The Maine Department of Inland Fisheries & Wildlife has put out a survey on the use of soft plastic fishing lures in Maine waters. These lures are particularly popular with Bass fishermen, and I use them myself. However, if you’re not using them and disposing of them correctly, they can constitute a hazard to fish. If you fish with soft plastic lures, please consider taking this survey. If you want to know more about soft plastic lures and how to use the correctly, here’s a great link with lots of information about soft plastic lures: Fishing with Soft Plastic Lures.
The following is an excerpt of an email that I received today with a link to the survey:
The Maine IF&W wants to hear from you!
The popularity of soft plastic fishing lures has grown over the last two decades. Consequently, soft plastic lures have ended up in Maine’s waters and land intentionally due to improper disposal and inadvertently due to loss while fishing.
The occurrence of soft plastic lures in fish stomachs, due to feeding on lost and discarded lures in Maine waters, has recently raised public concerns discussed in the Maine legislature. In response, the Department is initiating an educational and awareness campaign to encourage proper use and disposal of soft plastic lures, and therefor reduce their occurrence in Maine waters.
This survey will help the Department plan and measure the effectiveness of the upcoming outreach campaign and will take about five minutes to complete. The results and answers will not be used to change policies regarding soft plastic lures.
All anglers who fish Maine’s inland waters are encouraged to complete the survey. The survey will be open until 11:59 pm on April 12, 2021.