are exactly what I was warning about. Now get several of them together lead by Steve Douglas and you will have a sister organization of PETA. They are exactly like anti trapping organizations.

To each their own I guess. I am in no way shape or form supportive of PETA or any other anti organizations. I absolutely support hunting.fishing and trapping rights. I just have a problem with taking a 70 pound pound catfish out of it's native habitat to die in an oversized mud puddle for no reason other than a dollar. But it's no big deal I reckon. They die out and there is another truckload to replace them. But apparently there is a never ending supply of big fish in the river so no damage at all is getting done to the population. So i guess i'll just go to the conference tomorrow and browse and look at all the boats and equipment that i like to use fish with a heavy heart and guilty conscience for feeling the way i do about this. Who knows, i might even see some fellow hunters, trappers and no talent catfish fishermen there also . Carry on boys, I'm out.

Commercial fishing is not what this post was about. I was simply asking if anyone was coming to the conference. However since some of you have brought it up I can't help but to play along. I for one have never said I was against the commercial harvest of catfish. Anything that is unregulated can destroy a species. Examples would be Buffalo and the Canvasback duck as being 2 species that survived. Homing pigeons were not so lucky. I do believe that there should be regulations on any natural resource. I do not understand how they can do that without harming peoples lively hood that are deep rooted into that life style. There are reasons why you are not allowed to commercial harvest deer, Crappie, Bass etc. There are reasons that they regulate the harvest of fur. That does not make anyone like PETA. Your comment is the same as saying if someone self regulates themselves to only trapping 2 Beaver out of 1 lodge so that they can sustain a healthy population of Beaver to trap that they are like PETA and that's just asinine.

I do have one question that you can probably can answer since you seem to be knowledgeable on this subject. Why are the Departments of fish and wildlife pushing so hard for the commercial fishing of Asian carp?

FYI, bison and passager pigeons were not done in by hunting regulated or not. They were done in by ecological changes due to overpopulation and disease.

Jmo Abu, but you won't find many here who support a group which is killing the way people make a living off the land. Me included.

Maybe I don't know what we are getting into. Supposed to be a lot of tackle , boats and gear etc. And they are also having a a catfish cooking contest. I think it will be real nice seeing all the stuff the different vendors have. I've been to trapping events and I enjoyed those. Who knows.

You seem like you have a lot of smarts why don't you answer my question.

Maybe think this way Abu, why not stop recreational fishing so the guys making a living can keep doing so? Ever look at it from that side? That is if the fish population is the main concern.

Like I've said this post was not about commercial fishing. However maybe you just want to debate, I don't know. They can force you to throw all your fish back, catch and release there are a lot of fishermen that would still fish, I would. I do eat a lot of the fish I catch but I would still fish if I couldn't keep any. I know a lot of bass fishermen that never eat a fish they catch.

commercial fishing for Asian carp is already legal. game depts. are not pushing anything. there is NO market for them.

This post is absolutely about commercial fishing because the folks putting on your little soiree want to end it the same way they did on the Missouri river. Furthermore they ARE whining about commercial fisherman catching more big fish than they are. The catch of big fish is not diminished the experts writing for in fisherman just cant catch them

Catfish are a resource that should be utilized whether for fun, money, or a meal. As long as managed to sustain resource, method of take matters not. Imo.

The population of canvasback ducks shrunk some. It was due to habitat loss and the population never got dangerously low.

The United States has never had a wild population of buffalo. We do have bison.

Homing pigeons are a very common domestic pigeon. There are millions of homing pigeons in the United States and probably billions in the world.

Catfish population growth is mainly limited by nesting sites. Like most fish, catfish produce a phenomenal number of eggs. New catfish are quick to take over and use an empty nesting site. Without a proper nesting site, very few catfish spawn survive.

Commercial cat fishing should be left as it is. There are not enough people doing it to make much of a difference and it's good for a man to earn a living from nature. You would think a trapper could grasp this.

I hate the new restrictions Ohio has imposed on keeping large catfish. The restrictions just make catch and release tournament fisherman happy. Catch and release kills and more importantly wastes a valuable resource. I saw 60 some dead large mouth bass "released" in one tournament at CJ Brown Reservoir last year. I don't think catch and release should be illegal, but it definitely should not be praised. Dumping large numbers of large dead fish back in a lake, at a public dock, should be ilegal.

Keith

Passenger pigeon. I made a mistake. Second one today the first one was making this post. Once again I was simply wanting to know if any of you all were going to attend the event. Then the argumentative tribe chimes in. That’s the glory of the internet though you can say what you want to whomever you want. Much different than face to face conversations. It’s the same old thing with the Trapperman click. I don’t know how many people I see stop posting because of this type of behavior.

" I don’t know how many people I see stop posting because of this type of behavior."

Jones comes to mind. Like to hear his take on this.

There is a rule on this forum about posting links to anti sites. "catfish conference " is close enough.

I was raised in commercial fishing that no longer exists here. Trophy fisherman, or hunters for that matter, sort of tick me off. I angle, but if I could put a hoop net or a gill net in the water, I would. It's a whole lot quicker and you don't have to spend all that time angling.

That is correct! I'd hate to guess the ratio of catfish to nesting sites in a major tributary such as the Mississippi River.

ol'dad

I plan to be in Springfield for the NTA show

I disagree in regards to catch and release, at least the way I do it. I have fly fished all over the country, and in reality the world, and I rarely keep a fish. I can't even begin to count how many fish I have released over the years.

I have read the studies on catch and release and can tell you some are for it, and others suggest it isn't very effective. This isn't really any different than most things these days...poke around long enough and you can find a study supporting your point of view.

To work correctly I feel it is all about technique and handling the fish. Get them landed as quick as you can, handle them as little as possible, and try to keep them in the water while removing the hook. If you do pull them from the water get them back in as quickly as possible. Many guys get in trouble with catch and release because they hold fish out of the water for extended periods of time trying to get that perfect photo. Make that photo quick and get them back in.

Barbless hooks are a huge plus for this. Every fly I tie these days is barbless and I accomplish this by pinching the barb before I even slip the hook in my vise.

I have no experience with the tournaments where guys keep fish in live wells only to be released after weigh-ins. It seems as if these fish go through a fair amount of stress, and I can see where survival is lessened in a situation like this.

I don't have a problem with catch and release or catch and eat. I have a big problem with the idea that commercial fishing is less important than sport fishing. Taking a mans business away to make a guy recreating happy is just crazy. The world has a lot of catfish in it. They have been commercially harvested for centuries and they are still plentiful. The resource is not being harmed which is the only reason to stop something. Im all about sustainable harvest and that is exactly what we have. This whole conundrum is the result of jealousy and calling an animal a trophy.


Sako 22 a snaring season to harvest big bucks makes more sense than darting them. In the early spring when they lose their antlers it would be easy and more effective than stand hunting with a dart gun. To answer your question it wouldn't bother me one bit. Still be plenty of deer meat to be had and catching and selling "trophy" bucks would not only be a money maker IT WOULD NOT LOWER DEER POPULATIONS AT ALL> SUSTAINABILITY.