"A
better idea. Or was it?"
Author - John E. Brady, Hanover PA-USA
Copyright 2001
e-mail - info@jebswebsite.com
Pennsylvania has a new size for its fishing regulation booklet.
For anyone that hasn't seen it yet for 2001, our fishing and boating summary booklet is a new size. It's now in what the Pennsylvania Fishing and Boating Commission (PFBC) are calling a convienent 8" x 10" magazine style format.
The PFBC has always recommended that an angler carry the fishing and boating summary on their person while fishing. Their reason was so we could refer to it if in doubt of a creel limit, or when a certain species of fish was in season. I always though the book was pretty handy to have around and always keep it close. When the booklet size was a small 3" x 4", I complied. This small size booklet would fit easily inside my fly vest pocket or in my tackle box. Then the format changed to 5" x 7". It no longer fit inside my tackle box or fly vest, so I'd keep one in my boat, and one in my truck. Still handy, but certainly not as handy as it use to be. Now, at 8" x 10", I think the only place I will be carrying this one is to the outhouse.
Why the larger size? I'm sure the PFBC will have us believe that it is a cost savings measure. However after leafing through it, one will quickly see that one of the reason for the change was to accommodate the many advertisers within the pages.
In this age of corporate sponsorships, the advertiser has all the say in what the product looks like that has their name on it. And if we want their money, we play by their rules or they'll take their ball and go home. These days, we can't go anywhere and not have advertising in our face. Now thanks to the PFBC, if we carry our booklet along with us when we go fishing, the middle of the lake is no longer a rest haven from those advertisers.
I also question the layout of many of the pages. For example the "Delayed Harvest Artificial Lures Only" section is one that I would consider an interest to a minority of anglers at least for the partictular counties is written in large type and spread out on two pages along with a large drawing showing how to measure a fish. Additionally the page that lists "Tackle and equipment", once again nice large readable type. Then we go to the page with an "Important Message to the Boating Angler" where they have squeezed this important safety information into a box on a quarter of the page where there is more white space then type. I had to take off my glasses and stick the page up to my nose in order to read the smallest type in the book!
Then there's the beautiful color pages depicting the fish identification. While I found this information interesting reading, was it really necessary? I've been fishing for over 40 years and when I wanted to know what the different fish looked like, I took a trip to the hatchery, or to the Fish and Game club, or purchased a poster. Now when this information is readily available to anyone with a computer on the internet at the PFBC's website and many others, they decide to include it in our Summary booklet.
I'm sure the PFBC has put a lot of effort into this important manual. But unfortunately it looks more like it was thrown together at the last minute and type sized according to what will fit on a page instead of by importance. They state right up front (after the 4 pages of advertising and on the bottom of the page again in small type) that this booklet is indeed a summary. So why then do they include everything you ever want or need to know and then some?
So while the PFBC is patting themselves on their backs for saving a few dollars on the booklets with what they considered a new economical size and the income from the many pages of advertising , they lost sight of the goal of printing the booklet in the first place. For an angler to have a small summary of the fishing regulations to refer to while fishing. At this large format it's not worth the paper it's printed on for it's intended use. It will only be read while it's on the top of the pile of magazines on the coffee table. If it makes it that far.
Don't take me wrong, I think all of the information in the booklet is great teaching tool for new and older anglers alike. but I also think it's time to step back and remember the intended purpose of the summary booklet. If it is felt that all of the other information is nice to offer, maybe it's time to publish a second companion to the summary booklet and reduce the size back down to one that is portable for it's original intended use that an angler will keep close to the vest.
Thanks for listening...JEB