Wind, Entrails & Crawdaddies

I don't know about you, but I get too annoyed at the wind to even make a go at it today. Today is a good day to tie some flies, work on my fillet knife and read a bit. I was reading through the DOW stocking reports and website and found some interesting information. A couple things in the Colorado fishing regulations seem very odd to me, and I'd like to discuss them here. The first is that they ask that we NOT return fish entrails to the water. It seems that half the states require that you DO this and half require that you DON'T. It seems to me that this fish and the contents of its body will eventually die of natural causes or be eaten by another fish or an Osprey, Eagle or other predator. At this point the fish and its entrails will be consumed by Crayfish, other fish, and micro organisms. I was always taught growing up that we're feeding the water that feeds us by returning entrails and fish parts back to the water. This makes perfect sense to me. I've honestly never heard a straight answer from anyone about the topic. I've learned that Whirling Disease typically exists in the cartilage of trout and not in the entrails, so preventing the spread of this disease doesn't seem to be a valid reason. So what is the deal? Comments are welcome! I have no problem complying with regulations like this, but I've never heard this one backed up with any science or logic. To me it seems far more logical to feed the lake.

The second odd regulation is the one about Crayfish. Invasive Rusty Crayfish were accidentally introduced to the Yampa headwaters and Sanchez Reservoir and therefore we are all prohibited from transporting live Crayfish. The rule goes that you must immediately kill any crayfish taken from the water by separating its tail from its head. Now, any of you crustacean connoisseurs out there are already retching at the idea of not "flushing" your live Crayfish before boiling them. I think this regulation stops honest fishermen from properly enjoying their catch and does little or nothing to stop the spread of Rusty Crayfish. Let's say I caught a trap full of Crayfish at Puett reservoir (no Rusty Crayfish here) and I brought them to my house in Durango. I'd flush them with clean water a couple times to remove the muddy taste, and then they'd go into a pot of rapidly boiling water. How exactly does this help the spread of invasive Crayfish?

So there you have it, my two cents on two regulations that do not seem well thought out. ANS and Disease prevention are more efficiently handled with education and cooperation than with blanket regulations. Feel free to comment.