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Originally Posted by jchief

I guded on the lake for a few years and depending on the CUSTOMER if I fished or not or kept another limit. Some CUSTOMERS were there for a meat haul, but the majority of them were not. Many of them were newbies to fishing and had trouble catching fish. It really dedpended on the CUSTOMER. The vast majority of the guides did and still do encourage thier customers to turn loose anything over 4 lbs.

I keep capitalizing CUSTOMER becuse that who paid for the fishing trip. Those in business know the mantra "The customer is always right."

I can tell you that the majority of the guides that were in the business when I was guiding definately where worried about the sustainability of the fishery. Whether you agree with the 15 trout limit or not, the guides were the main ones pushing this change on Big Lake.

Gottago hit the nail on the head. When I was growing up, I can remeber Dad throwing back all the trout because they were nasty and we went in search of redfish. I made spending money on the lake through shrimping and it was a circus out there. Now, there is only a handful of shrimpers on the lake.

If we like the weirs or not, they have changed the fishery forever. We used to catch limits of trout behind the weirs on the deep water reefs back there and the guides were lined up doing it.

I hope my grand kids are still able to catch fish here when they get my age, but man has to learn that Mother Nature will do what she wills and we can't stop it, only delay it.