Many issues all mixed up with folks with different ideas from different parts of the country. I will try to stick to the facts for each to put into the equation so they can form their own opinion.

The effects of bed or sight fishing has been studied with mixed results depending on location and type of fish. It is not limited to LMB but also BG. In general bed fishing has little effect on either specie in southern waters but can cause harm in northern waters. The factors in the differences are the length of the spawn period and the productivity of the water (growing season and trophic classification). With a short and compact spawn period for bass in northern climes and a short growing season along with the cold winters effects on yoy bass survival taking bass off the nest can cause serious recruitment problems if the bass are kept off the nest for long. This is not so for southern lakes which do not have these factors. The spawn in southern waters is more spread out and may span several mths. between late Feb. to June and fish who are not successful may spawn again. Not so up north usualy one mth. in length. Same for BG with a few different factors. Yes it is possible to take to many large Male BG off the nests up north and cause an imbalance in BG populations with the resulting problems of stunting .

Most of the public $ that go into fishing come from 2 sources -- fishing lisc. fees and Fed. $ from Wallop-Breaux ( a tax on fishing and boating equip. paid by boaters and fisherman same for hunting). Not only does it fund lakes and hatcheries and State agencies but also research at univ. around the country. Very little general fund tax dollars go to fishing and hunting.

Public waters are a mess mostly because of jet ski and boat traffic not fishermen. An exception is when 200 bass boats take off at once accross a lake.

Bass is not run by Scott and in some respects he has a different opinion on some subjects like private property. Bass is often anti-private property when it comes to water rights and envior. matters. Scott is pro-private property and is one of several founders of a group to protect landowners rights to do things like build a pond. Bass has fought hard to keep all Wallop-Breaux funds restricted to fishing and hunting when the envior. wackos and antis and their reps. try to divert it to other uses. I am a Bass member but am against many of their positions esp. as they relate to private property rights. Enough for now. ewest