Or a Dink Bounty?
Saw a news item recently from the Indiana DNR establishing a 10- to 14-inch slot in Big and Crane lakes in Noble County. The reason: to get rid of dinks. I’m betting the slot won’t work. So how ’bout a derby?
“We’ve seen a huge increase in the number of bass in Big and Crane lakes over the last 10 years,” said Jed Pearson, DNR fisheries biologist. “Both lakes now have more bass than they can support.”
The DNR noted that “only 2 percent of the bass at Big Lake and 5 percent of the bass at Crane Lake were 14 inches or larger.” (I’m assuming from that description that neither is a lake frequented by bassin hounds.)
“Our initial goal is for anglers to take out more than half of the 10- to 14-inch bass in both lakes,” said Pearson. “A specific quota will be set….”
We’ve seen how bounties work – they get people fishing, get fish caught and make anglers money – but I bet the IN DNR isn’t exactly swimming in money, so that may not be an option there.
So how about a derby? Pay a few bucks, catch tubs of dinks, donate them or have a fish fry (proceeds to the DNR or a local charity)…and who better to seine a lake of dinks than hardcore bassers. (Wonder if, when you’re actually targeting dinks, you don’t catch ’em.)
4 Comments
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Jody White
March 28, 2011 at 12:29 pm
I’d be down for that. Time to break out the 3 inch Senkos and inline spinners!
Martin
March 28, 2011 at 1:17 pm
I’m in, and I don’t even have to change my techniques, that’s the size I usually catch anyway !
5bites
March 28, 2011 at 2:16 pm
Theirs nothing wrong with chopping the head off a bass every now and then. I’d oblidge if it were a local lake for sure.
BryanT
March 28, 2011 at 7:02 pm
I fished an annual small tourney on a small power plant lake on Bastrop L in CenTex. It was a slot lake and after you weighed your unders the tourney organizer kept them and did up a fish fry. Was pretty cool. All overs were released. Was a neat way to keep a healthy balance in the lake.