What you guy gonna fish for When all the trout hatchery close do to lack of funds and
There are no more trout nice way to treat a fish that can handle what ever the environment cans throw at it tsk tsk
That's your best argument for legitimizing an invasive species as a legal gamefish? How am I not surprised?
Who's to say what is "crap" fish! Fish are fish, regardless they're all creatures of this planet. Just because Bass are tougher, and can thrive anywhere, makes them crap? So people who are tougher are crap? That's how stupid it sounds. Picking and choosing which fish are or aren't crap, is just as ignorant as saying such and such race is crap when compared to another race of people. Fish are fish, period. If it's about sport fishing, then how the hell is bass crap?
I'd sure rather catch wild bass than stupid farmed trout, that don't fight and are small, and aren't good for eating anyways. Just because something is invasive doesn't mean it's crap. Northern Pikeminnows are "crap", but just because they're native here, people turn a blind eye to their destruction? Not to mention how annoying they are as a constant bycatch almost anywhere you fish around here? There is a reason why pikeminnows have been hunted with a bounty reward from the Govn't in places like the Columbia River. They are a huge reason why Salmon and Steelhead populations are lower than they should be.
Well then just leave them where they belong..... Don't introduce them into waters where they don't belong. If you want to fish Bass or the other species mentioned go to the states or where ever they occur naturally. Leave them in there own habitate where they originated instead of contaminating other waters that have trout and native species only. The morons who are transplanting them should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law.....
All fish species are not crap fish. Trout, bass and northern pikeminnow all have recreational values. More importantly, they are all ecologically important in their natural habitat. Both smallmouth and largemouth bass are excellent gamefish, but their introduction to waterbodies where they do not naturally occur should be prevented. The same goes to all other species that are not native in British Columbia. It's not a case of trout vs bass, but native species vs invasive species.
Northern pikeminnow have been natural predators to salmonids since they began coexisting. In the Columbia River, dams have created more favourable condition for northern pikeminnow than juvenile anadromous salmonids. Because of the slow water created by dams, northern pikeminnow have been able to predate more efficiently and expand their populations faster than they would naturally, therefore a bounty has been set up for them.
In Cultus Lake, northern pikeminnow's population is reduced by various methods due to the low number of sockeye salmon in this lake. The low number is caused by decades of overfishing. To ensure this endangered population thrives once again, predation of juveniles needs to be reduced.
In both cases, the decline of salmon populations has been human induced factors (dams and overfishing), not northern pikeminnow. If anything, northern pikeminnow favours salmonids as it is a natural selector of the salmon population. Their predation eliminates the weaker ones in the population during the juvenile stage.
This is why we have trained biologists making decisions on how an ecosystem should be managed, not sportfishermen who have special interests on particular species. Sportfishermen generally rate fish species by their recreational value, but fail to realize the bigger picture. Majority of the inhabitants (smaller fish, amphibians, reptiles) in a waterbody are not targeted by fishing. Those are the most vulnerable and easily displaced or replaced when new competitive species are introduced.
And no, I'm not a bass hater. I enjoy catching bass just as much as many others, but I usually like to put logics ahead of self interests.