March 7, 2025 • 30 mins
When the proposed slot limit against tournament fishing hit social media, an uproar began. The Coosa River is one of the countries most famed fisheries and a financial generator for the local cities and state.
The proposed 14-20 slot limit would crush those areas. Kay Donaldson, the director of the Alabama Bass Trail was one of the more vocal voices, taking the fight to the state capitol.
We discussed the impacts and now the decision.
The proposed 14-20 slot limit would crush those areas. Kay Donaldson, the director of the Alabama Bass Trail was one of the more vocal voices, taking the fight to the state capitol.
We discussed the impacts and now the decision.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
I'm really excited about today because actions that took place
not only on this podcast, but through the Alabama Bass Trail,
Silicaga Marine and a lot of people involved. I honestly
feel like challenges were put out to the government and
it worked. Kay Donaldson, who runs the Alabama Bass Trails
(00:23):
with me. My buddy Daniel Vasquez is also with me. November,
you get a phone call k about a possible slot
limit on the Coosa River. Now, if you live outside
of Alabama and you're listening to this podcast and you're
sitting there going, what do I care about the Cusa River?
Speaker 2 (00:41):
By far, the Kusa River.
Speaker 1 (00:43):
Is maybe one of the most fished river systems in
the continental United States, which ultimately means it's probably one
of the most fisher river systems in the world. Correct,
So when we get news that there's a possible impact
on the Cusa River, it's all hands on deck. So
tell me about how you found out this was going
(01:05):
to be a possibility.
Speaker 3 (01:06):
I was invited by the Department of Conservation Natural Resources
to come to Montgomery and meet with them to discuss
the results of the Neely Henry study that they did.
It was a three year study talking about tournament mortality
along Neely Henry and the Cusa River. So I went
down on Wednesday, November the sixth to discuss the results
and was given several options of what could transpire, but
(01:29):
also then a proposal that the biologist was going to
make to the commissioner that would impact the entire Cusa River.
Speaker 1 (01:36):
Were you aware that a study had actually taken place
on Neely Henry.
Speaker 4 (01:40):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (01:41):
We actually had worked with the department and providing samples
of bass that we had weigh in during our tournament,
so we were aware that they were doing a study.
We've worked with them on several studies that they've done
with the Swaba hog program and other samplings and seeing
net samplings and things like that, so we've worked with
them on a number of projects, so we were aware
(02:02):
of it. I don't know that I was aware that
it was just studying tournament mortality.
Speaker 1 (02:07):
I was a little shocked to find out that they
were making such a snap decision on information that they
acquired off of one lake. You know, Cousa River, Six
lakes starts with Weiss, ends with Jordan. There's several in between,
and the ones in between are really the most notable.
At all, and you get Neeli Henry Logan, martin Lay Lake.
(02:29):
Lake Mitchell is one of the smallest parts of it,
but still a pretty good fishery. And when I saw
some of the decisions that they were making off of
one lake, I thought this should be step one in
a possible step six. But then you saw the money
that was associated, I mean, just under nine hundred thousand
dollars for an Auburn study.
Speaker 2 (02:51):
My mind was blown. I'm like, there.
Speaker 1 (02:53):
Should be more than a two day sample or a
couple weeks study for that kind of month.
Speaker 3 (03:00):
Yeah, And I don't know what all went into the study.
I didn't get the chance to talk to the biologist.
I got a chance to read the study, so I
have no idea how that figure comes to be. That
seems like a lot of money to us as well.
We operate on a real thin budget, so eight and
forty years old thousand dollars seems like a lot of money.
Speaker 4 (03:19):
You know.
Speaker 3 (03:20):
I think open lines of communication are always important, and
we certainly found that to be true here with this study.
And then with the expectations of what the Conservation Apartment
thought the expectations of the anglers are, and then what
the true expectations of the anglers are, and what the
true expectations of tournament anglers and tournament organizations are.
Speaker 4 (03:39):
I think that's important.
Speaker 2 (03:41):
One of the things that you just brought up tournament
angling is.
Speaker 1 (03:43):
Why so many people got upset because there was so
many conversations that were happening through email, different screenshots were
getting posted. It was almost like everything should have been
buttoned up from the department side and it should have
come from one source where this is what we're talking about,
this is the plan, because it just got messy, and
(04:06):
when things get messy, it gets really sloppy. But it
felt like all the attacks that were happening were solely.
Speaker 2 (04:13):
Based on tournament anglers.
Speaker 1 (04:14):
Now, Daniel, you've worked in the fisheries before as somebody
who's had to study fish different bodies of water. How
vital is it for somebody to actually know what's happening
on a given body of water.
Speaker 5 (04:27):
Yeah, that's a great question. You know, understanding population, the
size of the population, the estimates, getting all those surveys
every single year is really important. And going back to
the budget of the nine hundred grand typically when these
states and they're looking for grant money, there are certain
(04:49):
allotments that you seek and you either overrun the allotment
or you kind of spend less, shall.
Speaker 2 (04:56):
We say, and give me give me it? For instance, Well,
you know, when you do.
Speaker 5 (05:01):
These studies, you're hiring multiple different individuals. Some of these
people have doctorates. You're running through these through university programs,
and you know, you sometimes can have a decent amount
of people on board with those and the studies can
go for months and months and months, years and years
and years. So when these state agencies go out looking
for grants, that's kind of how they perceive that, how
(05:23):
they they get their money.
Speaker 4 (05:24):
Shall we say, So, there's a lot of pieces.
Speaker 5 (05:27):
There's a ton of financial coah exactly. So they may
not have spent nine hundred grand, but.
Speaker 2 (05:32):
That's what they seek.
Speaker 5 (05:35):
To be able to be able to do the work,
shall we say?
Speaker 1 (05:38):
So, after this study takes place and all the conversations start,
you and I sat down to do a podcast. We
invited Lee Holmes of Silicaga Marine to come in. He's
extremely passionate and he's somebody in the state Alabama. I
think he deserves a lot of credit for this of
being able to get restocking as a bill and on
the books. I don't know where that stands right now.
(05:59):
I'm hoping that that's the next logical step that we
kind of go after. But we got the news recently
that the slot limit that was proposed fourteen to twenty inches,
which effectively would kill tournament bass fishing on the Kusler River,
we get news that they're.
Speaker 2 (06:16):
Not going to go ahead with that.
Speaker 1 (06:17):
There's one piece of this puzzle that I saw that
I was like, we got to talk about this. The
way it was crafted was at this time that leaves
the door open. I took a little issue with a
couple of people who put up videos that were like, Oh,
the slot limit's dead and it's this, and it's that,
It's not this is a possibility, right k for what
(06:37):
you know that if the Department wanted to say, no,
we're going to put this in, they don't really have
to go through some of the steps that they've gone.
Speaker 2 (06:45):
Right.
Speaker 3 (06:46):
Well, what we learned, and I think is very important, is,
you know, we were led to believe that the Commissioner
could sign this and it become effective January one. That's
what I was told, That's what the other organizations were told.
In the end, as we go into the House Committee
to have our bill, which was to stop any regulation
(07:08):
going into effect without other steps, you know, being tried first.
Speaker 4 (07:12):
That was the bill that was in front.
Speaker 3 (07:13):
Of the House, that got approved through the House Committee
and then got changed to a different committee. But what
we found out is is that they can recommend the
commissioner and he can recommend or make a regulation, but
it does have to go to a legislative oversight committee
that has one hundred and twenty days that public comment
can be made. Legislators can interview, they can interview the
(07:37):
scientists that did the work, they can interview stakeholders and
things like that. So what we found through this process,
and I think that's very important, is that even though
this regulation is there, it does have to go through
a legislative oversight process that is one hundred and twenty
days that will offer for public comment, legislative comment, and
then it can go into effect, or it can be rewritten,
(08:00):
or it can be taken away altogether.
Speaker 2 (08:01):
So where do we feel we stand right now? Then?
Speaker 3 (08:04):
Well, I think in good faith the Department stepped away
and I think they are open to the conversations with
the stakeholders, tournament organizers, tournament anglers, recreational anglers. I feel
like in good faith this decision was made, but I
do think there is a strong burden on the tournament
organizations to step up their game as far as fish
(08:24):
care goes. We had long conversations about this, and I'm
talking hour long conversations about fish care. About whether or
not to minimize the crell limit. That also came into
play when we were talking through this, So we didn't
just go in and sit down and say we do
not want to slot limit and we will, you know,
be mad if you do this. There were conversations about
water quality issues, dissolved auction level issues, habitat issues, vegetation issues,
(08:49):
whether or not there is an issue over pressure issues
on the lake, and how many tournaments that we have,
and you know, I think it's fair to say all
tournaments are not built equally. All tournaments are not the
same as far as fish care goes, fish care penalties go.
We personally don't fish July, August and September because of
the hard fish care conditions that we face a number
(09:12):
of recreational tournaments and a number of charity tournaments have
their tournaments during that period because that's when they can
get the most anglers because they're not fishing other trails. So,
you know, do you limit the number of fish that
you can weigh in during the summer months, we ask
about lowering the creole altogether from ten fish to five
per person?
Speaker 4 (09:31):
Do we see a day?
Speaker 3 (09:34):
And you know, because their science says that people aren't
harvesting bass to feed their families.
Speaker 2 (09:41):
And I don't disagree with that.
Speaker 1 (09:42):
I mean, if you look at if you look at
the amount of licenses that are sold, I'm willing to
bet that there's a healthy majority of licenses that get
sold that are solely for tournament anglers.
Speaker 2 (09:54):
You know, they know that.
Speaker 1 (09:55):
When they cross the state line, they got to have
a license for that state. You don't see nearly as
many guys sitting on the bank as maybe you did
in the seventies, oh one hundred percent.
Speaker 3 (10:04):
I you know, our concern in the department, and I
will give them credit for this. Their issue with lowering
the kreel is because food cost is at an all
time high and if someone is needing to supplement their
family's food source from the resource, they should be allowed
to do that.
Speaker 4 (10:20):
And you know, I applaud them for that.
Speaker 3 (10:23):
But they say that their research shows that people aren't
feeding their family from the resource, but if it was
a need, they didn't want to prohibit them from being
able to do that.
Speaker 1 (10:32):
But then doesn't that also go into the water quality,
because after living on the Cousa River, you know, Daniel
and I have talked about this where he said to me, hey,
let's have some crappy that we caught when we were
on a recent trip. And I was like, that's all you, buddy,
I'm not doing it because I've always heard that the
fish that you catch out of the Kusa are not
(10:52):
necessarily healthy because it could have high levels of this
or high levels of that. The water quality is not awesome,
So I'm not going to take a risk. And even you, Daniel,
you were like, well, I was talking to my buddy,
and my buddy was like, you can have a couple,
but don't eat every single day.
Speaker 3 (11:08):
Yeah, there's a consumption order on most of the lakes
in the on the cous River, as it is on
the Tennessee River as well. There's a limited amount of
consumption you can have per week. And I don't know
about each individual like what that is, but like on
the Tennessee River on Wheeler. It's like three ounces per
week that you can take and be considered safe.
Speaker 1 (11:26):
Well, like we've all noticed this with the information that
gets out there. If you don't know that information, you
just decide, hey, we're going to have a giant fish fry,
and Uncle Henry comes over and he's just slamming crappie
and bass and all that kind of stuff. And next
day you find out Uncle Henry's in the hospital. You know,
people don't know. That's why grocery stores and people going
(11:46):
to get their meat and their fish there. There's stringent
orders with the FDA and all that kind of stuff,
so it's a little bit of a gamble. I applaud
them for saying, hey, if we're going to try to
feed people, but we also have to give people the
real information about what they could possibly be consuming if
that's what they were trying to do.
Speaker 3 (12:03):
I agree, and I think people like justin Overton at
Couser Riverkeeper and people like that do try to keep
people as informed as they can, knowing where to go
to find that information, whether it be through the Department
of Health in the state of Alabama, whether it be
through Cousier Riverkeeper, Tennessee River Keeper, and all of that.
It's good to be educated on that. Again, we don't
see that. We do life coverage. We don't go to
(12:23):
the bridges and see tons of people there. We don't
go to the bank and see tons of people there.
I'm sure it happens, but we don't see that either.
So you know, I'm thankful I won't have to track
that because I think it would be very hard to
do that. But you know, I think this is a
long education process. And I said this on the Album
Bachelor podcast. Those who reach out to their legislators, those
(12:45):
who reach out to their county commissions, their city councils.
This is a continuing education process and it shouldn't happen
every five years. We have to continue to say, you know,
this is what's important to the anglers, this is what's
important to us economically, this is what's important to the
resource challenged. Our team straight up album Bashall team, be
on your p's and q's. One thing we've noticed in
(13:06):
our first couple of tournaments of the year is the
amount of fish we're fizzing early in the year that
we never fizzed before. We had thirty fish at Smithlake
because of ford facing sonar.
Speaker 1 (13:16):
Right, because guys are going out deeper and they're bringing
them up in the swim bladder has to react to
the different pressure change.
Speaker 3 (13:22):
And I had an angler specifically tell me when we
were in Montgomery how uncomfortable he is with the fizzing process.
He said, I'm fifty to fifty of whether or not
ill fis that fish worried that it will die in
the live well because I've either let too much air
out of its bladder or punctured, you know. He said,
I'm really worried about that. So we encourage guys, our
fish care guys available to help with any of those
(13:43):
if they're interested in learning how to do that. If
they're uncomfortable with doing that. As we see ford facing
sonar progress, then we need to start doing that. One
thing we mentioned to the department is they really need
to look at their sampling, the ways that they're doing
they're sampling their shocking surveys and things like that, because
with ford facing sonar, we've seen that the fishing has changed,
(14:06):
and maybe our ways that we've always taken our surveys,
akrill surveys and shocking surveys, maybe that needs to change
as well. I don't know if it does. I'm not
a biologist. I'm not trying to pretend to be a biologist.
But we're seeing major changes in the fishing industry based on,
you know, technology, and is that something that needs to
transition into their studies as well.
Speaker 2 (14:27):
Do you feel like this is an ongoing conversation then
I do.
Speaker 3 (14:30):
I feel like I feel like it has to be
an ongo going conversation. We were really shocked and I
think we were given an opportunity to make a difference.
And I think this is a decision that's good for
the entire state of Alabama. But I think that if
we go to bed and forget about it and don't
continue to think about it, it may not be the
(14:52):
outcome in the future. I think we have to continue
to stay abreast of it. I think anglers have to
continue to be upfront with their fish care. I think
we need to think about those summertime tournaments, even our
June tournaments. We have to be very very careful in
June because it gets hot here so fast. So I
think anglers need to keep top of mind awareness of it,
(15:13):
make sure that they're doing the best for their live wells,
taking care of the fish while they have them, and
then us as organizations, how we care for them afterwards,
and how we deposit them back into the resource. I
think we have to be careful.
Speaker 2 (15:25):
Daniel.
Speaker 1 (15:26):
You living in Florida before you move to Alabama. You know,
you guys see fishing in hotter weather, more common in
more lengthier times of the year than anybody else. What's
the fish care process, like, what's the mentality of the
angler in Florida? When it comes to those struggling fish.
Speaker 5 (15:45):
We probably our mortality rates probably high or even higher
than probably it is here. The difference here is and
I think the difference overall is just people do not
keep bess. They just don't keep them to eat them,
so they're not managed correctly to recruit bigger fish. And
I think you know, in my opinion, you never you
(16:08):
never manage a fishery specifically for an economic value, because
you'll never have a healthy fishery because then you tend
to favor different fisheries. Right when it comes to forward
facing sonar and things like that. Yeah, it's changing the
fishing world too, but that's still coming down to the
fisheries that it's affecting the most. Where people are catching fish,
those are crappy. They're not keeping bass. So where you're
(16:30):
seeing in the ford facing sonar world. As far as
management in Florida and Alabama, it's night and day and
different in both ways. Here in Alabama. Uh, you know,
you probably would be better off eating some of the
fish around here than you would be in Florida. And
it's really strange to see people not keeping bass because
(16:52):
they do taste good. But I understand that, you know,
the health you know risks around here with the cusa
and it being so previous polluted. Uh, so you know,
there's there's a lot to it. And you know, me
just moving here, I moved here specifically so I could
fish the KUSA and tournament bass fish and I didn't
know anything about this slot limit until a month ago.
(17:14):
Everybody has the same resources. Everybody's using the same tools
to navigate these waters and to you know, do their
surveys and they're you know, there's these biologists are the
smartest they've ever been. And that's another thing you have
to understand. If they make a decision, they're making the
right decisions. So challenging those decisions is always going to
have pushback and going to be, you know, not the
(17:36):
best thing for the I.
Speaker 1 (17:37):
Think the grand scheme of this one especially was it
was bad communication from top to bottom. Now, Kay, you
have a much different world because you are in lockstep
with what they talk about and what they know, and
you're kind of on the inside. But as somebody who's
in the public and just kind of seeing what's happening,
(17:58):
you could see just from social media how distorted information gets.
I mean there were people posting a week and a
half two months later after the talk of a slot
came out, and people are like, Hey, we're not coming
to the lake because of the slot limit, and it's like, no, no,
there is no slot limit. There's a rumor right now,
(18:18):
it's talk like there's nothing set in stone. So even
in this misinformation, we've already had people who have impacted
the local economy by saying I'm not going to go
there because of this. Right, Where do you kind of
think that piece of the puzzle comes in and how
it affects the local communities.
Speaker 3 (18:36):
Well, we actually had a team that didn't sign up
this year that's fecial with us several years because of
the concern on the slot limit and understanding their conversation
was we're really not there to win, We're there to
compete and get a check, hopefully make it to the
championship and under. And I think this is one thing
that was really eye opening to the department, is in
(18:59):
the South Division, which three of those lakes could be
on my schedule next year? Odds are all five of
them are going to be on the Coosa River Team
Trail list.
Speaker 2 (19:08):
And they would have to be.
Speaker 3 (19:09):
Yeah, And then you've got the Silicoga Marine Trail. So
when you're looking at that and it's three of the
five events that you're going to fish and you're hopefully
to get a check and get to the championship or whatever,
which may be your favorite lake, it really makes it
hard when you put a fourteen to twenty inch slot
limit on there. I had a guy tell me specifically
that weighed in in the BFL weighed in almost twenty pounds,
(19:31):
and he said, literally none of those fish would have
been able to be weighed had the slot limit been there.
Speaker 1 (19:36):
Those are the videos that I was putting now, like
every fish I caught on Logan, I'm like, I'd have
to throw this one.
Speaker 3 (19:40):
Back right and I agree that economic impact cannot dictate regulation,
but I think we have to consider that in the
conversation because a lot of these places, and I've said
this a thousand times, are not downtown Birmingham. They're not
hosting big concer in the halls, they don't have top golf,
(20:02):
they don't have you know, tons and tons of things
going on. This is their source of tourism and because
of that tourism they build soccer fiells that is quality
alive for their kids and their grandkids, and so I
think it has to be a topic of conversation. We
certainly want the lakes to be here because we have
kids coming up that want to fish and grandkids coming
(20:24):
up that want to fish. One of the things sitting
in that room, the lady said, I have a nine
year old child that for Christmas got all fishing gear
for Christmas, so it's important to them as well. I
think the communication aspect is very important. I think pr
people like myself, marketing people like myself, we communicate very
(20:45):
differently than biologists communicate. So I think that's kind of
where some of the breakdown maybe happens. But I think
we came to a really good understanding. You're right, Lee
Holmes is so very passionate, and I got to watch
them at full blown, whether we were in Montgomery, whether
we were sitting down at his store. Very passionate person
(21:08):
has a loyal listening audience and a loyal fishing audience.
But when he told me about a seventy four year
old gentleman that came in about a ninety four thousand
dollars Ranger bass boat because he finally got into the
Alabama bass trail, that was remarkable to me. And I
think that story deserves to be told. That It's not
just the tournament organizations that are in arms about this.
(21:30):
It was the boat dealers and the nineteen people that
work for Silicaga Marine.
Speaker 1 (21:35):
And the dealers.
Speaker 3 (21:37):
Oh yeah, you've got Airport Marine and and you know
Freedom Marine and with Dowi Marine, and you got a
lot of dealers here that the majority of what they
sell our bass boats. I think with Dowie probably sells
more recreational boats than bass boats. But for the most part,
you know, that's that's kind of where we are. And
I think the conversation's open, and I think just the
expectations in us bringing that anglers don't expect to go
(22:01):
to the Coos River and catch seven eights and nines.
They expect to catch plenty three fours and fives. And
that's the expectation overall of the anglers. Yeah, if they
catch a six pounder, that's awesome. Seven pounder, that's great,
But those are unicorns. The three fours and fives are
where our anglers want to be.
Speaker 1 (22:19):
But that's what I noticed in the press release that
was put out on Outdoor Alabama is they were talking about, hey, look,
the population of fish is healthy, the size of fish,
we have three fours and fives. We want to have
those six, seven and eighths. Because that's what anglers.
Speaker 2 (22:34):
Were bringing up.
Speaker 1 (22:35):
I mean, this is this is truly a don't bite
the hand that feeds you kind of situation because people
were up in arms. Ah, they catch them like that
in Florida, and they catch them like that in Texas.
Speaker 2 (22:46):
You can talk to this Daniel completely different, completely different.
Speaker 1 (22:51):
So when people bring up like other states, it's the
management side, but it's also the habitat in which they
live exactly when we're talking about Alabama, like, hell, I'd
love to go out and catch a five pounder. Daniel
and I have talked about this when we're out fishing.
Where I went to lay Lake for a tournament recently,
I got two bytes all day, and I got a
(23:12):
two and a half on my fifth cast of the day,
and then I caught a five pounder on a swim Juney.
Speaker 2 (23:17):
I weighed seven and a half pounds.
Speaker 1 (23:19):
That five pounder to me was a giant and I
thought to myself, Man, I got a chance to win
big fish. Yeah, and I lost it by nearly a
pound and a half. So that to me was enough
to where I was like, you know what this is insane?
Is this is insane that if we're talking about I
want to catch fish like that are six seven pounders,
Well cool, Go to Texas, go to Florida, go to
(23:42):
the places that are managed for that. And if we
get to that point here, awesome. But we have a
lot of pressure and a lot of people fishing.
Speaker 3 (23:49):
Right and I think when you're comparing the Coosa River
to a lake fork, that's just insane to.
Speaker 2 (23:55):
Do that just for the water size.
Speaker 4 (23:57):
Right from the.
Speaker 3 (23:57):
Water size, the ecosystem, the nutrients and everything that's in
the water. Everybody wants to talk about the stocking program.
But you can only grow big fish with big food.
You have to have food to feed the fish. That
is science one O one. I mean the same way
with pay problem. The bait is there, No, the bait
is there? I agree. I think as fishermen we have
(24:19):
always said catch, catch release, catch release, catch release, and
that may be part of where we are now is
we have so many fish and the food sources is
split between all of them. So it's just like a
person if you go on a diet and you lose weight.
That's kind of how it is. I mean, the less
food in front of me, the less I'm gonna weigh.
(24:41):
So the only way to grow fish is through a
food source, and so that's that's kind of where we are.
You either manage the amount of people eating off one
plate or yeah, you get more food.
Speaker 1 (24:52):
I know that you at the Alabama Bass Trail. You
guys are usually working a year, maybe a year and
a half ahead of time before the news came out
about the slot limit being taken off the table. What
were some of your plans for twenty six.
Speaker 3 (25:05):
Well, one of the plans was to go from a
January to May timeframe and try to stay out of
the summer months altogether. That was really hard to do
when you look at having to move everything up a month.
That means you move your registration up a month, that
means you move your payments up a month, and looking
at what that looked financially for our anglers, we really
didn't like that look move our championship up to September.
(25:26):
Still pretty hot in September, so.
Speaker 4 (25:28):
We looked at that.
Speaker 3 (25:30):
We looked at how we could arrange our tournaments for
the Couster River to be earlier in the year.
Speaker 4 (25:36):
The problem with that.
Speaker 2 (25:37):
Is, so your plan was still to go.
Speaker 3 (25:39):
We were still planning to go to the Coosa River.
I'm not I'll say this, I can't abandon those people
because they were with the Alabama Bastral and have been
with us and been loyal to us for twelve years.
So we could not abandon them. We are the Alabama Basstrail.
We cannot abandon the Cooster River. Those people have invested
in us, they have believed in us, and I said
(25:59):
that we had to have a schedule before we ever
had a boat. So understanding, they agreed to pay the
Alabama Bashor to come to their location before we had
one boat signed up, and the fact that we sold
out in seventy two days year one and now we're
selling out in seven minutes. They believed in us, then
I'm not going to abandon them.
Speaker 4 (26:17):
Now. We were going to have to figure out a
way to do it.
Speaker 3 (26:21):
Worried about whether or not we would have to go
to a three fish limit, whether or not we would
have to go to a fourteen to twenty inch slot limit.
Speaker 4 (26:28):
We were still planning on.
Speaker 3 (26:29):
Being there, but our goal was, Okay, if we can
be there January to May, does that help our story
with the Department of Conservation, If we can move to
an earlier time frame, if we stay off the water
when it's hotter, what can we do to come to
a compromise? Because understanding, if you go to the regulation
book right now, and something I pointed out to them
(26:50):
last week, if you go to the regulation book now,
there's not a regulation on the Coosa River. Tournament organizations
set a twelve inch minimum because we understood the importance
of that eight nine, ten eleven inch early spawning bass.
Those are your very first time spawners. We understand the
importance of that. So we set a twelve inch minimum
on ourselves. There's not a regulation in the book, so
(27:13):
going from no regulation to a fourteen to twenty inch
regulation seemed extremely radical. But again they felt like the
outcome of that radical change would been very radical on
the other end, that we would have seen those six,
seven and eights in the matter of three years. I
think understanding the expectation of the anglers was very important.
(27:34):
That we don't expect that we expect three fours and fives,
but we were not looking to abandon our friends in
the at the Coast River.
Speaker 2 (27:41):
That's right.
Speaker 1 (27:41):
I think this That's why I think all this goes
right now is this is a step in the right direction.
Speaker 2 (27:47):
For the communication.
Speaker 1 (27:49):
If we can continue to have a communication with the
DCNR and be able to say to them, like, let's
have some valuable information, Let's figure out what's happening here.
Let's have tournaments like yourself and like some of the
other ones, really figure out good ways to regulate within
the regulations that are out there. And let's also take
a look at the population who loves the fish. If
(28:11):
you're going to put on a jackpot on a Tuesday night,
be smart about it. Don't look at those hot summer
months and say, well, I'm just going to have one
because I want to have one. If we're going to
be stewards of the resource, we have to be smart
twelve months out of the year.
Speaker 2 (28:25):
We can't just do it on select months.
Speaker 4 (28:27):
I agree.
Speaker 3 (28:28):
And one of the things that they brought up, and
I don't know the list of organ of places that
they're looking at, but one of the things said by
the Commissioner in our committee meeting and again echoed in
our private meeting with the Deputy Commissioner was they have
over thirty million dollars of access points that they are
currently working on and a lot of those are going
(28:49):
on on the Kusa River, and he said tournament abled facilities.
So that's exciting to me that the state is looking
at investing over thirty million dollars in tournament able facilities.
Speaker 4 (29:04):
That's exciting.
Speaker 3 (29:05):
When we look at what was done at Leesburg Landing,
we now see Lincoln Leesburg Landing one percent because of
Alabama Power in the land the city of Leesburg and
their in kind and money that they did for match
and then the state coming in with the one point
whatever they spent to develop that as a tournament ready location.
Speaker 4 (29:24):
So I'm excited to see that list.
Speaker 3 (29:26):
I'm excited to see what projects that they're working on
on the Coosa River. We're always excited about tournament ready facilities,
so excited about that. Thank them for thinking about that.
We've seen the addition of the docks at Weiss Lake.
There's lots of projects, Mint Creek up and Gunnersville, lots
of things they've done to help better our tournament locations
(29:47):
and better the ability of us to host tournaments and
locations we wouldn't be able to go to otherwise.
Speaker 4 (29:51):
Weiss Lake Prime example.
Speaker 1 (29:53):
These conversations are going to continue to happen as they do.
I'll have k On and we'll get everybody in here
to really break them down. I appreciate your time as
always again, you can read the full press release when
you go to Outdoor Alabama dot com
I'm really excited about today because actions that took place
not only on this podcast, but through the Alabama Bass Trail,
Silicaga Marine and a lot of people involved. I honestly
feel like challenges were put out to the government and
it worked. Kay Donaldson, who runs the Alabama Bass Trails
(00:23):
with me. My buddy Daniel Vasquez is also with me. November,
you get a phone call k about a possible slot
limit on the Coosa River. Now, if you live outside
of Alabama and you're listening to this podcast and you're
sitting there going, what do I care about the Cusa River?
Speaker 2 (00:41):
By far, the Kusa River.
Speaker 1 (00:43):
Is maybe one of the most fished river systems in
the continental United States, which ultimately means it's probably one
of the most fisher river systems in the world. Correct,
So when we get news that there's a possible impact
on the Cusa River, it's all hands on deck. So
tell me about how you found out this was going
(01:05):
to be a possibility.
Speaker 3 (01:06):
I was invited by the Department of Conservation Natural Resources
to come to Montgomery and meet with them to discuss
the results of the Neely Henry study that they did.
It was a three year study talking about tournament mortality
along Neely Henry and the Cusa River. So I went
down on Wednesday, November the sixth to discuss the results
and was given several options of what could transpire, but
(01:29):
also then a proposal that the biologist was going to
make to the commissioner that would impact the entire Cusa River.
Speaker 1 (01:36):
Were you aware that a study had actually taken place
on Neely Henry.
Speaker 4 (01:40):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (01:41):
We actually had worked with the department and providing samples
of bass that we had weigh in during our tournament,
so we were aware that they were doing a study.
We've worked with them on several studies that they've done
with the Swaba hog program and other samplings and seeing
net samplings and things like that, so we've worked with
them on a number of projects, so we were aware
(02:02):
of it. I don't know that I was aware that
it was just studying tournament mortality.
Speaker 1 (02:07):
I was a little shocked to find out that they
were making such a snap decision on information that they
acquired off of one lake. You know, Cousa River, Six
lakes starts with Weiss, ends with Jordan. There's several in between,
and the ones in between are really the most notable.
At all, and you get Neeli Henry Logan, martin Lay Lake.
(02:29):
Lake Mitchell is one of the smallest parts of it,
but still a pretty good fishery. And when I saw
some of the decisions that they were making off of
one lake, I thought this should be step one in
a possible step six. But then you saw the money
that was associated, I mean, just under nine hundred thousand
dollars for an Auburn study.
Speaker 2 (02:51):
My mind was blown. I'm like, there.
Speaker 1 (02:53):
Should be more than a two day sample or a
couple weeks study for that kind of month.
Speaker 3 (03:00):
Yeah, And I don't know what all went into the study.
I didn't get the chance to talk to the biologist.
I got a chance to read the study, so I
have no idea how that figure comes to be. That
seems like a lot of money to us as well.
We operate on a real thin budget, so eight and
forty years old thousand dollars seems like a lot of money.
Speaker 4 (03:19):
You know.
Speaker 3 (03:20):
I think open lines of communication are always important, and
we certainly found that to be true here with this study.
And then with the expectations of what the Conservation Apartment
thought the expectations of the anglers are, and then what
the true expectations of the anglers are, and what the
true expectations of tournament anglers and tournament organizations are.
Speaker 4 (03:39):
I think that's important.
Speaker 2 (03:41):
One of the things that you just brought up tournament
angling is.
Speaker 1 (03:43):
Why so many people got upset because there was so
many conversations that were happening through email, different screenshots were
getting posted. It was almost like everything should have been
buttoned up from the department side and it should have
come from one source where this is what we're talking about,
this is the plan, because it just got messy, and
(04:06):
when things get messy, it gets really sloppy. But it
felt like all the attacks that were happening were solely.
Speaker 2 (04:13):
Based on tournament anglers.
Speaker 1 (04:14):
Now, Daniel, you've worked in the fisheries before as somebody
who's had to study fish different bodies of water. How
vital is it for somebody to actually know what's happening
on a given body of water.
Speaker 5 (04:27):
Yeah, that's a great question. You know, understanding population, the
size of the population, the estimates, getting all those surveys
every single year is really important. And going back to
the budget of the nine hundred grand typically when these
states and they're looking for grant money, there are certain
(04:49):
allotments that you seek and you either overrun the allotment
or you kind of spend less, shall.
Speaker 2 (04:56):
We say, and give me give me it? For instance, Well,
you know, when you do.
Speaker 5 (05:01):
These studies, you're hiring multiple different individuals. Some of these
people have doctorates. You're running through these through university programs,
and you know, you sometimes can have a decent amount
of people on board with those and the studies can
go for months and months and months, years and years
and years. So when these state agencies go out looking
for grants, that's kind of how they perceive that, how
(05:23):
they they get their money.
Speaker 4 (05:24):
Shall we say, So, there's a lot of pieces.
Speaker 5 (05:27):
There's a ton of financial coah exactly. So they may
not have spent nine hundred grand, but.
Speaker 2 (05:32):
That's what they seek.
Speaker 5 (05:35):
To be able to be able to do the work,
shall we say?
Speaker 1 (05:38):
So, after this study takes place and all the conversations start,
you and I sat down to do a podcast. We
invited Lee Holmes of Silicaga Marine to come in. He's
extremely passionate and he's somebody in the state Alabama. I
think he deserves a lot of credit for this of
being able to get restocking as a bill and on
the books. I don't know where that stands right now.
(05:59):
I'm hoping that that's the next logical step that we
kind of go after. But we got the news recently
that the slot limit that was proposed fourteen to twenty inches,
which effectively would kill tournament bass fishing on the Kusler River,
we get news that they're.
Speaker 2 (06:16):
Not going to go ahead with that.
Speaker 1 (06:17):
There's one piece of this puzzle that I saw that
I was like, we got to talk about this. The
way it was crafted was at this time that leaves
the door open. I took a little issue with a
couple of people who put up videos that were like, Oh,
the slot limit's dead and it's this, and it's that,
It's not this is a possibility, right k for what
(06:37):
you know that if the Department wanted to say, no,
we're going to put this in, they don't really have
to go through some of the steps that they've gone.
Speaker 2 (06:45):
Right.
Speaker 3 (06:46):
Well, what we learned, and I think is very important, is,
you know, we were led to believe that the Commissioner
could sign this and it become effective January one. That's
what I was told, That's what the other organizations were told.
In the end, as we go into the House Committee
to have our bill, which was to stop any regulation
(07:08):
going into effect without other steps, you know, being tried first.
Speaker 4 (07:12):
That was the bill that was in front.
Speaker 3 (07:13):
Of the House, that got approved through the House Committee
and then got changed to a different committee. But what
we found out is is that they can recommend the
commissioner and he can recommend or make a regulation, but
it does have to go to a legislative oversight committee
that has one hundred and twenty days that public comment
can be made. Legislators can interview, they can interview the
(07:37):
scientists that did the work, they can interview stakeholders and
things like that. So what we found through this process,
and I think that's very important, is that even though
this regulation is there, it does have to go through
a legislative oversight process that is one hundred and twenty
days that will offer for public comment, legislative comment, and
then it can go into effect, or it can be rewritten,
(08:00):
or it can be taken away altogether.
Speaker 2 (08:01):
So where do we feel we stand right now? Then?
Speaker 3 (08:04):
Well, I think in good faith the Department stepped away
and I think they are open to the conversations with
the stakeholders, tournament organizers, tournament anglers, recreational anglers. I feel
like in good faith this decision was made, but I
do think there is a strong burden on the tournament
organizations to step up their game as far as fish
(08:24):
care goes. We had long conversations about this, and I'm
talking hour long conversations about fish care. About whether or
not to minimize the crell limit. That also came into
play when we were talking through this, So we didn't
just go in and sit down and say we do
not want to slot limit and we will, you know,
be mad if you do this. There were conversations about
water quality issues, dissolved auction level issues, habitat issues, vegetation issues,
(08:49):
whether or not there is an issue over pressure issues
on the lake, and how many tournaments that we have,
and you know, I think it's fair to say all
tournaments are not built equally. All tournaments are not the
same as far as fish care goes, fish care penalties go.
We personally don't fish July, August and September because of
the hard fish care conditions that we face a number
(09:12):
of recreational tournaments and a number of charity tournaments have
their tournaments during that period because that's when they can
get the most anglers because they're not fishing other trails. So,
you know, do you limit the number of fish that
you can weigh in during the summer months, we ask
about lowering the creole altogether from ten fish to five
per person?
Speaker 4 (09:31):
Do we see a day?
Speaker 3 (09:34):
And you know, because their science says that people aren't
harvesting bass to feed their families.
Speaker 2 (09:41):
And I don't disagree with that.
Speaker 1 (09:42):
I mean, if you look at if you look at
the amount of licenses that are sold, I'm willing to
bet that there's a healthy majority of licenses that get
sold that are solely for tournament anglers.
Speaker 2 (09:54):
You know, they know that.
Speaker 1 (09:55):
When they cross the state line, they got to have
a license for that state. You don't see nearly as
many guys sitting on the bank as maybe you did
in the seventies, oh one hundred percent.
Speaker 3 (10:04):
I you know, our concern in the department, and I
will give them credit for this. Their issue with lowering
the kreel is because food cost is at an all
time high and if someone is needing to supplement their
family's food source from the resource, they should be allowed
to do that.
Speaker 4 (10:20):
And you know, I applaud them for that.
Speaker 3 (10:23):
But they say that their research shows that people aren't
feeding their family from the resource, but if it was
a need, they didn't want to prohibit them from being
able to do that.
Speaker 1 (10:32):
But then doesn't that also go into the water quality,
because after living on the Cousa River, you know, Daniel
and I have talked about this where he said to me, hey,
let's have some crappy that we caught when we were
on a recent trip. And I was like, that's all you, buddy,
I'm not doing it because I've always heard that the
fish that you catch out of the Kusa are not
(10:52):
necessarily healthy because it could have high levels of this
or high levels of that. The water quality is not awesome,
So I'm not going to take a risk. And even you, Daniel,
you were like, well, I was talking to my buddy,
and my buddy was like, you can have a couple,
but don't eat every single day.
Speaker 3 (11:08):
Yeah, there's a consumption order on most of the lakes
in the on the cous River, as it is on
the Tennessee River as well. There's a limited amount of
consumption you can have per week. And I don't know
about each individual like what that is, but like on
the Tennessee River on Wheeler. It's like three ounces per
week that you can take and be considered safe.
Speaker 1 (11:26):
Well, like we've all noticed this with the information that
gets out there. If you don't know that information, you
just decide, hey, we're going to have a giant fish fry,
and Uncle Henry comes over and he's just slamming crappie
and bass and all that kind of stuff. And next
day you find out Uncle Henry's in the hospital. You know,
people don't know. That's why grocery stores and people going
(11:46):
to get their meat and their fish there. There's stringent
orders with the FDA and all that kind of stuff,
so it's a little bit of a gamble. I applaud
them for saying, hey, if we're going to try to
feed people, but we also have to give people the
real information about what they could possibly be consuming if
that's what they were trying to do.
Speaker 3 (12:03):
I agree, and I think people like justin Overton at
Couser Riverkeeper and people like that do try to keep
people as informed as they can, knowing where to go
to find that information, whether it be through the Department
of Health in the state of Alabama, whether it be
through Cousier Riverkeeper, Tennessee River Keeper, and all of that.
It's good to be educated on that. Again, we don't
see that. We do life coverage. We don't go to
(12:23):
the bridges and see tons of people there. We don't
go to the bank and see tons of people there.
I'm sure it happens, but we don't see that either.
So you know, I'm thankful I won't have to track
that because I think it would be very hard to
do that. But you know, I think this is a
long education process. And I said this on the Album
Bachelor podcast. Those who reach out to their legislators, those
(12:45):
who reach out to their county commissions, their city councils.
This is a continuing education process and it shouldn't happen
every five years. We have to continue to say, you know,
this is what's important to the anglers, this is what's
important to us economically, this is what's important to the
resource challenged. Our team straight up album Bashall team, be
on your p's and q's. One thing we've noticed in
(13:06):
our first couple of tournaments of the year is the
amount of fish we're fizzing early in the year that
we never fizzed before. We had thirty fish at Smithlake
because of ford facing sonar.
Speaker 1 (13:16):
Right, because guys are going out deeper and they're bringing
them up in the swim bladder has to react to
the different pressure change.
Speaker 3 (13:22):
And I had an angler specifically tell me when we
were in Montgomery how uncomfortable he is with the fizzing process.
He said, I'm fifty to fifty of whether or not
ill fis that fish worried that it will die in
the live well because I've either let too much air
out of its bladder or punctured, you know. He said,
I'm really worried about that. So we encourage guys, our
fish care guys available to help with any of those
(13:43):
if they're interested in learning how to do that. If
they're uncomfortable with doing that. As we see ford facing
sonar progress, then we need to start doing that. One
thing we mentioned to the department is they really need
to look at their sampling, the ways that they're doing
they're sampling their shocking surveys and things like that, because
with ford facing sonar, we've seen that the fishing has changed,
(14:06):
and maybe our ways that we've always taken our surveys,
akrill surveys and shocking surveys, maybe that needs to change
as well. I don't know if it does. I'm not
a biologist. I'm not trying to pretend to be a biologist.
But we're seeing major changes in the fishing industry based on,
you know, technology, and is that something that needs to
transition into their studies as well.
Speaker 2 (14:27):
Do you feel like this is an ongoing conversation then
I do.
Speaker 3 (14:30):
I feel like I feel like it has to be
an ongo going conversation. We were really shocked and I
think we were given an opportunity to make a difference.
And I think this is a decision that's good for
the entire state of Alabama. But I think that if
we go to bed and forget about it and don't
continue to think about it, it may not be the
(14:52):
outcome in the future. I think we have to continue
to stay abreast of it. I think anglers have to
continue to be upfront with their fish care. I think
we need to think about those summertime tournaments, even our
June tournaments. We have to be very very careful in
June because it gets hot here so fast. So I
think anglers need to keep top of mind awareness of it,
(15:13):
make sure that they're doing the best for their live wells,
taking care of the fish while they have them, and
then us as organizations, how we care for them afterwards,
and how we deposit them back into the resource. I
think we have to be careful.
Speaker 2 (15:25):
Daniel.
Speaker 1 (15:26):
You living in Florida before you move to Alabama. You know,
you guys see fishing in hotter weather, more common in
more lengthier times of the year than anybody else. What's
the fish care process, like, what's the mentality of the
angler in Florida? When it comes to those struggling fish.
Speaker 5 (15:45):
We probably our mortality rates probably high or even higher
than probably it is here. The difference here is and
I think the difference overall is just people do not
keep bess. They just don't keep them to eat them,
so they're not managed correctly to recruit bigger fish. And
I think you know, in my opinion, you never you
(16:08):
never manage a fishery specifically for an economic value, because
you'll never have a healthy fishery because then you tend
to favor different fisheries. Right when it comes to forward
facing sonar and things like that. Yeah, it's changing the
fishing world too, but that's still coming down to the
fisheries that it's affecting the most. Where people are catching fish,
those are crappy. They're not keeping bass. So where you're
(16:30):
seeing in the ford facing sonar world. As far as
management in Florida and Alabama, it's night and day and
different in both ways. Here in Alabama. Uh, you know,
you probably would be better off eating some of the
fish around here than you would be in Florida. And
it's really strange to see people not keeping bass because
(16:52):
they do taste good. But I understand that, you know,
the health you know risks around here with the cusa
and it being so previous polluted. Uh, so you know,
there's there's a lot to it. And you know, me
just moving here, I moved here specifically so I could
fish the KUSA and tournament bass fish and I didn't
know anything about this slot limit until a month ago.
(17:14):
Everybody has the same resources. Everybody's using the same tools
to navigate these waters and to you know, do their
surveys and they're you know, there's these biologists are the
smartest they've ever been. And that's another thing you have
to understand. If they make a decision, they're making the
right decisions. So challenging those decisions is always going to
have pushback and going to be, you know, not the
(17:36):
best thing for the I.
Speaker 1 (17:37):
Think the grand scheme of this one especially was it
was bad communication from top to bottom. Now, Kay, you
have a much different world because you are in lockstep
with what they talk about and what they know, and
you're kind of on the inside. But as somebody who's
in the public and just kind of seeing what's happening,
(17:58):
you could see just from social media how distorted information gets.
I mean there were people posting a week and a
half two months later after the talk of a slot
came out, and people are like, Hey, we're not coming
to the lake because of the slot limit, and it's like, no, no,
there is no slot limit. There's a rumor right now,
(18:18):
it's talk like there's nothing set in stone. So even
in this misinformation, we've already had people who have impacted
the local economy by saying I'm not going to go
there because of this. Right, Where do you kind of
think that piece of the puzzle comes in and how
it affects the local communities.
Speaker 3 (18:36):
Well, we actually had a team that didn't sign up
this year that's fecial with us several years because of
the concern on the slot limit and understanding their conversation
was we're really not there to win, We're there to
compete and get a check, hopefully make it to the
championship and under. And I think this is one thing
that was really eye opening to the department, is in
(18:59):
the South Division, which three of those lakes could be
on my schedule next year? Odds are all five of
them are going to be on the Coosa River Team
Trail list.
Speaker 2 (19:08):
And they would have to be.
Speaker 3 (19:09):
Yeah, And then you've got the Silicoga Marine Trail. So
when you're looking at that and it's three of the
five events that you're going to fish and you're hopefully
to get a check and get to the championship or whatever,
which may be your favorite lake, it really makes it
hard when you put a fourteen to twenty inch slot
limit on there. I had a guy tell me specifically
that weighed in in the BFL weighed in almost twenty pounds,
(19:31):
and he said, literally none of those fish would have
been able to be weighed had the slot limit been there.
Speaker 1 (19:36):
Those are the videos that I was putting now, like
every fish I caught on Logan, I'm like, I'd have
to throw this one.
Speaker 3 (19:40):
Back right and I agree that economic impact cannot dictate regulation,
but I think we have to consider that in the
conversation because a lot of these places, and I've said
this a thousand times, are not downtown Birmingham. They're not
hosting big concer in the halls, they don't have top golf,
(20:02):
they don't have you know, tons and tons of things
going on. This is their source of tourism and because
of that tourism they build soccer fiells that is quality
alive for their kids and their grandkids, and so I
think it has to be a topic of conversation. We
certainly want the lakes to be here because we have
kids coming up that want to fish and grandkids coming
(20:24):
up that want to fish. One of the things sitting
in that room, the lady said, I have a nine
year old child that for Christmas got all fishing gear
for Christmas, so it's important to them as well. I
think the communication aspect is very important. I think pr
people like myself, marketing people like myself, we communicate very
(20:45):
differently than biologists communicate. So I think that's kind of
where some of the breakdown maybe happens. But I think
we came to a really good understanding. You're right, Lee
Holmes is so very passionate, and I got to watch
them at full blown, whether we were in Montgomery, whether
we were sitting down at his store. Very passionate person
(21:08):
has a loyal listening audience and a loyal fishing audience.
But when he told me about a seventy four year
old gentleman that came in about a ninety four thousand
dollars Ranger bass boat because he finally got into the
Alabama bass trail, that was remarkable to me. And I
think that story deserves to be told. That It's not
just the tournament organizations that are in arms about this.
(21:30):
It was the boat dealers and the nineteen people that
work for Silicaga Marine.
Speaker 1 (21:35):
And the dealers.
Speaker 3 (21:37):
Oh yeah, you've got Airport Marine and and you know
Freedom Marine and with Dowi Marine, and you got a
lot of dealers here that the majority of what they
sell our bass boats. I think with Dowie probably sells
more recreational boats than bass boats. But for the most part,
you know, that's that's kind of where we are. And
I think the conversation's open, and I think just the
expectations in us bringing that anglers don't expect to go
(22:01):
to the Coos River and catch seven eights and nines.
They expect to catch plenty three fours and fives. And
that's the expectation overall of the anglers. Yeah, if they
catch a six pounder, that's awesome. Seven pounder, that's great,
But those are unicorns. The three fours and fives are
where our anglers want to be.
Speaker 1 (22:19):
But that's what I noticed in the press release that
was put out on Outdoor Alabama is they were talking about, hey, look,
the population of fish is healthy, the size of fish,
we have three fours and fives. We want to have
those six, seven and eighths. Because that's what anglers.
Speaker 2 (22:34):
Were bringing up.
Speaker 1 (22:35):
I mean, this is this is truly a don't bite
the hand that feeds you kind of situation because people
were up in arms. Ah, they catch them like that
in Florida, and they catch them like that in Texas.
Speaker 2 (22:46):
You can talk to this Daniel completely different, completely different.
Speaker 1 (22:51):
So when people bring up like other states, it's the
management side, but it's also the habitat in which they
live exactly when we're talking about Alabama, like, hell, I'd
love to go out and catch a five pounder. Daniel
and I have talked about this when we're out fishing.
Where I went to lay Lake for a tournament recently,
I got two bytes all day, and I got a
(23:12):
two and a half on my fifth cast of the day,
and then I caught a five pounder on a swim Juney.
Speaker 2 (23:17):
I weighed seven and a half pounds.
Speaker 1 (23:19):
That five pounder to me was a giant and I
thought to myself, Man, I got a chance to win
big fish. Yeah, and I lost it by nearly a
pound and a half. So that to me was enough
to where I was like, you know what this is insane?
Is this is insane that if we're talking about I
want to catch fish like that are six seven pounders,
Well cool, Go to Texas, go to Florida, go to
(23:42):
the places that are managed for that. And if we
get to that point here, awesome. But we have a
lot of pressure and a lot of people fishing.
Speaker 3 (23:49):
Right and I think when you're comparing the Coosa River
to a lake fork, that's just insane to.
Speaker 2 (23:55):
Do that just for the water size.
Speaker 4 (23:57):
Right from the.
Speaker 3 (23:57):
Water size, the ecosystem, the nutrients and everything that's in
the water. Everybody wants to talk about the stocking program.
But you can only grow big fish with big food.
You have to have food to feed the fish. That
is science one O one. I mean the same way
with pay problem. The bait is there, No, the bait
is there? I agree. I think as fishermen we have
(24:19):
always said catch, catch release, catch release, catch release, and
that may be part of where we are now is
we have so many fish and the food sources is
split between all of them. So it's just like a
person if you go on a diet and you lose weight.
That's kind of how it is. I mean, the less
food in front of me, the less I'm gonna weigh.
(24:41):
So the only way to grow fish is through a
food source, and so that's that's kind of where we are.
You either manage the amount of people eating off one
plate or yeah, you get more food.
Speaker 1 (24:52):
I know that you at the Alabama Bass Trail. You
guys are usually working a year, maybe a year and
a half ahead of time before the news came out
about the slot limit being taken off the table. What
were some of your plans for twenty six.
Speaker 3 (25:05):
Well, one of the plans was to go from a
January to May timeframe and try to stay out of
the summer months altogether. That was really hard to do
when you look at having to move everything up a month.
That means you move your registration up a month, that
means you move your payments up a month, and looking
at what that looked financially for our anglers, we really
didn't like that look move our championship up to September.
(25:26):
Still pretty hot in September, so.
Speaker 4 (25:28):
We looked at that.
Speaker 3 (25:30):
We looked at how we could arrange our tournaments for
the Couster River to be earlier in the year.
Speaker 4 (25:36):
The problem with that.
Speaker 2 (25:37):
Is, so your plan was still to go.
Speaker 3 (25:39):
We were still planning to go to the Coosa River.
I'm not I'll say this, I can't abandon those people
because they were with the Alabama Bastral and have been
with us and been loyal to us for twelve years.
So we could not abandon them. We are the Alabama Basstrail.
We cannot abandon the Cooster River. Those people have invested
in us, they have believed in us, and I said
(25:59):
that we had to have a schedule before we ever
had a boat. So understanding, they agreed to pay the
Alabama Bashor to come to their location before we had
one boat signed up, and the fact that we sold
out in seventy two days year one and now we're
selling out in seven minutes. They believed in us, then
I'm not going to abandon them.
Speaker 4 (26:17):
Now. We were going to have to figure out a
way to do it.
Speaker 3 (26:21):
Worried about whether or not we would have to go
to a three fish limit, whether or not we would
have to go to a fourteen to twenty inch slot limit.
Speaker 4 (26:28):
We were still planning on.
Speaker 3 (26:29):
Being there, but our goal was, Okay, if we can
be there January to May, does that help our story
with the Department of Conservation, If we can move to
an earlier time frame, if we stay off the water
when it's hotter, what can we do to come to
a compromise? Because understanding, if you go to the regulation
book right now, and something I pointed out to them
(26:50):
last week, if you go to the regulation book now,
there's not a regulation on the Coosa River. Tournament organizations
set a twelve inch minimum because we understood the importance
of that eight nine, ten eleven inch early spawning bass.
Those are your very first time spawners. We understand the
importance of that. So we set a twelve inch minimum
on ourselves. There's not a regulation in the book, so
(27:13):
going from no regulation to a fourteen to twenty inch
regulation seemed extremely radical. But again they felt like the
outcome of that radical change would been very radical on
the other end, that we would have seen those six,
seven and eights in the matter of three years. I
think understanding the expectation of the anglers was very important.
(27:34):
That we don't expect that we expect three fours and fives,
but we were not looking to abandon our friends in
the at the Coast River.
Speaker 2 (27:41):
That's right.
Speaker 1 (27:41):
I think this That's why I think all this goes
right now is this is a step in the right direction.
Speaker 2 (27:47):
For the communication.
Speaker 1 (27:49):
If we can continue to have a communication with the
DCNR and be able to say to them, like, let's
have some valuable information, Let's figure out what's happening here.
Let's have tournaments like yourself and like some of the
other ones, really figure out good ways to regulate within
the regulations that are out there. And let's also take
a look at the population who loves the fish. If
(28:11):
you're going to put on a jackpot on a Tuesday night,
be smart about it. Don't look at those hot summer
months and say, well, I'm just going to have one
because I want to have one. If we're going to
be stewards of the resource, we have to be smart
twelve months out of the year.
Speaker 2 (28:25):
We can't just do it on select months.
Speaker 4 (28:27):
I agree.
Speaker 3 (28:28):
And one of the things that they brought up, and
I don't know the list of organ of places that
they're looking at, but one of the things said by
the Commissioner in our committee meeting and again echoed in
our private meeting with the Deputy Commissioner was they have
over thirty million dollars of access points that they are
currently working on and a lot of those are going
(28:49):
on on the Kusa River, and he said tournament abled facilities.
So that's exciting to me that the state is looking
at investing over thirty million dollars in tournament able facilities.
Speaker 4 (29:04):
That's exciting.
Speaker 3 (29:05):
When we look at what was done at Leesburg Landing,
we now see Lincoln Leesburg Landing one percent because of
Alabama Power in the land the city of Leesburg and
their in kind and money that they did for match
and then the state coming in with the one point
whatever they spent to develop that as a tournament ready location.
Speaker 4 (29:24):
So I'm excited to see that list.
Speaker 3 (29:26):
I'm excited to see what projects that they're working on
on the Coosa River. We're always excited about tournament ready facilities,
so excited about that. Thank them for thinking about that.
We've seen the addition of the docks at Weiss Lake.
There's lots of projects, Mint Creek up and Gunnersville, lots
of things they've done to help better our tournament locations
(29:47):
and better the ability of us to host tournaments and
locations we wouldn't be able to go to otherwise.
Speaker 4 (29:51):
Weiss Lake Prime example.
Speaker 1 (29:53):
These conversations are going to continue to happen as they do.
I'll have k On and we'll get everybody in here
to really break them down. I appreciate your time as
always again, you can read the full press release when
you go to Outdoor Alabama dot com
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