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Why destroy our wonderful fishery of blue catfish they are sport fish just like striper fishing bass fishing why not take those out to take away trout fishing take it all way from us to enjoy getting out on the lakes and rivers blue catfish aren't hurting anything in the lakes and rivers other fish species and bait fish are plentiful what I would be focusing on is getting the pollution out of the James River and stop corporate greed and these big factory's from killing our water ways I enjoy getting out and catching these river monsters I caught 3 state records trophy fish back to back new years eve on the tidal James

Hello , on behalf of these regulations me and im sure a lot of other anglers have tried our best and taught many other about cpr (catch photo release) on these catfish we have all been apart of these waters for many years and all share the same love for this sport , with that being said we can’t sit back and let these fish go without regulations it’s a threat to the population and a threat to us and our fellow anglers that strive to protect this population and water ways if we let this happen our population will vanish and our family friends will not be able to enjoy what we enjoy give this heavy consideration

There are alot of generations that get out and enjoy the opportunity to catch trophy sized catfish, from around that world that help bring revenue to the towns, and there are folks who make a living by sharing that experience with others. (Fishing charters). If these fish are taking out commercially it will be devastating to the body of water. Seen it before in NC, it will hurt the uprising sport of trophy catfishing and local support from fishing enthusiasts. If it's species of smaller prey your worried about, you need to take out herrings,stripers, and many more species that prey on each other. Not just trophy sized blue catfish. I'm sure it's just about a dollar but please respect the outdoors man that enjoy what mother nature has to offer.

First, "select a pronoun", isn't that a mental heath issue? Has the starting point of all legislation been ignored; "What problem does this legislation solve?" Does that solution create other problems? In the '70's the State of Virginia created a very successful blue catfish recreational fishery. People come to Richmond from all over America seeking a trophy blue cat (catch and release). Has there been any quantification of the loss of the economic benefit to the Richmond area, income and taxes from guides, boats, motors, trailers, restaurants, hotels, fishing tackle, licenses, gasoline, etc.

I do not support any change to the current creel limit on blue catfish in Virginia.

There are alot of generations that get out and enjoy the opportunity to catch trophy sized catfish, and there are folks who make a living by sharing that experience with others. (Fishing charters). If these fish are taking out commercially it will hurt the uprising sport of catfishing here. Please keep these larger genetics protected so our future generation can enjoy them as well.

The size restrictions on blue catfish should not change… If you change you the restrictions you’re robbing our future generation of children who will never get to see or catch a big catfish

HB 1907 I am against the proposed HB 1907 which wants to remove the limit of 1 blue catfish over 32 inches per person per day. Doing this will allow commercial fishermen and recreational anglers to over harvest mature trophy catfish. The catfishing industry is growing rapidly and anglers all across the country are promoting conservation efforts to protect these trophy catfish through educating, promoting, and practicing catching, photographing , and releasing known as (CPR) of trophy catfish. It can take a blue catfish 10-15 years to reach what is considered to be a trophy size fish and if this bill is voted into law the trophy catfish will be nonexistent. Please help us in protecting these fish by voting against this bill so we can maintain what little law we do have to protect these fish. Thank you

Please accept this as feedback for your review on I Joseph Adkins being against HB1898-HELMER. I have fished Virginia water since moving here from WV in 1993. In the past 15 of those years I have had the pleasure of fishing the waters of the state that hold Blue Catfish. In my opinion we must continue to have a size limit on them. The Blue Catfish has become a highly sought after trophy fish. That being said these fisheries bring money into the state not only from residents but non residents alike. I myself travel multiple times yearly to these fisheries to fish. It is 4 hrs plus to the nearest waters that hold them. Buying gas, food and hotel rooms. As a long time Virginia tax payer I ask that you please shut down HB1798-HELMER to continue to protect the Blue Catfish for not only ours but future generations to enjoy and travel throughout our great state to enjoy. Thank you for your time. Joseph B. Adkins Radford Va 540-951-3500

Please don’t sign off on this trash bill! I as a cat fisherman absolutely love fishing Virginia waters! My personal opinion is this bill would absolutely devastate the catfish population and make the fisheries in Virginia almost un fishable. Ohio and Kentucky have almost destroyed their fishing with the preposterous laws that they have. Now most locals look to go out of state to be able to find quality fish! Don’t do this this to one of the absolute best fisheries we have please!

Y’all are gonna kill are fishery’s and hurt are younger generations for catching trophy catfish like we did. So with that being said I vote no to the new bill.

This would be a travesty to the catfish population! There are way to many pay to fish catfish lakes and commercial fishermen that would take advantage of this law being abolished. I think if anything we need tighter restrictions to maintain a healthy breeding population of catfish in ALL waters . Catfishing is a way of life for a large number of people and it would be sad to see a greedy few be able to decimate all the large catfish in out lakes . Do not remove this creek limit

Hello my name is Michael Graham I live in knoxville Tn I'm sending this message regarding the no limit to Blue catfish and I would like to just add you guys have a beautiful fishery there is a ton of Anglers just like myself that travel across this world to come and fish the James River and all of its Glory that swims beneath the surface my opinion might not be much but I feel in my heart this is what I needed to say so for the ones that take it into consideration I really appreciate it before jumping to any sudden idea try and take a bigger Outlook of the whole situation on what is destroying the population of certain species that swim beneath the surface one fish can be very abundance but it takes many many years to grow fish the size of what's in the James River and once there is a No Limit to trophy-sized fish it will not take long and they will be wiped out deterring a lot of people away from the town and deterring a lot of people away from the river that brings in tons of Revenue rivers and lakes already take a substantial amount of pressure from commercial and Pay Lake fisherman they are keeping the fish population from exploding like everyone thinks it has we put in tons of hours on the water and there are tons of Anglers out there just like me that do the same thing Catch and Release we love the sport of it and want to see it grow and we can all stand forth and tell you that there's not that many in your River they are not caught on a daily basis and the river is pressured every day with local fishermen tournament fishingmen commercial fishermen and so forth so for the ones that read this message and take it into consideration I thank you and God bless

I am writing you today to address a written concern about HB1907. This bill will destroy our waters, our fish populations, our ecosystem and everything else in between. This bill will destroy any and all conservation efforts that have been made by all sportsman, wildlife conservation, DWR and all the investors that constantly give to wildlife conservation to protect not only our lands but also our waters and all the animals both for hunting and fishing purposes but also recreational activities all of us do on a weekly or daily basis. HB1907 is a complete bill that will allow permanent damage to our fishing populations in which will in turn destroy all the water ways and their populations for all of nature that depends on those ecosystems to continue to thrive. This bill needs to be destroyed before it destroys all of our hard work towards conservation and restoration of all our lands and water ways for hunting, fishing and all recreational activities and all wildlife to enjoy. Please do not allow HB1907 to go into effect.

I devote a lot of time and money into catching big blue catfish. The thrill of these powerful fish on the other end of the line just draws you back. It is a sport I love taking my kids out doing and they love it. Passing this will kill the thrill that these fish bring to my kids and their kids in the future. These big blues are far and few between. I see millions of these smaller 10lb and less fish on fish finder. I guarantee you they are hurting the population of other resources more than big blues are.

If Virginia waters are opened to commercial fishing for catfish it will destroy I mean absolutely destroy the catfishing in the state. All the trophy fish us anglers have caught and released will be gone in no time. These same trophy fish that draw anglers from all over the country will no longer exist and so will the lovely sport of catfishing. All of us anglers are AGAINST HB1907. The states natural resources shouldn’t be subjected to overfishing for somebody to make a dime.

Please shutdown this bill! Fisheries have been destroyed all over our coast and throughout our states and we need to do better! Our youth and future generations to come deserve better! People who run these Pay to fish lakes and commercial fishing in these waters or any waters will destroy the blue cat population. Please do not let that happen.

Do not destroy this great trophy blue cat fishery it provides too much income to the area!

Please do not drop the trophy blue catfish limit on Lake Gaston! The lake is doing very well with the regulations as they are and a change is unjustified and may lead to exploitation of the public resource by out of state trophy pay lake operations. The current regulations have led to the lake becoming a nationally known destination for trophy blue catfish. People are coming from around the world to fish with local fishing guides and spending many thousands of dollars in the process. The fishery has even attracted fishermen from as far away as Japan. Without the limit 0on trophy size fish pay lake operators from the Ohio River Valley region will come down to take as many trophy fish out as possible for their pay lakes. The fish are then subjected to being starved and trapped in often unhealthy undersized ponds. People pay to catch them repeatedly until they die often from starvation. They bring large tanks able to transport multiple trophy fish to these pay lakes. Over time this will decimate the know famous trophy fishery on Lake Gaston. At the very leat this screams for compromise but the best move is leave everything just like it is and don't try to fix what isn't broken.

I am 110% against this. We need our wildlife

I travel from Wisconsin to lake Gaston and Kerr lake twice a year to fish for trophy blue catfish. I've been coming down for 8 years. 2025 will be my 9th year fishing for blue catfish. I do it because we don't have catfish of that size here in Wisconsin. We don't have blue catfish in Wisconsin either. If this passes, people like myself and people from all over the country will not have the chance to catch a fish of a lifetime. Commercial fishermen will be able to take those bigger fish out of the fisheries that many of us come to your state to catch. Not only will it hurt the fisheries but it will also hurt the local economies. Just myself, I spend over $3,500 each trip i make out there. Between the home rental, groceries, gas, food at local restaurants and my fishing charter captain, all that money will be gone and that's just from one person, myself. Now just imagine how much money the local economies will lose when the trophy fish are gone and we stop coming. Please reconsider this decision. Thank you, Tony from Wisconsin

I am writing to respectfully request your support in preserving the health and sustainability of the trophy catfish populations in the Rappahannock and James Rivers, as well as Kerr Lake. These waterways are not only vital to Virginia’s natural heritage, but they also serve as premier destinations for sport fishing, attracting anglers from across the country. Trophy catfishing in these waters drives significant tourism and economic growth, benefiting local businesses and communities. However, the commercial harvesting of these prized fish for placement in pay-to-fish lakes poses a serious threat to the ecological balance of these fisheries and diminishes their appeal as recreational destinations. Protecting these waterways from commercial overfishing will ensure the continued economic and environmental benefits they provide. I respectfully urge you to support policies that restrict the commercial harvesting of trophy catfish, thereby safeguarding Virginia’s reputation as a top destination for anglers and ensuring the conservation of this important resource for future generations. Thank you for your time and consideration of this matter.

*HB1907* I am an avid catfish angler from Western Pennsylvania who travels to Chester and Charles City Va to fish the James River for blue catfish, both for fun and tournaments approx 10-15 times a year. The river has a reputation for being one of the greatest trophy catfish waters in the country. With a huge following of anglers. Over the past 5 years or so, I've already noticed a decline in the "bigger" fish. I'm very concerned that changes to the current regulations will quickly deplete the river of trophy fish that we love to catch and release. Very similar to what happened to the lower portion of the Ohio River. The commercial fisherman have decimated the population of of trophy blue cats there. Please, do not go through with this bill!

My name is Zakk Royce and I have fished for Blue Catfish on Lake Gaston, Kerr Lake, and the James river my whole life. I grew up targeting these fish with my father, and I have to say they are some of the best memories of my childhood and something that means a lot to me. As time went on the blue catfish in these bodies of water have become more and more popular to fish for. As well as several state record blue catfish being caught, and even a world record blue catfish caught. This has resulted in a lot of anglers from all over the country and even other countries, traveling here to fish for the blue catfish for a chance at one of these trophy fish. With that being said, I have seen what unlimited commercial fishing can do to these fisheries. Before we had the regulation on blue catfish here on Lake Gaston, I personally witnessed major overfishing from out of state commercial fishermen, those of whom also ended up being arrested and charged with multiple offenses before it was all over. North Carolina Wildlife biologists noted major declines in larger blue catfish shortly after. I feel that approving this bill and taking regulations off the larger blue catfish on these bodies of water would be a huge mistake. Not only would it greatly hurt the trophy fishery, but it would also result in a huge loss of revenue in the long run for the local economy around these lakes and rivers. As I mentioned previously many people travel from all over to come here and have a chance at catching one of these trophy fish. These same people spend a lot of money with local fishing guides, lodging, restaurants, etc. Catfishing in general, especially for these trophy blue catfish over 32” has greatly grown in popularity and is steadily growing day by day. There are also multiple major tournaments for large blue catfish that bring in a lot of anglers from all over and a lot of revenue for local communities. Thank you all for your time and consideration in this matter!

Please vote no on this bill, it will do alot mote harm then good! It will end fishing the big cats for future generations of fishermen and quickly dwindle the population of fish.

Hello I'm from Pittsburgh pa We drive down a few times a year to fish the james River for blue catfish and there's a group of us (25) that come down and fish the king of the james tournaments that brings in over a 100 boats every year Blue catfish mean alot to alot of ppl that practice catch and release Plz keep the limit on them so commercial fishing doesn't ruin the fishing down there like it has in other states Here in Pittsburgh pa the actual starting stocking blue catfish into our rivers 2 years ago So plz do what u can to keep the trophy blue cats alive and living in the james River So the commercial fishing dnt ruin it and take them fish to these little paylakes across the USA to die in theses little ponds the put them in Thank you