Free Republic

Editor’s Note: Today’s story comes to us from the European Fishing Tackle Trade Association. Catch and Release fishing will be banned in Switzerland from next year, it was revealed this week. And anglers in the country will have to demonstrate their expertise by taking a course on humane methods of catching fish, under new legislation outlined by the Bundesrat - the Swiss Federal Parliament. The new legislation states that fish caught should be killed immediately following their capture, with a sharp blow to the head from a blunt instrument. Under the new regulations, the use of livebait and barbed hooks...

PORT O'CONNOR, Texas (Army News Service, May 5, 2008) - More than 125 wounded Soldiers and their Families were able to forget about hospitals, doctors and physical therapy during a day of fishing, relaxation and old-fashioned Texas barbeque Saturday. About 135 local fishermen volunteered their time and boats during the second annual Warrior's Weekend to take wounded warriors from Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio, Walter Reed Army Medical Center in D.C., Fort Hood, Texas, and Fort Bragg, N.C., out on the Gulf of Mexico while cheering town residents greeted the six buses of troops with flags, signs, hugs...

Saturday, May 3, 2008 6:38 AM CDT Postville men arrested, charged with 27 fishing violations WEST UNION (AP) --- Three men have been arrested and charged with 27 fishing violations after using beer cans to catch trout from a northeastern Iowa creek. Authorities say an off-duty Fayette County deputy noticed suspicious fishing activity at Glovers Creek trout stream earlier this week. He called the Iowa Department of Natural Resources. DNR officials accuse the three men of illegally tying fishing lines to empty beer cans, then dragging the cans with the catch to shore. Authorities seized the trout, illegal fishing lines,...

By APRIL CASTRO Associated Press Writer AUSTIN, Texas - Texas officials told legislators Wednesday that they're investigating the possible sexual abuse of some young boys taken from a polygamist sect's ranch, as well as broken bones among other children. The disclosures are the first suggestions that anyone other than teenage girls may have been sexually or physically abused at the ranch run by the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, a renegade Mormon sect. In written and oral testimony provided to lawmakers Wednesday, officials with the state Department of Family and Protective Services said interviews and journal...

The owners of an Arab Jassim fish farm proudly display fish from their pond. A Task Force Marne initiative to revitalize Iraq’s fish farms is in full swing throughout the Mahmudiyah Qada. DoD photo. CAMP STRIKER — A Task Force Marne initiative to revitalize Iraq’s fish farms is in full swing in the Rakkasans’ area of operations. The 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) began a comprehensive assessment in February of hundreds of fish farms throughout the Mahmudiyah Qada.“Fish farming was one of the top three agricultural businesses in Iraq,� said Maj. Robert Bertrand, 3rd BCT, 101st...

By Ann Shibler Published: 2008-04-07 New "anti-terrorism" rules ordered up by DHS for those who fish the Great Lakes are causing a wave of dissent. While still leaving our southern border wide open, the northern border will be protected by stricter security rules heavily enforced by the DHS, particularly for those tall-tale-telling anglers. Follow this link to the original source: "Going fishing? Pack your passport" COMMENTARY: Starting with the 2008 charter fishing season on the Great Lakes, and particularly impacting Lake Erie because of its geography and popularity among anglers, fishermen will now have to have their passports or two...

This has been around for a while but is really hysterical! Enjoy a good laugh on a Friday night in FReeperville. Click here to see the video

STOWE, Vt. (AP) - Bob Shannon is an avid hunter, a fishing guide and owns a tackle shop, but he sometimes struggles to get his own son out into Vermont's woods and fields. "He'll be sitting there with the video games," Shannon said of 9-year- old Alexander. "I finally had to lay down the law last summer: 'If it's a nice day, you're outside.'" Shannon's challenge reflects a larger problem plaguing many state governments: Revenue from hunting and fishing license sales is plunging because of waning interest in the outdoors. "We're losing our rural culture," said Steve Wright, a regional...

Fishing advocate shuttles between two campuses for best fly fishing Thursday, March 27, 2008 By Nicholas Tolomeo, Tri-State Sports & News Service John Hayes/Post-Gazette Heather Seitz is a freshman from Hampton who attends Pitt-Greensburg. She also is an international fly fishing competitor.A University of Pittsburgh freshman, Heather Seitz chooses to attend classes at both the Oakland and Greensburg campuses. To most students, the Oakland campus has more to offer. But for Ms. Seitz, 19, trips to Westmoreland County present an opportunity that Oakland does not -- good fly fishing. Ms. Seitz, who competes in international fly fishing events, drives 45...

LAGOS (AFP) - Police in the northwest Nigerian state of Kebbi, home to the Argungu fishing festival, have released on bail this year's champion, arrested last week for allegedly smuggling his winning monster catch already dead into the river, a police chief said Sunday. The fishing champion, somewhat confusingly called Bello Argungu, was arrested Friday on suspicions of having smuggled a dead 65 kilogram (140 pound) fish into the river before the start of the picturesque festival. He then pulled his "catch", which drew gasps of admiration, out of the river and walked off with prizes that included a car...

TRAPS, pyrotechnics and beanbags shot at sea lions have failed to deter the annual springtime feast of threatened salmon at a northwestern US dam... The National Marine Fisheries Service authorised Oregon and Washington state officials to first attempt to catch the sea lions that arrive at the base of the Bonneville Dam on the Columbia River and hold them 48 hours to see whether an aquarium, zoo or similar facility will take them. Otherwise, they could be euthanised, along with those that avoid trapping. About 60 of the California sea lions, identified by branding, scars or other markings, were deemed...

Noted outdoors writer and television personality Claude H. “Grits” Gresham Jr., who passed away at age 85 Monday after a lengthy illness, will be remembered as one of the best outdoors communicators ever. Gresham hosted The American Sportsman on ABC and Shooting Sports America on ESPN, was shooting editor of Sports Afield magazine for 26 years. He wrote eight books but might be most widely known for his role in a series of commercials for Miller Lite beer. In 2006, he received the only Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Shooting Sports Foundation, which then established, with the Professional Outdoor...

Darryl E. Owens | Sentinel Staff Writer February 28, 2008 Ray Combs thought he'd witnessed the wildest fishing action that the world had to offer. But that was before the Orlando videographer hopped a military cargo plane to Baghdad. There, as Black Hawk helicopters flew overhead, he watched soldiers cast lines into a man-made lake near where Saddam Hussein reputedly kept his harem. "I have been on boats shooting video as an 18-foot hammerhead ate a 200-pound tarpon mere feet away from me," said Combs, 32. "But . . . it doesn't compare to the surreal feeling of watching soldiers...

Contact: Lindsey M. Brothers (202) 547-4713 Armed Forces Foundation -PRESS RELEASE- Armed Forces Foundation Unveils Commemorative Military Bass Boat Boat To Be Auctioned Off At Armed Forces Foundation’s Congressional Gala In March Washington, DC (February 11, 2008) – The Armed Forces Foundation (AFF), a national nonprofit benevolent foundation under the Department of Defense’s America Supports You program, is proud to unveil its Ranger 188VX tournament-ready bass boat at ESPN’s 2008 Bassmaster Classic. The tournament will be held from February 22nd-24th on Lake Hartwell in Greenville, S.C. The boat will be auctioned March 5th, at the 4th Annual Armed Forces Foundation’s...

  Sturgeon goes on and on   Reel-y big ... Nick and George with their monster catch  Published: Today       TWO British anglers got a reel shock while boat fishing in Canada – when they caught a TEN FOOT long sturgeon. Nick Calleya, 36, and George Carstairs, 42, took an hour to land the 500lb fish – thought to be more than 100 years old. Nick, of Cubert, Cornwall, and George, of Aberdeen, caught it on Fraser River in British Columbia, Canada. Nick said: “It was so strong it was lifting George off his seat.”

OUTDOORS EDITOR The voice of America's anti-hunting forces is trying to become more powerful. In what the U.S. Sportsmen's Alliance is calling a "precisely-calculated effort," the Humane Society of the United States is attempting to consolidate all of the animal rights movement's political power under a single umbrella. Humane Society director Wayne Pacelle reportedly told one publication that his organization may soon merge with at least three unnamed animal rights organizations. "The HSUS is playing up a mainstream reputation in hopes of becoming the primary mouthpiece for the animal rights movement," said Bud Pidgeon, president of the Sportsmen's Alliance. "It...

Man reels Hummer limo out of Lake Texoma Posted: 10:54 PM Jan 13, 2008 Last Updated: 5:34 PM Jan 14, 2008 Reporter: Stephanie Brletic Email Address: stephanie.brletic@kxii.com POTTSBORO, Tex. -- One local man planned to spend the day at Lake Texoma with his family, hoping he might get a big catch. He never expected what he found fishing at Juniper West. Boating on Lake Texoma seemed like just another day for Bob Faulkner until he reeled in what he calls the biggest catch of his life. He never expected that his big catch would turn out to be a stretch...

Thousands of people have taken part in a contest to catch fish in a frozen river in South Korea.

Heads up that President Bush will be fishing for Stripers on ESPN2 Sunday morning 9AM EST. on "Offshore Adventures".

I wrote the following on FR in April 2006Another working man's boating disaster is on the way. The economy is good; but the high prices of marina fuel, marina slips, boat insurance, maintenance, is going to kill boating for a lot of working people starting this coming season. I see a repeat of the early 1990s, when I moved from the Boston area to Boston's south shore. I went to a local marina and asked to get on a waiting list for a boat slip, I knew it would take years to get in. I was laughed at, the marina...

Oregon's 550,000 hunters and anglers spend $1.1 billion annually...the ripple effect at $1.8 billion annually. Oregon ranks No. 25 among all states in terms of total spending. Texas is No. 1 at $6.6 billion, and Florida placed second, $4.8 billion. On the national level, 34 million sportsmen...spent more than $76 billion in 2006, supporting 1.6 million jobs...

UK fishing industry 'faces ruin because of EU quotas'The UK fishing industry is warning it faces ruin because thousands of tonnes of dead fish are being dumped back into the sea - because of EU quotas. Fishing crews often catch large amounts of fish by accident after they have exceeded their quotas and they then have no option but to dump their catch. They are now struggling to make a living and environmentalists say it is damaging hopes of sustainability. Quotas strictly limit the amount of fish that each vessel can bring back to port. But there is no such...

Oahu Ocean Fishermen's Catch Of The Day: Pork Men Say Feral Pig Swam Straight Out To Sea KAAAWA, Hawaii -- It is a fish tale that is easy to scoff as a more of a tall tale. Three friends landed some fish off Kahana Bay on Thursday and a 40-pound feral pig that was swimming near their boat. As the small fishing boat headed for shore at Kahana Bay, nothing seemed out of the ordinary. However, on closer inspection, the catch of the day was not seafood. It was pork. "We just hooked up with a fish. As soon as...

Check out the New Video posted on the front page of the NRA site! 'When you elect me, you'll have a real Hunter in the White House' -Duncan Hunterhttp://www.nraila.org/

A new attempt by a Democratic presidential hopeful, John Edwards, to cozy up to hunters is coming under fire from the National Rifle Association and conservation groups. Traveling in Iowa yesterday, Mr. Edwards unveiled a "Hunting and Fishing Bill of Rights and Responsibilities" that calls for giving hunters more access to federal lands, including, in some cases, national parks. "This is part of who I am and part of what I will stand for as president," Mr. Edwards told voters in Glenwood, Iowa, according to the Associated Press. He said he hunted while growing up in rural North Carolina and...

Fishing writer survives bite from deadly snake By JOHN RUDOLF LAKE HAVASU NEWS-HERALD LAKE HAVASU - It took only a split-second to turn an idyllic day fishing on Lake Havasu into an excruciating encounter with one of the deadliest creatures in nature. Early on the morning of Sept. 11, Doug Busey, 49, the Tahoe Daily Tribune's longtime fishing writer, stepped off of a friend's fishing boat to snap a few photos from a beach on the lake's California side. He knelt down to get a better angle on a cactus, and a dark blur jumped out at it him. Only...

MOREHEAD CITY - Navy corpsman Cary Town returned to the Morehead City docks Friday with a 27-pound, 38-inch fish story. The 15 minutes it took him to reel in the red snapper were growing longer with each telling.

Editor's Note: Next week, we'll be celebrating National Hunting and Fishing Day across the country. To help spread the word, National Hunting & Fishing Day has had a number of notable celebrities serve as honorary chairman of NHFD. It might be that none of the prior selections have been so unabashedly about the outdoors as this year's honorary chairman, Georgia native son Jeff Foxworthy. For all his extraordinary accomplishments -- best-selling comedy recording artist of all time, Grammy nominee, popular radio show host, best-selling author, star of hit comedy tours, television series and movies, plus host of a new hit...

As presidential portraits go, it is a little on the informal side. Vladimir Putin poses stripped to the waist, fishing rod in hand, in a boat on a Siberian river. The Russian leader has been worrying Western leaders by flexing his political muscles recently. But yesterday he was showing off the real thing - and appeared in impressive shape for a man of 54. The former KGB officer is known as a fitness fanatic and is a black belt in judo. Wearing only combat trousers tied roughly at the waist, a camouflage hat and army-style boots, Putin displayed his usual...

Proud Dad here. My ten year old made his first official catch today. Rigged the down rigger and baited the line with the herring himself then pulled this Coho in about 45 minutes later. I helped with the net. He was 22" and 8 pounds. Caught in Tacoma's Commencement Bay about 50' down at 0930 today. Would of posted this earlier but we just finished it off at dinner 8>) Now if I could just get him to clean the darn things...Didn't get the kings we were out there for but this made the day!

PETA Protests Fish Fry Fundraiser Newkirk Steamed over Fried Fish July 27, 2007 (Alaska) PETA President Ingrid Newkirk is steamed about a fundraising slogan for an anti-capital punishment campaign that reads, “Fry Fish, Not People.” There was probably smoke coming out of Newkirk’s ears when she heard the slogan that Alaskans Against the Death Penalty are using to raise money. Her organization sent a letter to the anti-death penalty group asking that it adopt a new motto - “Fry Onions, Not People.” PETA’s letter said, “Serving the corpses of animals at an anti-death penalty event is like serving cigarettes at...

It sounds like something out of a monster movie. A mysterious sea creature, up to 7 feet long, weighing up to 100 pounds, with 40,000 sharp teeth. It hunts in packs of hundreds, flying through the water at 25 mph, changing color. With a parrot-like beak and strong arms, it attacks and tries to eat nearly anything it sees, including fish, scuba divers, even its own kind. But it's not a creature of Hollywood. It's real. And it's reached Monterey Bay. The Humboldt Squid, also known as the Giant Squid or Jumbo Squid, traditionally has lived in warm waters off...

The world record for a white seabass caught on rod and reel is 83.75 pounds. So when anglers see this, jaws are likely to drop and more concerted efforts will probably be made to pursue these kings of croaker along our coast. On consecutive trips, Bill Ernst, 58, a spearfisherman for 45 years, speared white seabass weighing 42, 47, 68 and an incredible 93.4 pounds, the latter a world record. The current International Underwater Spearfishing Association record for a speared white seabass is 80 pounds, so Ernst shattered the mark. "I can't believe it, I just can't believe it," the...

TODAY'S FEATURE Big Fish Story One June 6, Adam Konrad, a Canadian angler was fishing the Lake Diefenbaker system of Saskatchewan. Konrad landed what has been submitted to the International Game Fish Association as the trout that, if accepted, would break the world record for all-tackle trout, a massive 43.6 pound fish that measured 38.5 inches in length and 33 inches in girth. The current record of 42-pounds, six ounces has stood for the past 37 years, but would appear to be in jeopardy as Konrad's catch was weighed on IGFA certified scales, measured and otherwise documented in both photos...

More than 50 miles of roads and trails southwest of Colorado Springs would be closed to vehicles under rules proposed by the Bureau of Land Management. The BLM on Tuesday released the Arkansas River Travel Management Plan, which would change travel rules on 240,000 acres of public land ... There are now 232 miles of roads and trails open to vehicles. That would drop to 181 miles under the proposal. A complete list of proposed closures is available on the BLM’s Web site. Officials said the change is needed because of the increasing number of people coming to the area...

What Does The Decline In Hunting Mean For America's Kids? http://fieldandstream.blogs.com/news/2007/06/what_does_the_d.html http://tinyurl.com/2azh4n June 18, 2007 “I like to play indoors better,” a fourth grader told Richard Louv, “because that’s where the electrical outlets are.” In his bestselling 2005 book, Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder, journalist and author Louv argues that never before has a generation of children been so separated from the natural world. The consequences, he says, can be seen in trends such as increases in obesity, stress, and psychiatric disorders among our kids. With the declining number of outdoorsmen indicated by the...

June 16, 2007 - If you’re a squirrel or a trout, we’ve got some good news for you: Americans are hunting and fishing less. Every five years, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service puts together a massive survey of outdoor recreation, and the 2006 preliminary numbers were released today. They show ominous trends, depending on your worldview—or species. The number of anglers has dropped 12 percent since 2001; the hunter count has fallen off by 4 percent during the same five-year period. This doesn’t mean Americans aren’t spending time outdoors or interacting with wild animals; “wildlife watching” is up 8...

Hooking youth: Fishing is a pathway to nature for America's children http://www.abqtrib.com/news/2007/jun/06/commentary-hooking-youth/ http://tinyurl.com/2pcycu Mamie Parker Wednesday, June 6, 2007 Waters, long-coursed downstream, press on me still. The lunges of memorable fish linger in the eddies of my mind. Bright waters beckon this private vice of mine, fishing. And my recollections, no matter how old, always have the tenor of springtime, when all things are new. Fishing fixes me to places where I really feel alive. As a young girl and even today the experience carries a vestige of adventure and wildness - an escape from the artifices of man. As...

DUBAI (Reuters) - Three Finnish men working for a mobile phone company in Dubai have been detained by Iran while fishing near a disputed island in the Gulf, the Finnish embassy said on Wednesday. The three had apparently drifted into Iranian-controlled waters accidentally while on an angling trip from the United Arab Emirates, said Esa Hurtig, charge d'affaires at the Finnish embassy in Abu Dhabi. Mobile telecoms equipment firm Nokia Siemens Networks told Reuters the three men worked for it in the trade and tourism hub of Dubai. "There are three Finnish citizens who were fishing and strayed into an...

A newcomer to tidal Potomac River bass fishing recently sent a blistering note to a popular Web site, the Bass Fishing Home Page. With tongue in cheek, the e-mailer wondered what happened to common boating courtesy on one of the nation's top bass fishing waters. He signed his name Tony, and although some sorely needed word clarification has been added, here is the note from www.wmi.org/bassfish: "[I] was wondering. Just moved or should I say [got] stationed here from Ala. [I] just want to get the rules right. Is there no common courtesy on the lakes and rivers here? Is...

Signs emerge of vigilante approach to protected sea lions 4/19/2007, 5:25 p.m. PT By JOSEPH B. FRAZIER The Associated Press    PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — The competition between protected sea lions gobbling Columbia River salmon and impatient humans with empty fishing lines has led to vigilante action.A fisherman shot a sea lion who stole a salmon off the line of a fellow angler Wednesday at a popular fishing spot near the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers.The sea lion was hit twice but reported alive in the river Wednesday night.Fishermen have complained that the sea lions eat too...

A 1,063-pound mako shark hooked close to shore in the Gulf of Mexico is being investigated as a possible world fishing record. The Sea Ya Later II was cobia fishing when its crew spotted the 12-foot 6-inch shark Wednesday afternoon between Pensacola Beach and Navarre Beach. The Mother Lode, a 45-foot charter boat, helped bring the shark in to Destin. The registered weight of 1,063 pounds makes the catch eligible for the world record in the 30-pound line class for a short-fin mako. The class record is a 997-pound, 11-ounce shark caught in Sydney, Australia, in 1995.

It may soon cost more to bag a buck or to reel in a big one in Michigan. Two state lawmakers have written bills that seek significant, phased-in price increases in the state's hunting and fishing licenses. Some license fees would go up two or three times as much, or more. Sen. Liz Brater, D-Ann Arbor, introduced her fishing-fees bill in the Senate on Tuesday, while Rep. Matt Gillard, D-Alpena, was likely to introduce his companion hunting-fees bill in the House by Wednesday, their offices said. The cost of a firearm or archery deer license would double from $15 to...

BREVARD COUNTY, Fla. -- A Brevard County man had to go to the hospital after a 5-foot fish jumped into his boat and bit him. Josh Landis had been fishing with friends last week. They were leaning over the edge of the boat to reel in a smaller fish when the 57-pound king mackerel jumped into their boat. Landis said the fish tore into his hand and leg. He had to get more than a hundred stitches.

The Southern Ute Tribe is close to re-establishing hunting rights for its 1,300 members on 3.7 million acres in western Colorado - in accordance with an 1874 federal treaty. The tribe and the Colorado Division of Wildlife are discussing an agreement that would determine when tribal members could hunt game in parts of nine counties and four national forests, an area defined under the 1874 Brunot Treaty... The agreement included a provision allowing the tribes to hunt in the area "as long as the grass grew." Since then, the tribes' two reservations have shrunk by many more millions of acres...

An interesting story about animal protection comes from Saturday's Toronto Star. Entitled "Politicians dither as animal cruelty goes on," it was primarily a pro-animal rights piece and it dealt with a subject many fear will soon reach the United States.     The story at first appeared to be innocuous. After all, who would object to protecting animals? But at the heart of the matter, it's just one more ploy to stop people from hunting and fishing.     What recently was promised to be a parliamentary bill to make Canada's animal cruelty laws more humane now clearly seemed a maneuver to halt anglers...

New Zealand fishermen may have caught the largest Colossal squid ever found -- weighing around 450kg (992 pounds) and with rings the size of tires.The adult Colossal squid (Mesonychoteuthis hamiltoni) was caught by fishermen long lining for toothfish in deep ocean off Antarctica, New Zealand Fisheries Minister Jim Anderton said on Thursday in announcing the catch.The squid was still alive when caught and was eating a hooked toothfish when hauled aboard, Anderton said in a statement."The squid was almost dead when it reached the surface, and the careful work of the crew was paramount in getting this specimen aboard in...

Colossal squid hooked with rings the size of tractor tyres   February 22, 2007 - 3:30PM     New Zealand fishermen in the Ross Sea have caught what's thought to be the largest squid ever found.Its estimated weight is about 450 kilograms.The species is known as the colossal squid, shorter but much heavier than the better known giant squid.It was hauled to the surface while munching on one of its favourite foods, a Patagonian toothfish which the fishermen had hooked on a longline.Dr Steve O'Shea, from the Auckland University of Technology, says the previous largest find weighed 300 kilograms.He...

“We’re not a protest organization, we’re a policing organization,” Paul Watson...of his Sea Shepherd... A pirate organization is more like it. Sporting the skull and crossbones, his black or battleship-gray ships sail menacingly through the waves. They are painted with the names of the boats Watson has rammed and sunk. The ships are fitted with...a concrete-filled bow made for ramming, and an attachment dubbed the “can opener” that can tear open a boat’s hull. In his book Earth Warrior, David Morris writes that Watson wears a long bowie knife at his side and carries AK-47s on board. He blasts Richard...

~Fishing with the Troops~ FISHING IN IRAQ FOR TIGRIS SALMON (A true war story and not just a fishy tale) This is the real story of what a little support from home means to the troops. I came to Iraq about 15 months ago and things were pretty hot, mortars and rockets were pretty much a nightly thing and you didn’t get much of a break from the war. The Camp I’m working out of is right on the edge of Baghdad and surrounded by man made lakes on one of Saddam Hussein's many Palace complexes. Here in Middle...