Don’t mistake my comments here about obeying rules as simply being a way to avoid being hassled by The Man (also known as your friendly, smiling conservation officer). While I do hope that you follow the laws and thus, avoid a ticket, I really hope that you’re seeing the bigger picture here...and that is that it’s far more important to obey the laws because it’s the right thing to do. While it might seem that there are a lot of fishing regulations - and there are - there’s a reason for all those regulations that goes way beyond simple bureaucracy run amok.
Fishing regulations have been put into place to ensure that the fish we anglers so unashamedly covet are here season after season for us to catch, eat and enjoy. Were it not for the regulations enforced by the state, fishing would be far, far less enjoyable because we humans as a whole have proven that we are not necessarily capable of exercising restraint unless given some ironclad boundaries. For instance, bag or creel limits are imposed to ensure that a species of fish is not fished out. Keeping too many fish of one species also can damage delicate ecosystems that depend on the populations of each species of fish being balanced.
As an admittedly simplified example, consider what would happen if anglers were allowed to keep as many largemouth bass as they wanted. The ensuing effect would be that the largemouth population would dwindle, meaning that the bluegill (which are food for bass) would explode, creating a trickle down effect that would create more competition between bluegills for food, thus stunting the bluegill population. And of course, the largemouth bass population would eventually be severely damaged. There are fisheries biologists who are paid to study this stuff and set bag limits that protect the fish that you want to catch, thereby helping ensure that those very fish are available for the catching in the first place.
My point to this little tirade is to tell you that there is a name for people who keep more fish allowable under law, fish without a license, use illegal fishing methods, and in general, behave as if the laws don’t apply to them. Those people are poachers, plain and simple, and they make me sick.
I once knew a poacher (a family member, I am ashamed to say) who bragged about never getting a fishing or hunting license, taking fish any way he pleased, and filling his freezer with ill-gotten meat. He indignantly referred to his actions as being “his American, God given right.” I’m sure you know the type. He was so convinced that his way was right that he openly made a mockery of the state and federal agencies that work day and night to protect our lakes, rivers and woodlands so that all of us may enjoy them. To this day, I not-so-secretly hope that he one day is fined, jailed and stripped of all of his hunting a fishing gear. It will happen. He’s an idiot who mistakes his idiocy for an ideology. Don’t be one of those people. Get a license, learn the rules, and follow them. If you disagree with a particular game law, write the agency managing the waterways in your state, talk to your state representatives, and organize others who feel the same way. If the game law truly is a bad one, it eventually will be changed, especially if smart people like you make smart arguments. This is how democracy works.
If, however, you decide to simply ignore existing laws and do as you please, then well, you deserve whatever unpleasant outcome that befalls you.
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