I just found this article....your gonna have to use only half your cooler now.

The phrase "bag limit" should apply only to game birds, in my opinion.

Guess I'm kind of a literal thinker. You know, pheasants and quail go in your game bag, so "bag limit" is the perfect way to describe three rooster ringnecks or six bobwhite quail.

Following this line of thinking, you "tag" a deer, elk, pronghorn or turkey, because they're all too big to fit in a bag.

Using "bag limit" for fish just doesn't sound right, either. And creel limit is too archaic. I've long thought "bucket limit" or "stringer limit" or maybe even "cooler limit" would make the more apt description.

If you're an angler who often catches a stringer limit of panfish or catfish in Nebraska, you're probably aware of the new regulation that will make your stringer a little lighter.

Stringer limits will no longer describe 30 panfish or 10 channel catfish. Starting this year, anglers can keep 15 panfish per day and five channel cats, unless a lake is posted otherwise.

Clarence Olberding is unhappy about the change. The 62-year-old Lincoln man is an excellent fisherman who loves to catch bluegill, crappie and perch. He also enjoys eating, and sharing, what he catches.

Over the years, Olberding has seen Nebraska gradually reduce the number of panfish he can clean. Last year, he could keep 30 per day and put 60 in his freezer. The higher stringer and possession limits allowed him to give fish to friends and relatives. Once a year, he hosts a fish fry for neighbors.

This year, he'll have to cut his invitation list in half, he said, because he'll only be able to possess 30 panfish. He's got a response ready for some of his disappointed nonfishing neighbors.

"You're not getting any because they changed the law," he said.

Olberding also argued that dropping stringer and possession limits will reduce interest in angling, especially among nonresident anglers. That, in turn, will hurt tackle shops. Why would anglers buy a permit and bait in Nebraska when they can go to Kansas and keep 50 crappie or unlimited numbers of bluegill?

He also questioned if something is going on in Nebraska waters to reduce fish populations, requiring the change. If not, why punish anglers who like to keep fish?

Daryl Bauer, outreach program manager for the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission, defended the new regulations.

First of all, he pointed out that when the agency proposed the changes last year and conducted public hearings on the matter, a majority of anglers who weighed in favored the reduced limits.

And that illustrated his next point -- there's no such thing as an average angler in Nebraska.

All anglers have differing opinions concerning just about every aspect of the sport. The commission tries to develop regulations that serve the greatest number of them to the greatest degree, Bauer said, but not every angler will be happy with every regulation.

Over time, however, surveys have shown a general trend toward more anglers adopting selective harvest. Such anglers generally practice some catch-and-release with the goal of increasing a lake's ability to produce bigger fish.

There is no evidence, in general, of Nebraska lakes producing fewer fish than in the past, Bauer said. While the fish haven't changed that much, anglers have, he argued. They have access to better technology that makes catching fish easier than ever. And that technology doesn't necessarily involve sonar.

"With the Internet and cell phones there are no secrets anymore," he said. "When somebody's catching fish, everybody knows about it."

Fisheries managers use stringer limits to better distribute the harvest, Bauer said. In addition, a lower stringer limit on panfish may help a hot bite last a little longer, giving more people an opportunity to catch, and harvest, some of those fish.

The resource is not unlimited, Bauer said. Overfishing does occur on Nebraska waters. And a surprisingly small number of anglers can have a measurable affect on a lake's sport fish.

So the regulations come down to a choice. Does the commission regulate for anglers who have the skill and opportunity to fill their freezers, or does it regulate in an attempt to give a greater number of anglers -- including those with limited skills and occasional opportunity -- a better chance of catching something?

Some anglers bitterly oppose the changes, others applaud them and most probably don't care all that much one way or another. But we'll find out in late 2012, the next time the agency will consider fisheries changes.

I fall into the selective harvest category. I love to fry crappies, bluegills and white bass a couple of times a summer, but there's some species I would never consider keeping.

Never a smallmouth or a wiper. Free the fighters, I say.

And I'm proud to say the one muskie I caught, I released.

Only one muskie. Yep, that means I'm in the limited skills category, too.

I agree with them on a ceratin level. For the big city lakes that really get hammered, the panfish and eater cats really get hammered. I do fear that on small water (farm ponds)limiting the panfish catch will only allow them to get over populated which might result in stunting the bass.