We conquered our first political hurtle in 2007-2008 with the new legislation Lake Norman and Badin Lake that will take effect this year. It was a great learning experience for everyone involved.
So far this year we have cooled our guns while the wheels were turning. Our focus so far this year has been on education since this is what our members have expressed they wanted from the club. We have a lot of new folks that are eager to learn and we are trying to accommodate those needs and desires. We have not forgotten though that there are a lot of things that need attention, and now is a good time to start addressing them.
My hope is that we can get the biologists from the NCWRC to come back to one of our meetings to give us an update on where the research is heading and what they have learned. Remember, this is a slow process and something where answers will take time. One or two creel samples alone will not yield much information, but over a period of years the picture will begin to become much clearer.
A few things to keep in mind based on what we have learned so far in the process. The legislation that was passed was supported by the biologists based on the fact that they are conducting research on the lakes included. Before they will support any new law there needs to be something to back it up, otherwise anyone could basically come up with a law and try to get it passed and it would just bog down the system.
It is my understanding that they would probably not support further restrictions on different lakes without supporting evidence or research showing that it is in the best interest of the fisheries. The research that is being done now on Lake Norman and Badin Lake will hopefully give us the grounds for further restrictions down the road.
Protection for the flathead will be a tough one. You better come to that fight with some research in support of them, because there is a lot of negative publicity around that fish. It was mentioned in some discussion outside of the meeting that including flatheads in the proposal would not be supported by the NCWRC.
The good news is that there are some other ways to address these subjects and concerns, and for now I will save that for discussion in our meetings and with the NCWRC. I would rather keep our powder dry on that topic until we are in a better position to move forward.