by Don Swearingen

Created on: October 12, 2009   Last Updated: October 13, 2009

I waded into the Arkansas River with my fly rod at the ready. The October current gently swished by my knees. I started pulling line from the reel in anticipation of a cast against the far bank in hopes of finding a trout.
The ocean crashed against the breakwater, the spray reaching me as I cast for opaleye and rock bass.

The previous paragraphs are a graphic illustration of the reasons fishing laws differ from state to state.

The water is different
. In many of the Western States, where water is the most precious natural resource, there are not only the spring run-offs that make rivers raging torrents suitable for white-water rafting and not much else, but there are storage dams that regulate the flow of water. Whether it's from the dam itself, or into irrigation ditches, the water is regulated according agricultural and industrial need, and fish take last place. That's what the dams were built for, and in the drought of 2002, they proved their worth.

In most Eastern states, the rivers are well established, and very few are dammed. The run-off, if it occurs is short-lived. There are few places where there are rapids, and flows remain pretty much the same year 'round. This is not to say there are no changes, but they are less than the ones in the West. Only recently have there been severe droughts in the East that caused damage to nearly everything. Witness the fires in Georgia and Florida.

Add to this, the fact that a number of states on both coasts, and the Gulf Coast, have oceans. Salt water is different from fresh water.

That brings us to the second reason.

The fish are different
: Salt water fish are different. That is a given. They are different species, and the fishing for them is different. More fishing from a boat. More and larger bait and lures. Often bigger than the fish you can catch in fresh water.

Catfish generally live around the bottom. So do carp. The fishing is entirely different from fishing for bass or trout or bluegill, which often feed on the surface, or just under the surface.

They eat different things, too. You will seldom catch a carp on a dry fly, or a trout with a dough ball scented with anise. Bait for catfish is often rotten meat. While all fish are opportunists, and will eat most anything that presents itself, they still have preferences, and the wise fisherman knows this.

Catfish generally live in warmer water than trout. Carp can stand more pollution, and more muddiness than either. Bluegill tend to stay in backwaters and quiet places than current, trout live in swift streams.

There are fish in the Great Lakes (Sturgeon) that don't exist in the streams of Colorado. Pampano, which Mark Twain once said was "as delicious as the lesser forms of sin," is caught off the coasts of the Carolinas and Florida. You won't find it in Nevada.

These fish all have habitats that are differing, and require different management. Hence differing laws.

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