A household of Maine fishermen desires to alter rules that restrict sure water our bodies within the state to fly fishing solely. To that finish, plaintiffs Joe Legendre, Justin Legendre, and Samantha Legendre have filed a lawsuit in opposition to the Commissioner of Maine’s Inland Fisheries and Wildlife Division, claiming these rules are unfair and unconstitutional.
The Legendre’s lawsuit, filed in Kennebec Superior Court docket in October, is being funded by the International Order of Theodore Roosevelt, a corporation dedicated to increasing People’ proper to hunt and fish in all 50 states. It contends that as a result of the game of fly fishing “is dominated by wealthier anglers,” Maine’s insurance policies round fly-fishing solely (FFO) waters discriminate in opposition to working-class Mainers. The go well with additionally alleges that a number of the present restrictions undercut Maine’s Right to Food Amendment, which has been interpreted to incorporate the correct to hunt and fish for sustenance.
Not surprisingly, the lawsuit is inflicting a stir in Maine’s fly-fishing group, which broadly views the elitist argument as off-base and misguided.
“Yeah, they’re mad,” IOTR spokesperson Jared Bornstein tells Out of doors Life of the responses he’s gotten from native fly fishermen.
This contains Maine fly-fishing information Kevin McKay, who makes ends meet as a UPS driver and says he’s center class via and thru.
“Once I began fly fishing, I used to be 27, and I feel my first fly rod was from L.L. Bean. It was a Streamlight and it was 50 p.c off. So I acquired into it actually low-cost,” McKay says. “And, look, I used to be at WalMart this morning, shopping for some stuff for Christmas. They’ve a Cortland setup there for, I don’t know, 100 bucks perhaps.”
That setup is actually closer to 60 bucks, and it contains every part it’s worthwhile to hit the water besides a fly. And when you can simply spend extra on a brand new rod and reel, there are many different, affordable starter kits tailor made for newbies.
The go well with’s different key argument — that limiting sure waters to fly fishing impedes Mainers’ rights to feed themselves — is a bit more difficult. Out of the 1000’s of lakes, ponds, and streams open to public fishing in Maine, 226 public waterways are reserved solely for fly fishing, based on the lawsuit. A few of these waters are catch-and-release solely. So in these locations, the correct to fish for meals is a moot level.
McKay explains that most of the state’s FFO waters are house to susceptible populations of untamed brook trout and/or landlocked salmon. These embody a number of the final true trophy brook trout fisheries left within the japanese U.S.
“Aside from Labrador,” McKay says, “Maine is among the final frontiers for wild brook trout … These are locations the place you continue to have an opportunity at 20-plus-inch brook trout. And the state desires to guard them.”
Different fly fishermen have drawn comparable connections. The CEO of Maine Fly Guys, Greg LaBonte, writes in a recent op-ed article that “[these] designations exist for organic, not social, causes.”
LaBonte goes on to argue that as a result of fly fishing tends to be much less impactful on wild fish than different strategies, it will make sense to maintain the state’s high-value fisheries carefully regulated. Though each methodology of hook-and-line fishing impacts the useful resource, analysis and anecdotal proof has proven that flies trigger much less injury to fish than trebles and baited hooks, particularly when these flies are tied on smaller, barbless hooks.
Nevertheless, as Bornstein factors out, there are different FFO waters in Maine which can be open to reap, albeit with strict bag limits and slot sizes.
Learn Subsequent: It’s Time to Rethink Catch-and-Release Trout Fishing — or Get Much Better at It
“All we’re saying is that in case you can go to a spot and catch and preserve a fish, you shouldn’t want to make use of a fly rod,” Bornstein says. He clarifies that the lawsuit doesn’t search to alter any present catch-and-release fisheries. “And look, if the state desires to control the hooks, or in the event that they need to regulate the kind of lures, or ban bait — that’s high-quality. We agree that there’s a organic want for that. The rod and reel shouldn’t make a distinction, although.”
Accordingly, the plaintiffs argue of their lawsuit that as a result of they “don’t have the time” to learn to fly fish, their constitutional rights to reap fish are being restricted. And it’s true that in lots of fishing eventualities, it is extra time-consuming, and due to this fact tougher, to catch a giant, wild brook trout on the fly. Some would possibly even say that’s the purpose.
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