[Bronzebacker]

I'm glad this is happening.

http://www.ifishillinois.org/press_rele ... thead.html

[Shawn]

The thing to keep in mind with this, if you know the story of discussions with ILDNR about this (dating prior to the inception of Chitown-Angler.com even)... essentially the only catfish limits ILDNR was really in support of was to protect stocked catfish populations. To protect their "investment" according to Rob Maher. Catfish were basically treated similar to "rough fish" species. So river catfish were essentially on their own.

On a river like the Mississippi, there's a lot of places for flatheads to hide. You start talking about the Fox river which is very heavily fished and segmented because of all the dams and the resident population within each pool is more susceptible to angler pressure/harvest. The fact that ILDNR was willing to implement some limits applicable for the entire length of the Fox river is important. Not just because of the pressure, but so see these fish finally being recognized for their value to anglers as a sportfish.

[the hersh]

glad to hear,i wish river small stream channel cats had a little more protection as well.made the mistake years ago sharing a spot on a small river wit a co worker.couple weeks later he was bragging how him and his buddies caught 100s of catfish from the spot i took him to.problem was it was a pool where the fish had to go in the late summer as everything else was to shallow.needless to say we never really spoke again.this was a spot showed to me by an old friend who rarely showed anyone anyhing.i found out why the hard way