Legislator’s plans irk sportsmen

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Matt Dunlap is not a bad guy, and you won’t find horns sticking out of his head … no matter how hard you look … and no matter what some members of the fishing public tell you.

Dunlap – Rep. Dunlap, to those in District 121, whom he serves in the Maine House of Representatives – is actually a nice, funny, friendly guy.

It’s important that you know that up front. Because after you hear what he’s done, you might not listen to a suggestion like that.

Especially if you’re an avid ice fisherman.

Dunlap, in case you haven’t heard, is also the guy who dared introduce a bill – LD 468 – that would change Maine’s winter fishing landscape in a number of ways.

The first, and most visible change: According to the bill, Maine’s ice fishing season would be reduced by at least a month. Fishing season wouldn’t begin until February. Most cold-water lakes in Maine now open on Jan. 1, and many warm-water ponds are open as soon as ice forms.

But that’s not all Dunlap’s bill asks for.

It also targets fishing derbies, and proposes that any derby could be held only every other year on any given body of water.

Oh. One more thing: Unless otherwise provided for by rule, a two-line limit would be instituted statewide. Nowadays, most ice anglers can drill five holes and drop a line in each.

I can hear you fuming already … and I think I know what your first question is.

What was Dunlap thinking?

Well, I asked him the same thing. As it turns out, LD 468 got its start when two acquaintances approached him and said something Dunlap conceded was true: “We’re putting a lot of pressure on the fishery.”

“I said, ‘That argument has some merit,'” Dunlap said, admitting that a safety concern is also at work here. Snowmobiles and other machinery often ends up at the bottom of lakes and ponds early in the season, and he’s not crazy about that fact, either.

“Some people are absolutely wild, because it’s a radical idea for change,” Dunlap said.

Some people?

Consider Roland Bush of Hudson. Bush is a bait dealer, and is a member of the newly formed Ice Anglers Association. Until Dunlap’s bill threatened an activity they’re passionate about, there was no such thing as the Ice Anglers Association.

Now, of course, there is. And members are queuing up and making a racket.

Bush’s argument: “There is no need for it,” he says.

Bush says ice fishermen are typically very careful when they’re on the ice. And he said the state’s budget woes ought to play a role as well.

“As hard-pressed as the state is for economic improvements, this will make it worse,” Bush said. “There’s a pile of bucks that’s passed along in this state based on the fishing industry.”

Dunlap realizes that. But he’s also the chairman of the Inland Fisheries and Wildlife Committee, and comes at the ice fishing issue from a conservation angle.

“We’ve been like little swamis on that committee, walking back and forth and saying, ‘The resource always comes first,'” Dunlap said.

The concept, he said, is good. But real-life conservation of the resources isn’t such a black-and-white issue.

This bill, he said, is clarifying something in his mind.

“There’s probably no good scientific reason to cut back on ice fishing season,” he said. “But if there were, would the noise be any less?”

Good question.

Dunlap draws a comparison to the moose hunt. In the lottery system, permit availability had grown from 1,000 to 3,000. When the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife decided to drop that number back for the upcoming season, some sportsmen’s groups disagreed vehemently.

A key phrase that keeps cropping up, he said, is “opportunity,” meaning the chance to fish or hunt or trap.

“I think we need to be talking about what role ‘opportunity’ plays in our decision-making process,” Dunlap said.

Dunlap said he’s making copies of all the correspondence he has been receiving – even the stuff that calls him all kinds of bad names – and distributing it to the committee he chairs. The committee will certainly know how you feel.

Now for the punch line. You think you know Dunlap. Maybe you think he’s a jerk. Maybe you think he’s staking a solid reputation on a bill that’s a non-starter.

You might be surprised to learn what Dunlap thinks about the bill he sponsored.

“I don’t think this bill stands a chance,” he said. “I told the guys [who suggested it] that. But I think it’s going to be a point of departure for conversation.”

Bush and the Ice Anglers Association don’t like to hear things like that, and they’ve got a point: By forcing ice anglers to bond together, organize and raise money to fight the bill (even if the expense amounts to paying for gas to travel to Augusta for the public hearing), fishermen and women are being inconvenienced a bit.

The upside: The Ice Anglers Association, and other, unaffiliated anglers, are being heard. And that hasn’t always been the case.

“We don’t hear much [from them] as a committee,” Dunlap said. “[Ice fishing is] kind of a shadow activity. There’s been nobody behind it.”

Now, of course, there is. And Dunlap doesn’t mind that a bit.

“I left the bill in for just that reason,” he said. “It’s been a great show of passion.”

John Holyoke can be reached at jholyoke@bangordailynews.net or by calling 990-8214 or 1-800-310-8600.