Ohio’s latest
effort to project recreational angling regulations into the 21st
century is taking a two-steps forward but one-step back approach.
At hand is a
proposal by the Ohio Division of Wildlife to up the number of fishing
outfits an angler can use at one time. This increase would raise the
allowance from two poles to three poles. In effect, the regulatory
change would match what the state now permits at 16,349-acre
Pymatuning Reservoir – a detail mandated since Pennsylvania was
enlightened enough a few years back to allow the use of more fishing
rigs.
Ohio had to go along
with that change because it shares a portion of Pymatuning Reservoir
with Pennsylvania. Thus it makes sense if Pennsylvania allows up to
three outfits per person than so should Ohio.
Yet elsewhere in
Ohio the state forbids anglers from using more than two rods per
person. That rule does not sit well with crappie anglers who want to
“spider-rig” their fishing boats: Vessels that are equipped with
a device that can hold a multiple number of fishing outfits that are
swept in an arc across the bow of the craft. Such a set-up permits an
angler to employ different baits at different depths and
consequently, enabling the fisher to best utilize his or her angling
resources.
Two poles per person
simply fails to address the crappie angler’s desires. Importantly,
an increase in the fishing outfit allowance would not harm the
resource. That logic is because a limit of crappies is still a limit
of crappies whether two rods per person is employed or three poles
per angler is used.
Much the same is
true for the Lake Erie troller. Here, the situation is magnified, in
fact. With 3,568 square miles of fishable water at their disposal,
Ohio’s anglers have a lot state-designated territory to cover. And
also depth in order to locate hungry fish.
That means
experimenting with different types of lures, trolling speeds, line
distances employed, and support equipment on the order to planer
boards, directional and in-line divers, downriggers and such.
Lake Erie anglers
have long sought an expansion of the clearly out-dated two-rod rule,
too. More than a few Lake Erie anglers continue to flaunt this rule
also, these fishers willing to risk a citation from Wildlife Division
officers. The rule and the citations are -not surprisingly - often
viewed with chicken-scratch disdain.
No question the
proposal is a good one, but is one that goes too far. The problem
would come about by allowing a shore-based angler to use three poles
instead of the current two outfits. Such an increase poses a very
real threat as to how a few anglers – or even one – could
dominate a choice stretch of a public fishing pier, breakwater, jetty
or riverfront section.
I can think of any
number of places such a likelihood is not only plausible but almost
certain. Among them would be a couple of short sections on the lower
Grand and Chagrin rivers where private property owners allow public
access, and at Lake Metroparks’ Grand River Landing in Fairport
Harbor which has become a go-to destination for catfish anglers.
Similar limitations
very possibly will be encountered in downtown Cleveland with the
Cleveland Metroparks various shore-based angler access points. No
doubt the same will be seen to the east and west of Cleveland and
Lake County, as well.
And I have
encountered such issues in Florida where my wife and I spend several
weeks each winter. There, we hit several public fishing piers in
search of salt-water favorites. We often have to arrive early,
however, for the simple reason that Florida’s liberal allowance of
fishing outfit use can leave little or no space for other anglers.
So, yes, while
Ohio’s jettisoning of the two-rod rule and the move toward a
three-rod rule is a wise decision, clearly it is also a case of too
much of a good thing being, well, a bad thing.
Best go back to the
drawing board, Oho Division of Wildlife, and make a design change.
One that won’t leave shore anglers high, dry and with no elbow room
to fish.
Jeffrey L. Frischk@Ameritech.net
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