Michigan Proposes Plan To Extend Gear Restrictions

I have only been fishing Michigan rivers for steelhead for 2 years now. Over this time I've fished close to a dozen rivers in the State of Michigan including the Muskegon, St. Joe, Pere Marquette, Bear River, etc. It's a good change from Lake fishing and I've really enjoyed learning new techniques and especially seeing parts of Michigan I have never visited before. The one thing I have noticed over this time is the divide between "purist fly-fisherman" anglers and "bait anglers". At first I thought it was just a friendly divide, but it is much more serious than that.

Currently, the State's plan is to establish fishing gear restrictions on 73 additional miles of trout streams in Michigan. The problem with these regulations are that they occur on the most popular and productive stretches of river the state has to offer. They are planned to be fly fishing only and no kill zones. The previously existing restrictions include a fly only no kill zone on the Pere Marquette River near Baldwin, MI smack dab in the middle of the best fishing water.

First of all I want to say that I am a professed bait fisherman. Yes, I use my own salmon spawn from fish that I legally caught in Lake Michigan in the late summer and fall. Growing up I used to hunt around in the backyard digging for night crawlers or trying to catch krayfish and minnows to use as bait. How is using salmon spawn that otherwise would have been thrown away any different?

Many fly fishermen feel the need to get away from all the bait anglers (a majority of all fishermen in Michigan.) They claim that fishermen using bait snag fish, kill more fish by mortally hooking them, and many other claims that make bait angling unethical. I can tell you this, I've caught 100's of fish in the last 2 years and exactly ALL of them have been hooked in the corner of the mouth, just like they're supposed to be. If anything I truly believe it's easier snagging with a fly rod. I have a hard enough time catching fish using the real bait with the right look and smell. But the fly anglers who use a tiny piece of yarn with no scent or flavor never snags a fish?

Dick Schwikert, former president of the Pere Marquette Watershed Councial, stated that the rules are "good because it moves the meat fishermen away from the upper part of the river", and describes the bait fishermen as "the people tend to be slobs." These quotes do a good job of summing up the "river fishing culture" going on right now. The fly fishermen have no respect for bait fishermen and the bait fishermen don't like being told they're unethical and obviously don't want prime water taken away. This type of divide even occurs between so called "professional" guides. I hate to use names, but let's just say premier guides on the Muskegon River who should be acting in a professional manner has been leading the charge against bait anglers. Instead of promoting the health of the river they would rather badmouth "meat anglers" in order to fulfill their own agenda. It's obvious that fly anglers have no real scientific data supporting their arguments. It's already been proven that the actual fishing has no real impact on the fish populations. The DNR manages the rivers as give and take meaning they stock fish and don't only rely on natural production.

Why should a select few anglers be able to discriminate against the majority of fishermen who pay the majority of the DNR dues? I would have no problem with a section of river that is a "no-kill" zone, but the "flies only" restriction takes away the best stretches of river to the majority of the anglers. Can't we all just get along?

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