April Pond Scum Of The Month

It’s that time of the month for us to announce our “Pond Scum of the Month”. For April, that honor goes to “Cheetascumillia Poachameoba”. This fellow is that individual for whom slot limits, numerical limits or any other limits on harvest mean nothing.

For Cheetas P., rules that are designed to maintain healthy, sustainable populations for the long term mean absolutely nothing. Instead, all that “CP” is interested in is keeping whatever he catches to BBQ or freeze or do whatever he does with his catch.

It makes one wonder what the real motivation behind CP is. Is it the “Bad Boy” syndrome which gets his adrenaline pumping when he breaks the rules? Can’t you see him on his way home with his buddies doing the fist pump and hollering obscenities, bragging about keeping 7 fish? Of course the limit was five but this guy is totally pumped by having those extra fish in the cooler. Is this clown really this shallow?

Or is it that Cheetas P. is just upset over the fact that he is expected to conform to rules that he doesn’t agree with? His defiance is evident in everything he does including the way he drives. He breaks every law including speed, stop signs or lights, passing over a double yellow or using the car pool lane when he is the only person in the car. His response to all authority is,”This is just a rule that doesn’t make sense, so I don’t have to follow it.”

We’ve all seen this guy on the water. He’s the one who is taking every fish he manages to get a hook into and quickly hiding them by wrapping them in tinfoil and stuffing them in the cooler. It doesn’t matter a bit to Poachameoba if the bass he foul hooks is full of eggs, outside a slot limit or just plain prohibited from being harvested. He just takes it!

I don’t know if there are any real solutions to rid our waterways of Cheetascumillia Poachameoba other than all of us to band together and continue to promote those conservation programs that are working to expand the resource base. With some luck, and a lot of karma, CP will eventually be weeded out through attrition.

I for one am more than pleased and amused when I see a ranger pull up on CP and write him a ticket that in this state, runs about $500.00 for the first offense. It couldn’t happen to a more deserving individual!

The bottom line is that slot limits, delayed harvest, and other such rules are in place to help keep a fishery healthy. Healthy fisheries mean more people get to enjoy this great sport for a long time to come. That can only be a good thing.

See ya’ on the water …