The Tennessee Fish and Wildlife Commission will establish the 2017-18 sport fish regulations during its October meeting. The meeting will be held in Knoxville on Oct. 27-28 (Thursday-Friday) at the Holiday Inn World’s Fair Park.
Committee meetings start at 1 p.m. on Thursday. The regular TFWC meeting begins at 9 a.m. on Friday.
The Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency Fisheries Division presented proposals to the sport fish proclamation during a preview at the September TFWC meeting at Pickwick Landing State Park.
Among the proposals were to change harvest regulations to a 15-fish creel limit for striped bass, hybrid striped bass, and white bass on Douglas Reservoir. The TWRA also proposed to change the boundary of wild trout regulations on Laurel Creek in Carter County, change the current fishing rod limits on Dale Hollow Reservoir to four per angler, and allow bank anglers to fish in the reciprocal zone with North Carolina on Calderwood Reservoir.
During the proposal recommendations at the September meeting, the TFWC requested that the TWRA consider lowering the creel limit on crappie from 30 to 20 fish per day on Kentucky Lake. TWRA Fisheries Division Chief Frank Fiss will present information about the lake’s crappie fishery.
The agency presented changes to the live bait proclamation that would keep existing creel limits for Class A and Class B baitfish, and establish a possession limit of twice the daily creel limit for these classes. The proposal would also establish a 50 fish per day limit for Class C bait fish, all species combined, with a possession limit of 100 fish. The new proclamation would regulate the possession of both live and dead baitfish.
The annual awards for the Fisheries Division and the Wildlife and Forestry Division will each be presented at the October meeting. The biologist and technician for each of the divisions will be recognized.
Gerry Dinkins, of the University of Tennessee, will make a presentation which will focus on Tennessee’s freshwater mussel fauna. Of the approximately 300 species of freshwater mussels in North America, about half are found in Tennessee.
Other agenda items will include a presentation from Brandt Information Services, on the TWRA’s new licensing systems, the yearly review of the Tennessee Scholastic Clay Target Program, a presentation of the “Recovering America’s Wildlife Act,” presentation of the National Bobwhite Conservation Initiative Firebird awards, and a presentation of a computer aided dispatch system.
The meeting will be the TFWC’s last scheduled until a one-day meeting in Nashville on Friday, Dec. 9.