"Bomba" said:

It's posted now let the fun begin
<url url="[Permission to view this media is denied]
"><link_text text="[Permission to view this media is denied] … p?t=325251">[Permission to view this media is denied]

I have to admit, I'm a little surprised at many of the responses… then again I think some people aren't willing to enter into a debate on the subject. All they have to offer is "look and release"…

Wow guys, I LOVE your angle on this (michigan-sportsman thread). What a great approach! Please keep up the great work, MMA guys!

This is thoughtful politicking, for sure.

just got a picture message on my phone from someone i know…. it was a decent size musky that was speared.

Regarding the statement, "The DNRE is at the mercy of a nonfunctional legislature."…..

The ligislature is functional; just look at how well they were able to deny the existance of breeding cougars in the Yoop for YEARS. The Yoop's Timbermen's Association paid a lot of good money for the DNR and our lawmakers to successfully accomplish that deception in the face of obvious proof about the cougars.

If we accept that the legislature is very responsive to lobbying interests, wouldn't it make sense for MMA to recruit existing representatives of the fishing and tourism industry to pressure lawmakers to consider/support our requests for changes to the regs?

One idea is to draft a letter to send to the various Chambers of Commerce around the state. We would need to articulate why our proposals are clearly to the benefit of individual Chambers' local economies. A second element of the strategy would be to have local bait shops, guides, lure manufacturers, etc, follow up on the letters with phone calls to individual lawmakers and copy EVERYTHING to both the DNR and Grandholm's office.

Some extra background: As you might already know, almost every Chamber has members (like County Commissioners, bank presidents, business owners, etc) who have personal relationships with elected officials. And there's the golden key – having influential locals contacting individual lawmakers to swing those lawmakers to our view of the future. I've been a Board Member on a couple Chanbers and I've done some consulting work with a couple more.

Anyway, what I suggest above may prove to be a powerful approach, and one that fits within the rules, such as they are, of how things get done in Lansing.

thanks for considering my ideas!

Yep, it is crap how things "sorta get done". The same wasteful crap is in every state, it all flows downhill from DC, regardless of the party in power. But that's the game right now, has been for a long time, and not everyone who wants to play gets cards.

Few individuals can make much of a difference in the crapstorm. Much more clever to create an alliance of people and organizations as you slowly but relentlessly make progress toward your goals. And never ever forget about the money: who has it and why, who wants it and why, and how allocation decisions are made.

Will and other leadership within MMA and MInc have a done a great job of creating and articulating the values most of us want to see reflected in the regs. They have created a "shared-vision" of a better future, they've outlined the steps to get there and in spite of lazy members like me, they are making a difference.

hmmmmm….I guess I just did a rant. Sorry.

That doesn't suprise me one bit. Heck…he is practicing catch and release ..isn't he? 😡 Who knows how many more fish are speared that are slighty or more undersized and tossed back with 3-4 holes in them.

Maybe SOMEDAY I'll stop being astonished by the stupidity of some people.

Then again, maybe not…

"John E. Sox" said:
"…I took a picture and released it". Turns out that he speared it, gaffed it, took a picture, and let it go.

Okay, so this guy just obliterated the one and only argument (“look and release”) that they had left!

I agree, putting a ban on spearing still won't stop any of these ignorant idiots from spearing fish and just letting them go. They still will most likely do it if they have a chance to spear something of size.