The real question here is: how do you grow more "trophy" fish by reducing a limit?
The only logic there is that by reducing a limit, you are leaving more fish in, thereby increasing the chances of growing larger fish. You are giving more opportunity for those fish to get bigger.
But on the ecological flip side of that--I think its poppycock. If you leave more fish in the system, there is greater competition for a food source, and if the food source is not increasing, you are going to see an overall decrease in size. You can't grow bigger fish by leaving more in. You have to reduce the amount of fish so there is less competition on the food source.
I don't know, that seems pretty logical to me. I mean, if there are 100 of us in a room with only 100 sandwiches, it stands to reason that, on average, one person in that group is going to eat less than one person in a group of 50 would get to eat. (Assuming everyone shares, which just about seems impossible around here
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And for all those that don't want to sift through that huge document that MG posted earlier, here is the section on Tripletail:
Quote:
A. Recreational Take and Possession Limits
1. The recreational bag limit for the possession of tripletail (Lobotes surinamensis) whether caught within or without Louisiana waters shall be five fish per person, per day.
B. Commercial Take and Possession Limits
1. No person shall take, harvest, land, or possess aboard a harvesting vessel tripletail in excess of a recreational bag limit unless that person is in possession and has in his immediate possession a valid commercial fishing license, commercial gear licenses (if applicable) and a valid commercial vessel license. The holder of such valid commercial licenses (if applicable) shall not take, possess, land, sell, barter, trade or exchange or attempt to take, sell, barter, trade or exchange tripletail, whole or eviscerated, in excess of 100 pounds on any one day or on any trip, or from any trip. For the purposes of this Section:
Trip¾any fishing trip, regardless of number of days duration, that begins with departure from a dock, berth, beach, shoreline, seawall or ramp.
2. No person aboard any vessel shall transfer or cause the transfer of tripletail between vessels on state or federal waters.
3. No person shall sell, purchase, barter, trade or exchange or attempt to sell, purchase, barter, trade or exchange tripletail, whole or eviscerated, in excess of 100 pounds, except that such limitation shall not apply to the resale of tripletail by a validly licensed wholesale/retail seafood dealer who purchased such tripletail in compliance with the regulations and requirements of this Section and in compliance with other requirements of law.
C. Size Limits
1. The recreational and commercial minimum size limit for tripletail (Lobotes surinamensis) shall be 18 inches total length.
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