Monster walleye and crappie!, and more.

[crappeeeman]

It's time to post your favourite picture of 2024. Started doing this a few years ago, so why not post it this year as well. There is a message this year to help protect the fish. I have just finished watching 100's of hours of "Big Name YouTube Stars" and their fishing channels. Some of these so called anglers are not that at all, they are killers. Hundreds of thousands of subscribers and millions of views, just so they can torture a fish on live T.V. and make money doing it. You should all know by now that I don't say something unless I have first hand knowledge of the subject. I just watched dozens and dozens.....scores and scores.....more fish than you could count killed for no good reason at all. Millions of comments cheering these anglers (killers) on with comments like....."Great fishing video, you are the best." Or my personal favourite....."I have learned so much about fishing from your channel." LEARNED WHAT!!! How to kill a fish by fishing in 25, 30, 35, 40, and even over 40 feet of water. LEARNED WHAT!!! How to catch and release fish that die from Barotrauma. I am disgusted and horrified that this is going on, at such a large scale. Does no one care about nature anymore. These YouTube stars have an obligation, as we all do to teach the next generation of anglers. Teach our children and others how to fish, and how to protect the fish. I am not ranting on this topic, this is real and it's going on everyday out on the water. Don't cheer these killers on, leave a comment on their channel. Tell them to stop killing fish for fun and laughing about it. Tell them to stop saying "Let's Go" and giggling like a child when they catch a fish. Tell them to grow up and be a man and get a real job like the rest of us. A fish is a living, breathing part of nature, just like we are. These guys throw a fish away like some other anglers throw garbage in and around the water. I am starting to lose faith in humanity. Anyway, thank you for listening. Many anglers are responsible and do their best not to harm a fish. I have no problem with responsible anglers. Here are my favourite pictures of this past season. I am looking forward to seeing some great pictures of your adventures. Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Stay safe.

[Flukes]

All my shots have been on cardboard...and all the same size WF except one that I happened to have taken of a laker with a phone so there are some nice colours.

I agree with what you have said about barotrauma (and during ice fishing in Simcoe, more people are finding dead WF just under the ice because they can't go down anymore to depth and/or die because of the barotrauma after being released and maybe even getting to depth - just too much damage after being up for too long for photos, etc. (who knows). Most of the time, you can't see them because there is too much snow on the ice or the ice is not very transparent but the dead ones are there. For Simcoe, if I catch my limit of WF, I move onto perch (no weeding of fish to get the two largest or whatever people do...there really isn't a need to weed out for larger fish). For lakers, I really don't target laker because I don't want to eat Simcoe lakers. Catching WF during the soft-water season, I don't release as they are coming up from 50+ feet but the good thing is that in my zone, most lakes have a limit of 12 so I can do some more fishing after getting 2...and I don't usually have enough time to fish to get that limit (nor have I been close...maybe one day and then I will go home). But unless there are some changes to make catch-and-release of fish illegal (or setting the limit to being X number caught - released or not), then it's hard to criticize those who are not breaking the law....ethically, maybe very bad if they know what will happen to the fish but still doing it (esp. for things like youtube videos, etc.). It's hard to keep people from doing illegal things and even harder to keep them from doing unethical but currently legal things. Let's hope what you have said will get some people thinking and others that did not know about barotrauma, informed. Being a SCUBA diver in the past, that pressure change can be really painful and a killer....literally.

[crappeeeman]

Yes that is a beautiful fish you caught, with very nice colours. And I am just picking on those bad guys I mentioned, not you nice folks on this fishing Forum. I really wish someone would treat those bad guys the same way they were treating those fish. I have seen small mistakes that can take the life of a fish. Nobody has a perfect release record. I have to keep the odd fish that does not make it because it swallowed my lure, or I wounded the fish somehow. But these wanna be fishing stars. They were releasing fish they knew would die. Some were even saying they knew about barotrauma, but could revive the fish and it would be fine. Then watched the fish floating on the water, and left it there to suffer. At the end of the video the loser said, "Well you can't save them all." Totally in shock, could not believe my ears. Disgusted. That is just one example of such bad behavior. I zipped through many many videos. Most were okay but many were not. It's an endless rabbit hole of fishing videos out there. Just thought I'd say beware of the losers that think they are anglers. They really should be called manglers. No joke intended.

[Flukes]

I am sure there are some bad ones on this forum as well. It's always good to get that info out so that even if one person learns about barotrauma and changes his/her fishing behaviour, it will help (and also the word will spread to others and future generations).

[longfish]

My favourite 2024 fish porn.

Arnie

[crappeeeman]

Now that's a fish! Don't lose that hat! Have a Happy New Year Arnie.

[longfish]

Happiest of New Years to you and family Jamie.

Arnie

[crappeeeman]

Happy Happy Crappie Fishing!!!