Great to see you are covering the issue of poaching and pay lakes and bringing greater awareness to the issue. We appreciate all you do from the technical how to instructions to the longer interviews with folks in the catfishing world. Thanks for the effort you put into the content and we will stay tuned
You can tell by looking at that pay lake on Google maps that ifish is not going to survive. It's nothing but a farm pond in front of someone's house. No current no shade, no depths. It's a jail for fish
WOW Kentucky is on a ROLL!!!! Was just over a month ago 11 were caught doing the same in the same state! Crossing state lines makes these federal crimes. That reminds me I need to send an email to a certain federal agent I know.
We need to bring more awareness to this sort of behavior. Would like to see a study done on the actual impact pay lakes have had on local fisheries but doubt tht happens
I have a 3 acre farm pond in Indiana. I contacted a local pay lake to see if I could purchase some catfish from them when they get their next shipment. My pond is loaded with large bass. I can't stock the 6"-8" catfish fingerlings from my local fish retailer. They are just expensive bass food. So.. long story short.. this paylake guy said he would sell me a few hundred pounds on his next shipment. I went to pick them up and these fish were regurgitating red ear, crappie... blue gills etc. I immediatley realized these fish were not captive bred. I left without giving that man a dollar. First off, that's unethical. Second off... I am not introducing disease or invasive invertabrates to my trophy bass pond. I was so upset to learn that the catfish were clearly taken from a river somewhere south,
I’m a KY boy myself. I fish the Ohio 3-4 times a week all year. My pool is between mcalpine dam and cannelton dam. The Ohio River has been beaten down so bad it’s a shame. Thanks for sharing the story man.
Great coverage Mr. Dieter. You did an excellent job laying out this situation and explaining the details of the negative impact with paylakes. I'm sure that, like tou said there are those who don't understand why this is an important positive step forward, and there are those who feel there's no big deal. I couldn't begin to imagine the uproar that would happen if there was trophy bass paylales, but most bass fishermen don't like catfish because they are a predator to their favorite fish to catch. What I'm getting at is that all fishermen need to help one another against those who oppose a threat to any game fish (which catfish should be considered a game fish, in my opinion this would help cease issues of poachers with carfish) or largely harvested fish. Anyways, I'm ranting now. I just wanted to say great coverage on the situation sir.
The lack of "severity" in the nature of the charges tells us everything we need to know. "Misdemeanor" charges. Most will be dropped, the violators will plea out, and that will be the end of it. This comment is not meant as a jab at the Conservation officers, their hands are tied.
I'm an Ohio River fisherman in Ohio near WV and Ky. Our pools in this part of the river have been hit hard due to pay lake bounty hunters. We've got lots of pay lakes around south eastern Ohio, it's not about fishing to to most of those guys, its all about gambling. The boat ramps I use on a weekly basis I've only ever seen ODNR one time in several years, I've never seen any on the water.
If these pay lake owners want trophy catfish, they should talk to Maryland DNR. Here, blue cats and flatheads are invasive. Our state would be more than happy to get rid of 6,000 pounds of them.
Dieter, good podcast. Someone needs to talk about this. I have no problem with pay lakes as a business. I think it should bbe illegal to sell any wild caught fish to paylakes. if they buy the fish from a farm, thats fine. thanks for taking the time to do the video.
I’m about 5 minutes from there and have fished there before. Ik the KY Fish and Game released a statement that the owner had been buying illegal fish for over 30 yrs. As you said, 9people have been charged in the investigation but I’m not sure if there’s any updates on the charges. As far as Ik the lake is still up and running but not 100% sure. I’ll try to keep updated if anything new comes up.
I'm not sure if it's still true, but a friend of mine who is a retired game warden in Kentucky told me that ANY game violation in the state is a misdemeanor. That's so ridiculous.
Great video, as always. I don't understand why the U.S. is so bad at running a fishery. U.K. fisheries are top-notch and done right. Keep up the good work. 👍
We have a few pay lakes around here. But in my neck of the woods people have large ponds they stock with catfish from a hatchery and feed them til theyre eating size then people come in and pay by the pound for EATING catfish they catch. Sometimes you catch plenty. Sometimes hardly any or none. 90 percent of which are 1 to 4 lbs. Channels usually. I just dont understand the mindset to pay big money to catch a 40lb catfish in a 2 acre pond. Its the same as shooting a game animal inside a 2 acre fenced in area.
Great information we have one payed lake here they seem to be a good place I don't think they buy any fish for anyone they are supposed to farm-raised and they try very hard to keep the lake clean they don't even let you bring your own cut bait you can catch some there and use
If they started making some of these crimes felonies it might just start deterring these folks. Or at least make the fines high enough to give people a second thought about selling them.
The Ohio DNR and others should ban these such unethical pay lakes, and let us true catfish fishers catch a trophy cat in the public waters and conservation of these amazing fish for future generations that my newborn grandson can catch years down the road....
They have literally removed the entire trophy fish population from Barren lake I've religiously fished it for several yrs I know this lake and kept up with the catfish this lakes been destroyed and use to be #3 in the state for catfishing. RIP Barren lake lol
Substitute the “catfish “ in this story and insert either largemouth bass or crappie and then this would get a lot more attention. Pay lakes should only be allowed to purchase from catfish farms or be outlawed outright!
I grew up in this area. Fished at this paylake several times. They are good people, and I heard rumors that they would buy catfish from you if you brought them to them.
In my home town we have a pay lake for rainbow trout. With that being said, there’s a difference in this particular lake. The owner also has a fish hatchery. So the fish in this lake are not taken from public waters. The rainbows are born and raised to be released into the lake for tourists to catch. The carp and catfish lakes, like in this story I have absolutely no use for and should be closed. My opinion
Maybe it's time to change the laws to stop this from happing. I'm not against pay lakes. I am against over or illegally harvesting natural resources. How about no pay lakes using fish that aren't farmed raised.
There is one news report that told the names of everyone that had charges and the owner of the pay lake us one of them. One of the people from Alabama has allready plead guilty and is a witness against the rest.
American raised catfish doesn't mean anything special. Here in Arkansas they push locally raised catfish. Most fish farms here are nothing more than shallow muddy ponds and the fish definitely taste muddy.
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so i believe it is Kentucky who sells the commercial licences, Ohio no longer does, although Ohio paylakes do purchase from the Ky licensed commercial fisherman. I used to fish the Ohio river near cincy, but i seen my catch rates drop significantly the last 5 + years of me fishing that stretch of the river. I remember some 15+ years ago going to the Cincy Boat & Travel show, and the Ky fish & wildlife officers had a booth, and when i brought up the subject of how the CFs were killing the population of catfish in the river, the officer responded that "there is no way CFs can damage the cat population in the Ohio River". several years later, the KyFW own report showed a dramatic decrease in the catfish population in the Markland pool. I now fish exclusively in the cannelton pool, but it has cost me $$$ to get a camper, camp lot, and close to 3 hr drive each time i go to my camp, just to chase catfish.
This shouldn't surprise anyone, people do just about anything to make some money.an owner of a pay lake would love to be able to tell people that he has sixty pound catfish in his lakes.i have never fished a pay to fish lake but if there were some with catfish of that size around where I live I'd definitely give them a try until I saw this program.
Really doesn’t bother me too much with blue catfish because they’re in they’re an invasivespecies in so many rivers and lakes. They should’ve never been stockpiled in so many lakes and rivers they have really hurt the native fish
If they’re breaking the laws I hope they prosecute to the fullest extent, but I also just recently seen where the North Carolina man is suing where the jealous WV warden’s blasted him on the news for poaching 2 trophy bucks, that were actually harvested legally.
These people turned what use to be a hot catfishing lake into a fish desert they ruined Barren lake. It's been several was since I've caught a fish over 20lbs and it use to be every trip would yield a trophy fish. That palace needs to be shut down and the fish returned to barren lake. They will just die in that paylake. Pay lakes they are fish concentration death camps.
Is he special? The news lady literally said Barren River lake. Which is in Kentucky! They took 6400lbs just from there and the sad part is the majority of them were all trophy size fish. 30-70lbs
Blue catfish and flatheads can't survive in those past lakes period. Even the govt subsidized pellet raised catfish farms they don't survive. Those govt catfish are some man made species mix of blues and channels. Which also made catfish market prices stay stagnant since the 70s. Govt science experiment. Should be a conflict of interest for govt to subsidize catfish farms then also regulate commercial catfishing. The regs keep getting tighter and tighter.. the lbs might seem like a lot. But In these areas where I legally commercial fish there is tons of fish. I don't know the hard numbers but I'll tell you these areas near me are producing 100 k lbs a month at very minimum for the market. And there is trophy fish stacked in there along with every size.. the bait in these areas is also thriving and booming. The things people are complaining they aren't catching trophy fish.. here's the thing if the areas have hardcore restrictions reach trophy fish will take more and more food to survive. If they are catching big head skinny fish. Well good luck getting fat fish there unless you start culling.
In my younger days , I lived at Pay Lakes... was an easier way to get to fish & make some $.. Now , as I've gotten older and realized that most of the fish die . The trophy size fish are sometimes put in tiny ponds that can't support multiple trophy fish. Also, watching fish being removed from public rivers by the truck load makes me sad for my kids & losing the chance to them. I'm all for catch and release of anything over 8 to 10 lbs. Simple for the fact that my 8lbs fish may be a kids P.B. and get them into the out doors. Just my 2 cent
@robertmceuen3630 that's great , I take pictures and let them go.. And for me & the guys I fish with , any flat head is a release . OR a "Pancake Pickle Fish," as my 6yr calls them.. 😆
Yeah thats not kool,theres alot paylakes in western ky,some have big fish so im sure they came from rivers or big lakes get those size catfish, yeah I thought they had to purchase from catfish farms or some kind of legal license, yeah that needs be stop or at a low minimum,,I live on green river its gotten tuffer to rod and reel fish for catfish catfish, I guess I need to get on board with fish finders lol
Let me state up front that I am neither for or against a "pay lake", I find it to be a business like many others. I am curious how many people that are so fanatically against them what their thoughts are about "trotlines", "jug fishing", "Noodling", "bowfishing", "fish traps" or any other less than sporting means of catching fish? The biggest complaint that I have ascertained is that removing the trophy fish eliminates them from being caught by sportsmen. Then of this same group of people how many of them have caught a trophy fish and kept it to have it mounted? Keeping any fish for any reason means that no one else will have the thrill of catching it, so in this line of thought it would seem that all fish should be caught-photographed and released (CPR) as quickly as possible? What does it matter who keeps a fish or for what reason if the end result is the same? Once it is caught and removed it is no longer available to anyone else regardless the means of capture. I welcome any point of view as I like most people am not an expert on this subject or any other but welcome open discussion.
Luckily all those ways of fishing are illegal in my state except for noodling. They just beat the state record for flathead doing that v they kept the fish in a giant bucket, weighed it, and released it again.
I don't like most forms of fishing outside of "traditional" pole and line, such as trotline and jugs, however what you seem to be missing is the LEGAL aspect of the issue as well as the fisheries management issue. I live in Alabama, I can keep as many catfish as I want under 34", but I can keep only one catfish larger than 34" per day and no catfish over 34" can be transported live across Alabama State lines. These laws are (in theory) to help keep the population at a healthy and sustainable level for the given waterway as a whole, and in the case of transporting fish across state lines is to try and prevent trophy size fish from being sold ILLEGALLY to pay lakes. As for your argument, of what does it matter of who or why if the end result is the same, (a dead fish), it matters because number 1 it is illegal and number 2 as demonstrated in this story, they are not removing 1 or 2 trophy size fish from public waters, they are removing hundreds of breeding size catfish for this one pay lake alone, multiplied by how many times a year this happens multiplied by hundreds if not thousands of pay lakes. Public fisheries are managed (again in theory) to keep fish stocks at sustainable levels for both sport and commercial fishing based on historic, and in the case of commercial fishing their quota, catch levels. Illegally removing this many breeding catfish from a public fishery over and above the projected "sustainable" catch levels will obviously have a detrimental impact on the fishery but also on the ecosystem as a whole as trophy size catfish are a top predator and reducing them too far will upset the balance, as will having too many. Which do you think will have a bigger impact on a fishery, a fisherman legally keeping one 34" catfish per day or another fisherman illegally keeping 20 34" catfish per day?
Generally speaking, I despise all forms of “fishing“ that don’t involve a rod and reel. As far as “who cares what you do with the fish“ well that’s another story I guess. I personally don’t keep many fish to begin with, and if I do, I prefer to eat a 2 to 5 pound channel cat over anything. Always release the big ones so they can breed. I think that’s the biggest issue in this whole story. They’re not selling small fish to the pay Lake, they are removing the biggest fish from these public bodies of water and selling them to the pay lake. People want to go fish for trophy size fish, that’s the whole point of the business, that’s their selling point.
@@xSteve1983x when I lived in Alaska I had one of the commercial fishermen take me out trout fishing before the season started. He was so used to gill netting salmon that fishing with a rod was weird for him to try out
The owners are really good folks. I’ve been there multiple times in my lifetime and the only bad I can is that I just can’t catch the fish lol. I was shocked when I heard this story but people do mess up and have to pay the consequences. Lots of people go there and love it because of the family friendly atmosphere. I’d say they have definitely learned their lesson from this. Love the vids and keep them coming!!
Most pay lakes are fed dog food. Especially trout lakes. I know where one is close to my home. 20 miles away. A friend of mine worked there. It's very deep and takes water from a protected stream and he stocks it with trout. All species are in there that thrive in south east Ohio because the creek does dumps water into that small lake so bass, crappie and other fish native to this area are naturally stocked in there on the tax payers dime. It's natural but the lake is on his property. A lot of people fish there for privacy. Some famous people. Football players from the Steelers used to fish there a lot. Don't know if they still do. Likely, you can eat the fish. My friend that worked there passed about 5 years ago.
As far as I know it is illegal to sell any fish or game to anyone unless you are licensed as commercial in any state. And if you cross state lines Lacey Act turns it into a federal crime. I have heard of people getting in trouble buy trading like say I have a bunch of bluegill I trade that for some of your catfish. Busted by undercover warden! I agree with all those laws though as they are there for a reason and has helped bring so many game species back into a sustainable population. That allows us to legally hunt or fish.
@@DieterMelhorn wasn’t meaning to sound upset. It’s a popular paylake on the area. I haven’t been there for some time. Big shock when we heard the news.
It sucks that my home town has to make the news for this kinda crap and a lot of the fish they had came from noodling season I’ve seen upwards of 20 flatheads come in on one truck ranging from 10-50 lbs didn’t matter if they females full of eggs or not and for barren river we don’t have a size or quantity limit for flatheads so they are fair game to a noodler or someone running jugs or limb lines I always assumed they were getting fish from out of state but never expected that many and if they do have a big fish die after it’s been caught they act like it’s nothing just scoop it up and toss it out of the way when I was younger I did go there and fish but the smell of rotting fish is horrible and the “stocking” is joke I’ve seen them put 20 fish in during a tournament and say it was stocked heavy it’s just a joke of a place and yes they are still open and still having tournaments and they have a FB page to
Green Valley paylake. The owner's name is Melinda Carter. I have fished there a few times because it's local to me. They have some very huge fish in there. As far as the others charged I don't know. There are a couple more pay lakes around here and I know for sure that one of them only buys farm raised fish but there is others that do buy river/lake fish. I fish them because there easy to get to because of my back. As fare as the big fish dieing they are taken very good care of. Now I'm not taking up for them because I know where they proably come from.
I do agree that paylakes serve some purpose for handicapped or people with limited mobility, but I just don’t think hauling trophy size fish from other states to stock in these tiny ponds is very ethical. There are plenty of public lakes and rivers that have bank access that isn’t hard to get to.
And I hear there’s a big controversy over that because the fisherman that like catching the blues want to keep them. And the people that catch the blue crabs are saying their harvests are going down because of the blue cats. Which is funny because in Alabama, the blue crabs and blue cats live in the same waters, and you don’t hear about the crab populations going down.
I cannot speak to the status of crabs and catfish in Alabama as I do not know much know much about the waters in that area. It may be a different situation since both are indigenous to Alabama? Blue cats are not native to the Chesapeake. They were introduced to some rivers by VA DNR years ago with the thought being that they did not tolerate salinity very well so would not move out into the Bay. Well, apparently they were wrong as the blue cats are thriving up here, much to the detriment of our native blue crab and striped bass populations. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy fishing for catfish and their abundance certainly makes it easy. But I would also like to see our native species populations rebound. It could also have to do with not having a big fishery for blues up here; not a whole lot of people go out in the Bay to fish for them so therefore their population just keeps exploding. MD is trying to find ways to change that by convincing people to catch and eat them but there’s just a big demand when compared to stripers and crabs. 🤷🏻♂️
Should put out all the names blast them NC is getting run through with Trot Lines. Lake Gaston, Chowan River Roanoke River Kerr Lake . Wildlife Officials need to be watching
My apologies for the spellcheck I don’t understand why Apple can’t get their microphone to pick up exactly what you’re saying perhaps you’re not trying hard enough to make their products good enough
There’s a lot of bullshit lawsuit there why can’t you leave with the trophy sized catfish why would Alabama stop you from that that’s a ridiculous lol why can’t the guys starkes pay lake with fish that was caught from the river from a commercial fisherman I don’t see anything wrong with that either you want thing I seen that was wrong was a non-commercial fisherman selling to pay big fish and that could be Iffy as well
Soon of use can't afford to pay 300 and alot more ( don't know your price ) ! For boat service from people that do it for a living , if it wasn't for pay lake's I couldn't catch the caliber fish ( you ) are fishing for . I got 20 bucks not 300 plus !!!! Give the pay lake's a rest brother , you got money , we don't
Honestly, I understand where you are coming from. That is why I am not totally opposed to pay lakes. For many people it is their only opportunity to fish.
Fishing License are like $20 a year and you can fish all public waters. SO why pay each time you go? You're paying to fish every time at paylakes but telling Dieter you don't have money. Very contradicting. Make it make sense
Glad we have both put this storie out. It's important to keep people informed about these activities
I am glad DNR is starting to address this problem.Any other pay lake owners take notice you could be next.
These paylakes here in Ohio where I live need to be seriously looked at and regulated
Great to see you are covering the issue of poaching and pay lakes and bringing greater awareness to the issue.
We appreciate all you do from the technical how to instructions to the longer interviews with folks in the catfishing world. Thanks for the effort you put into the content and we will stay tuned
Thank you SO MUCH for the kind, positive and motivating words!!
Great to see this finally getting some attention! Also congrats on 100k Dieter!!
Thanks!
You can tell by looking at that pay lake on Google maps that ifish is not going to survive. It's nothing but a farm pond in front of someone's house. No current no shade, no depths. It's a jail for fish
Congrats on 100k Dieter, learned a lot on this channel thanks for all the tips and good content. Appreciate you making noise about pay lakes.
WOW Kentucky is on a ROLL!!!! Was just over a month ago 11 were caught doing the same in the same state! Crossing state lines makes these federal crimes. That reminds me I need to send an email to a certain federal agent I know.
We need to bring more awareness to this sort of behavior. Would like to see a study done on the actual impact pay lakes have had on local fisheries but doubt tht happens
I have a 3 acre farm pond in Indiana. I contacted a local pay lake to see if I could purchase some catfish from them when they get their next shipment. My pond is loaded with large bass. I can't stock the 6"-8" catfish fingerlings from my local fish retailer. They are just expensive bass food. So.. long story short.. this paylake guy said he would sell me a few hundred pounds on his next shipment. I went to pick them up and these fish were regurgitating red ear, crappie... blue gills etc. I immediatley realized these fish were not captive bred. I left without giving that man a dollar. First off, that's unethical. Second off... I am not introducing disease or invasive invertabrates to my trophy bass pond. I was so upset to learn that the catfish were clearly taken from a river somewhere south,
This needs to be illegal everywhere.
I’m a KY boy myself. I fish the Ohio 3-4 times a week all year. My pool is between mcalpine dam and cannelton dam. The Ohio River has been beaten down so bad it’s a shame. Thanks for sharing the story man.
Great coverage Mr. Dieter. You did an excellent job laying out this situation and explaining the details of the negative impact with paylakes. I'm sure that, like tou said there are those who don't understand why this is an important positive step forward, and there are those who feel there's no big deal. I couldn't begin to imagine the uproar that would happen if there was trophy bass paylales, but most bass fishermen don't like catfish because they are a predator to their favorite fish to catch. What I'm getting at is that all fishermen need to help one another against those who oppose a threat to any game fish (which catfish should be considered a game fish, in my opinion this would help cease issues of poachers with carfish) or largely harvested fish. Anyways, I'm ranting now. I just wanted to say great coverage on the situation sir.
Thanks for watching and taking the time to comment!
The lack of "severity" in the nature of the charges tells us everything we need to know. "Misdemeanor" charges. Most will be dropped, the violators will plea out, and that will be the end of it. This comment is not meant as a jab at the Conservation officers, their hands are tied.
It's about time I've been saying that for over 20 years but nobody would listen
Pay lakes are awful. It's just unethical and greedy.
I feel for the fish.
Good info Dieter, I'd like to see wildlife get more involved in the Bow fishing stuff going on now
I'm an Ohio River fisherman in Ohio near WV and Ky. Our pools in this part of the river have been hit hard due to pay lake bounty hunters. We've got lots of pay lakes around south eastern Ohio, it's not about fishing to to most of those guys, its all about gambling. The boat ramps I use on a weekly basis I've only ever seen ODNR one time in several years, I've never seen any on the water.
Good story and about time something is done. Also, nice MONSTER ROD HOLDER shirt. 👍
Thank you for covering this Dieter love all your content
Thanks for the kind words and for watching!
I personally despise pay lakes.
I live 10 mins from that lake and have fished there last time I was there, there was thirty five pound plus catfish, dead floating around the bank
WOW!! Would love some pictures of that!!!
If these pay lake owners want trophy catfish, they should talk to Maryland DNR. Here, blue cats and flatheads are invasive. Our state would be more than happy to get rid of 6,000 pounds of them.
Dieter, good podcast. Someone needs to talk about this. I have no problem with pay lakes as a business. I think it should bbe illegal to sell any wild caught fish to paylakes. if they buy the fish from a farm, thats fine.
thanks for taking the time to do the video.
It sounds like we are in agreement on a lot of this...
Thanks Dieter Alabama needs tougher penalty here in ala
I personally would like to see commercial catfishing done away with entirely in Alabama.
@@44thala49 you need to start lobbying your legislators!
I’m about 5 minutes from there and have fished there before. Ik the KY Fish and Game released a statement that the owner had been buying illegal fish for over 30 yrs. As you said, 9people have been charged in the investigation but I’m not sure if there’s any updates on the charges. As far as Ik the lake is still up and running but not 100% sure. I’ll try to keep updated if anything new comes up.
I'm not sure if it's still true, but a friend of mine who is a retired game warden in Kentucky told me that ANY game violation in the state is a misdemeanor. That's so ridiculous.
Great video, as always. I don't understand why the U.S. is so bad at running a fishery. U.K. fisheries are top-notch and done right. Keep up the good work. 👍
And the fishing is a lot better in the USA compared to UK. Florida is probably better than the UK too 😂😂
Well said
For the most part our wildlife and fisheries programs are administered by the individual states, so this is a very broad over-generalization.
Carp are easy to catch here too.
@@rolfofbread1399lol... that's funny 😂... oh my.
They SHOULD go to jail
I grew up 5 miles from that pay lake glad DNR is stopping this barren river lake is fished hard enough already
Luckily they are illegal in my state. There are a few trout ponds scattered through the state but that is it
👍 thanks for the information brother keep doing the good job that you do
Thanks, will do!
We have a few pay lakes around here. But in my neck of the woods people have large ponds they stock with catfish from a hatchery and feed them til theyre eating size then people come in and pay by the pound for EATING catfish they catch. Sometimes you catch plenty. Sometimes hardly any or none. 90 percent of which are 1 to 4 lbs. Channels usually. I just dont understand the mindset to pay big money to catch a 40lb catfish in a 2 acre pond. Its the same as shooting a game animal inside a 2 acre fenced in area.
Alot of these came from my home lake in KY. We been working on this with game wardens for a while now.
Keep up the good work let's shut these lakes.
Thank you
Great information we have one payed lake here they seem to be a good place I don't think they buy any fish for anyone they are supposed to farm-raised and they try very hard to keep the lake clean they don't even let you bring your own cut bait you can catch some there and use
I read about this. Great video!
THANK You!!
Ring from Alabama, I’m surprised to know we hand such a law, and this I’d the first I’ve heard about it.
If they started making some of these crimes felonies it might just start deterring these folks. Or at least make the fines high enough to give people a second thought about selling them.
The Ohio DNR and others should ban these such unethical pay lakes, and let us true catfish fishers catch a trophy cat in the public waters and conservation of these amazing fish for future generations that my newborn grandson can catch years down the road....
First time I heard of Pay Lakes was on Billy's TNRVG channel a few weeks ago. Sounds like they should be shut down.
They have literally removed the entire trophy fish population from Barren lake I've religiously fished it for several yrs I know this lake and kept up with the catfish this lakes been destroyed and use to be #3 in the state for catfishing. RIP Barren lake lol
Substitute the “catfish “ in this story and insert either largemouth bass or crappie and then this would get a lot more attention. Pay lakes should only be allowed to purchase from catfish farms or be outlawed outright!
I grew up in this area. Fished at this paylake several times. They are good people, and I heard rumors that they would buy catfish from you if you brought them to them.
In my home town we have a pay lake for rainbow trout. With that being said, there’s a difference in this particular lake. The owner also has a fish hatchery. So the fish in this lake are not taken from public waters. The rainbows are born and raised to be released into the lake for tourists to catch. The carp and catfish lakes, like in this story I have absolutely no use for and should be closed. My opinion
Maybe it's time to change the laws to stop this from happing. I'm not against pay lakes. I am against over or illegally harvesting natural resources. How about no pay lakes using fish that aren't farmed raised.
There are obviously laws in place, as people were charged. Laws only keep honest people honest.
@@DieterMelhorn that is very true
There is one news report that told the names of everyone that had charges and the owner of the pay lake us one of them. One of the people from Alabama has allready plead guilty and is a witness against the rest.
Who's playing the witness? Alicia white or danny whitmire?
American raised catfish doesn't mean anything special. Here in Arkansas they push locally raised catfish. Most fish farms here are nothing more than shallow muddy ponds and the fish definitely taste muddy.
so i believe it is Kentucky who sells the commercial licences, Ohio no longer does, although Ohio paylakes do purchase from the Ky licensed commercial fisherman. I used to fish the Ohio river near cincy, but i seen my catch rates drop significantly the last 5 + years of me fishing that stretch of the river. I remember some 15+ years ago going to the Cincy Boat & Travel show, and the Ky fish & wildlife officers had a booth, and when i brought up the subject of how the CFs were killing the population of catfish in the river, the officer responded that "there is no way CFs can damage the cat population in the Ohio River". several years later, the KyFW own report showed a dramatic decrease in the catfish population in the Markland pool. I now fish exclusively in the cannelton pool, but it has cost me $$$ to get a camper, camp lot, and close to 3 hr drive each time i go to my camp, just to chase catfish.
This shouldn't surprise anyone, people do just about anything to make some money.an owner of a pay lake would love to be able to tell people that he has sixty pound catfish in his lakes.i have never fished a pay to fish lake but if there were some with catfish of that size around where I live I'd definitely give them a try until I saw this program.
Really doesn’t bother me too much with blue catfish because they’re in they’re an invasivespecies in so many rivers and lakes. They should’ve never been stockpiled in so many lakes and rivers they have really hurt the native fish
If they’re breaking the laws I hope they prosecute to the fullest extent, but I also just recently seen where the North Carolina man is suing where the jealous WV warden’s blasted him on the news for poaching 2 trophy bucks, that were actually harvested legally.
These people turned what use to be a hot catfishing lake into a fish desert they ruined Barren lake. It's been several was since I've caught a fish over 20lbs and it use to be every trip would yield a trophy fish. That palace needs to be shut down and the fish returned to barren lake. They will just die in that paylake. Pay lakes they are fish concentration death camps.
Pay lake's suck!!!
Problem is that they can buy a commercial license
I'm glad it's getting stop finally
Yea this is in my part of the woods where it happened
Smiths lake, in W-S, N.C. provided decades of carp / cat fishing, good times !! 🐟
'Bustin them Mason jars ! (full of $100 bills too !) Pay lakes can make casinos blush ! 😎 😆
The paylake name is Green Valley Paylake
Thank you!!
Is he special? The news lady literally said Barren River lake. Which is in Kentucky! They took 6400lbs just from there and the sad part is the majority of them were all trophy size fish. 30-70lbs
The 6400lbs came from Guntersville lake in Alabama
Last time i went there 2 years ago i didn't catch anything 😂 from BGKY. I fish Barren and Green river.
Lmao. “Competitive” being used VERY loosely. This is like canned “hunts.”
Blue catfish and flatheads can't survive in those past lakes period. Even the govt subsidized pellet raised catfish farms they don't survive. Those govt catfish are some man made species mix of blues and channels. Which also made catfish market prices stay stagnant since the 70s. Govt science experiment. Should be a conflict of interest for govt to subsidize catfish farms then also regulate commercial catfishing. The regs keep getting tighter and tighter.. the lbs might seem like a lot. But In these areas where I legally commercial fish there is tons of fish. I don't know the hard numbers but I'll tell you these areas near me are producing 100 k lbs a month at very minimum for the market. And there is trophy fish stacked in there along with every size.. the bait in these areas is also thriving and booming. The things people are complaining they aren't catching trophy fish.. here's the thing if the areas have hardcore restrictions reach trophy fish will take more and more food to survive. If they are catching big head skinny fish. Well good luck getting fat fish there unless you start culling.
Green Valley paylake Melinda Carter owner
In my younger days , I lived at Pay Lakes... was an easier way to get to fish & make some $.. Now , as I've gotten older and realized that most of the fish die . The trophy size fish are sometimes put in tiny ponds that can't support multiple trophy fish.
Also, watching fish being removed from public rivers by the truck load makes me sad for my kids & losing the chance to them.
I'm all for catch and release of anything over 8 to 10 lbs.
Simple for the fact that my 8lbs fish may be a kids P.B. and get them into the out doors.
Just my 2 cent
My fishing buddy and I release any Catfish 10 lbs and bigger.
@robertmceuen3630 that's great , I take pictures and let them go..
And for me & the guys I fish with , any flat head is a release . OR a
"Pancake Pickle Fish," as my 6yr calls them.. 😆
About time! What a awful way for a fish to die.
Yeah thats not kool,theres alot paylakes in western ky,some have big fish so im sure they came from rivers or big lakes get those size catfish, yeah I thought they had to purchase from catfish farms or some kind of legal license, yeah that needs be stop or at a low minimum,,I live on green river its gotten tuffer to rod and reel fish for catfish catfish, I guess I need to get on board with fish finders lol
Greed is a very ugly thing.
AMEN!!
Let me state up front that I am neither for or against a "pay lake", I find it to be a business like many others. I am curious how many people that are so fanatically against them what their thoughts are about "trotlines", "jug fishing", "Noodling", "bowfishing", "fish traps" or any other less than sporting means of catching fish? The biggest complaint that I have ascertained is that removing the trophy fish eliminates them from being caught by sportsmen. Then of this same group of people how many of them have caught a trophy fish and kept it to have it mounted? Keeping any fish for any reason means that no one else will have the thrill of catching it, so in this line of thought it would seem that all fish should be caught-photographed and released (CPR) as quickly as possible? What does it matter who keeps a fish or for what reason if the end result is the same? Once it is caught and removed it is no longer available to anyone else regardless the means of capture. I welcome any point of view as I like most people am not an expert on this subject or any other but welcome open discussion.
Luckily all those ways of fishing are illegal in my state except for noodling. They just beat the state record for flathead doing that v they kept the fish in a giant bucket, weighed it, and released it again.
I don't like most forms of fishing outside of "traditional" pole and line, such as trotline and jugs, however what you seem to be missing is the LEGAL aspect of the issue as well as the fisheries management issue.
I live in Alabama, I can keep as many catfish as I want under 34", but I can keep only one catfish larger than 34" per day and no catfish over 34" can be transported live across Alabama State lines. These laws are (in theory) to help keep the population at a healthy and sustainable level for the given waterway as a whole, and in the case of transporting fish across state lines is to try and prevent trophy size fish from being sold ILLEGALLY to pay lakes.
As for your argument, of what does it matter of who or why if the end result is the same, (a dead fish), it matters because number 1 it is illegal and number 2 as demonstrated in this story, they are not removing 1 or 2 trophy size fish from public waters, they are removing hundreds of breeding size catfish for this one pay lake alone, multiplied by how many times a year this happens multiplied by hundreds if not thousands of pay lakes.
Public fisheries are managed (again in theory) to keep fish stocks at sustainable levels for both sport and commercial fishing based on historic, and in the case of commercial fishing their quota, catch levels. Illegally removing this many breeding catfish from a public fishery over and above the projected "sustainable" catch levels will obviously have a detrimental impact on the fishery but also on the ecosystem as a whole as trophy size catfish are a top predator and reducing them too far will upset the balance, as will having too many.
Which do you think will have a bigger impact on a fishery, a fisherman legally keeping one 34" catfish per day or another fisherman illegally keeping 20 34" catfish per day?
Generally speaking, I despise all forms of “fishing“ that don’t involve a rod and reel. As far as “who cares what you do with the fish“ well that’s another story I guess. I personally don’t keep many fish to begin with, and if I do, I prefer to eat a 2 to 5 pound channel cat over anything. Always release the big ones so they can breed. I think that’s the biggest issue in this whole story. They’re not selling small fish to the pay Lake, they are removing the biggest fish from these public bodies of water and selling them to the pay lake. People want to go fish for trophy size fish, that’s the whole point of the business, that’s their selling point.
@@xSteve1983x when I lived in Alaska I had one of the commercial fishermen take me out trout fishing before the season started. He was so used to gill netting salmon that fishing with a rod was weird for him to try out
@@madtownangler yeah, fish are just food up there. Netting is much more efficient than a rod and reel.
I live right where this story is happening
They need to go to jail
The owners are really good folks. I’ve been there multiple times in my lifetime and the only bad I can is that I just can’t catch the fish lol. I was shocked when I heard this story but people do mess up and have to pay the consequences. Lots of people go there and love it because of the family friendly atmosphere. I’d say they have definitely learned their lesson from this. Love the vids and keep them coming!!
Good folks don’t take part in ruining other state’s fisheries.
Most pay lakes are fed dog food. Especially trout lakes. I know where one is close to my home. 20 miles away. A friend of mine worked there. It's very deep and takes water from a protected stream and he stocks it with trout. All species are in there that thrive in south east Ohio because the creek does dumps water into that small lake so bass, crappie and other fish native to this area are naturally stocked in there on the tax payers dime. It's natural but the lake is on his property. A lot of people fish there for privacy. Some famous people. Football players from the Steelers used to fish there a lot. Don't know if they still do. Likely, you can eat the fish. My friend that worked there passed about 5 years ago.
Keep us posted on follow up stories.. we need to stop these fools poo lakes
Who gives a F 🤦🏼
Most of the 10,000+ people who watched this video….😉
Are you innocent until proven guilty or guilty till proven innocent Dieter. Make up your mind.
Innocent until proven guilty based on our Constitution, but in the world of social media the sands have shifted…..
This is just a drop in the bucket. And its not fish and games fault. They are way under funded.
As far as I know it is illegal to sell any fish or game to anyone unless you are licensed as commercial in any state. And if you cross state lines Lacey Act turns it into a federal crime. I have heard of people getting in trouble buy trading like say I have a bunch of bluegill I trade that for some of your catfish. Busted by undercover warden! I agree with all those laws though as they are there for a reason and has helped bring so many game species back into a sustainable population. That allows us to legally hunt or fish.
Writing from Glasgow Ky, it’s pronounced GLASS-GO.
My apologies!! ❤️❤️❤️
@@DieterMelhorn wasn’t meaning to sound upset. It’s a popular paylake on the area. I haven’t been there for some time. Big shock when we heard the news.
OBEY
But damn time
It sucks that my home town has to make the news for this kinda crap and a lot of the fish they had came from noodling season I’ve seen upwards of 20 flatheads come in on one truck ranging from 10-50 lbs didn’t matter if they females full of eggs or not and for barren river we don’t have a size or quantity limit for flatheads so they are fair game to a noodler or someone running jugs or limb lines I always assumed they were getting fish from out of state but never expected that many and if they do have a big fish die after it’s been caught they act like it’s nothing just scoop it up and toss it out of the way when I was younger I did go there and fish but the smell of rotting fish is horrible and the “stocking” is joke I’ve seen them put 20 fish in during a tournament and say it was stocked heavy it’s just a joke of a place and yes they are still open and still having tournaments and they have a FB page to
Green Valley paylake. The owner's name is Melinda Carter. I have fished there a few times because it's local to me. They have some very huge fish in there. As far as the others charged I don't know. There are a couple more pay lakes around here and I know for sure that one of them only buys farm raised fish but there is others that do buy river/lake fish. I fish them because there easy to get to because of my back. As fare as the big fish dieing they are taken very good care of. Now I'm not taking up for them because I know where they proably come from.
I do agree that paylakes serve some purpose for handicapped or people with limited mobility, but I just don’t think hauling trophy size fish from other states to stock in these tiny ponds is very ethical. There are plenty of public lakes and rivers that have bank access that isn’t hard to get to.
Pay lakes are for people who cant fish . 👎
I think this is bull shit if thé fish is farm raised thé government is over steping thé line agin
👍
Its pronounced glass go , deiter 😉
Tell them to come MD and catch all they want. We’re trying to get rid of blues in the Susquehanna and Chesapeake!
And I hear there’s a big controversy over that because the fisherman that like catching the blues want to keep them. And the people that catch the blue crabs are saying their harvests are going down because of the blue cats. Which is funny because in Alabama, the blue crabs and blue cats live in the same waters, and you don’t hear about the crab populations going down.
I cannot speak to the status of crabs and catfish in Alabama as I do not know much know much about the waters in that area. It may be a different situation since both are indigenous to Alabama? Blue cats are not native to the Chesapeake. They were introduced to some rivers by VA DNR years ago with the thought being that they did not tolerate salinity very well so would not move out into the Bay. Well, apparently they were wrong as the blue cats are thriving up here, much to the detriment of our native blue crab and striped bass populations. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy fishing for catfish and their abundance certainly makes it easy. But I would also like to see our native species populations rebound. It could also have to do with not having a big fishery for blues up here; not a whole lot of people go out in the Bay to fish for them so therefore their population just keeps exploding. MD is trying to find ways to change that by convincing people to catch and eat them but there’s just a big demand when compared to stripers and crabs. 🤷🏻♂️
bad sad is it time stop pay lakes ??? we have crime and drug deaths on our steets and big moniy on fishing the worng way good ???
lol
Should put out all the names blast them NC is getting run through with Trot Lines. Lake Gaston, Chowan River Roanoke River Kerr Lake . Wildlife Officials need to be watching
Tell me about the new rules on having skipjack in Alabama
We have a problem with the fish or lack thereof in the Tennessee River
My apologies for the spellcheck I don’t understand why Apple can’t get their microphone to pick up exactly what you’re saying perhaps you’re not trying hard enough to make their products good enough
There’s a lot of bullshit lawsuit there why can’t you leave with the trophy sized catfish why would Alabama stop you from that that’s a ridiculous lol why can’t the guys starkes pay lake with fish that was caught from the river from a commercial fisherman I don’t see anything wrong with that either you want thing I seen that was wrong was a non-commercial fisherman selling to pay big fish and that could be Iffy as well
Soon of use can't afford to pay 300 and alot more ( don't know your price ) ! For boat service from people that do it for a living , if it wasn't for pay lake's I couldn't catch the caliber fish ( you ) are fishing for . I got 20 bucks not 300 plus !!!! Give the pay lake's a rest brother , you got money , we don't
Honestly, I understand where you are coming from. That is why I am not totally opposed to pay lakes. For many people it is their only opportunity to fish.
Fishing License are like $20 a year and you can fish all public waters. SO why pay each time you go? You're paying to fish every time at paylakes but telling Dieter you don't have money. Very contradicting. Make it make sense