Fishing organizations with a conservation focus, including the apolitical Pasadena Casting Club, Trout Unlimited and Cal Trout are all asking fishers to make their voices heard about the proposed California Department of Fish & Wildlife regs, which would simplify their complex system with major consequences for many of the waters we love.

For example, the Golden Trout Wilderness, home to our endangered state fish, would be open to a five-fish take and no gear requirements!

Or Hot Creek? Under the proposed regulations, it would lose its “barbless artificial flies only” designation in favor of “barbless artificial lures only.” We all know the difference between a No. 16 green scud and a Rapala DT armed with two barbless treble hooks.

Can you imagine what either gemlike area would fish like after a couple of years of that kind of pressure?

Know this is one issue both fly and spin fishers are united in opposing. As Jack Lunch wrote in Mammoth’s The Sheet:

 And why do fishermen of all stripes, from fly fishermen to bait fishermen, all seem to be on the same page? 

     “I’ve never been in a room where bait and fly people are in complete agreement on something,” remarked Slee Thursday morning. 

     Slee says year-round fishing will decimate fish populations by putting them under constant stress. 

I’ve compiled information from two of the organizations below, as well as provided a link for your comments. Trout Unlimited Jessica Strickland’s side-by-side comparison of California waters with current and proposed regs is available by email only. If you’d like a copy, let her know at jessica.strickland@tu.org.

If you are free tomorrow, from noon- 2 p.m.there’s an information session at Bass Pro Shop in Rancho Cucamonga.

See you on the river, Jim Burns