The last thing we want is hatchery-raised trout in our rivers — guaranteed there will be disease and devastation down the road.
I am totally against a fee to go trouting. It's one of the few luxuries left we can avail of without paying to do so.
For over 40 years, I have bought a salmon licence to trout fish the waters I do.
I have never caught a salmon in my life and no desire to do so.
So, you see, some of us already pay a fee to go trouting. But that's my choice.
In my opinion, most people do trout responsibly, keeping the daily limits per person in mind.
A trout licence and the dollars going to enforcement will never happen.
Who would have jurisdiction — federal or provincial?
Since the seasoned opened, I have fished certain areas of the South East River from the ocean to the headwaters every second weekend and have not seen one fisheries officer.
Why?
In my opinion, most people do trout responsibly, keeping the daily limits per person in mind.
In years past, it was the government that was irresponsible — keeping the season open past the Labour Day weekend irregardless of water conditions and trout were beginning to spawn — all because of revenues generated on the last long weekend of the summer.
As to catch and release, we were always taught to let the smaller ones go because they were the next generation.
As to releasing the females and keeping the males, most people couldn't tell the difference especially a 10-year-old out for a day of enjoyment.
Jerome Terry,
Mount Pearl
