Pay attention to fishing rule changes

5-1-2006 By BRIAN MULHERIN Daily News Staff Writer
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This is THE opening fishing weekend in Michigan.
In case you didn’t notice, there are several changes to the rules this year.

The first change, one everyone should take note of, is the size limit of 24 inches for pike has been reinstated for Hamlin Lake, and the bag limit is back down to two fish.

The change was made primarily to protect the 12,500 young muskies stocked by the DNR at Victory Park last fall. The size limit theoretically keeps guys from dropping spears on any pike-shaped object they see. The bag limit gets fishermen targeting pike off of the lake more quickly after a shorter trip, which means there’s a lesser chance they’ll hook one of the young muskies.

I’m not a fan of the lower bag limit, as I think it was effectively moving the average pike size on Hamlin in the right direction. I won’t be surprised if the stunted hammerhandles become more common again.

Another change is one that lakefront property owners might not like.

Bass fishing is also legal, starting today. You can’t keep them, but you’re now allowed to target them on the beds as long as you put them right back in the same spot you took them from. The season is called a catch-and-immediate-release season and lasts until the start of the regular season, still the Saturday preceding Memorial Day.

There’s some disagreement in the Department of Natural Resources ranks over the wisdom of this change, but the prevailing argument of “they’re fishing for bass anyway” won out.

Maybe I’m oversimplifying the year-long, around-the-state battle to get the rule changed, but that’s how I interpret what happened.

I’ll probably hold off for a few weeks before I target bass, but who can say what you’ll do when confronted with an honest-to-gosh six pounder laying there in front of you and the law is on your side?

Here’s hoping people targeting those trophies take the necessary precautions to get the fish back in the water unharmed and in a timely manner.

As far as other fishing opportunities go, Lake Michigan brown trout fishing has been very slow, but usually picks up in May. In April, I view it more as an excuse for guys to get the boat wet. We’ll have a story on brown trout fishing next week.

The bullheads are biting at Victory Park, the perch have moved in at the rivermouth on the Sable River at Hamlin Lake and the crappies should be biting, although I haven’t heard that yet.

Stream fishing should be fair, as some rain is predicted for the weekend and we’ve actually received a decent amount of precipitation over the last few days