Johnathan Rainey

Like lake chesdin here in my area, there are almost no small fish. Quality bass only. I never would keep fish out of there. But then great creek lake has really small fish, then a giant gap that goes straight to 6+ pders. I'd keep every small fish out of there to get rid of the gap, if it were legal. But I would monitor my outtake of the lake to make sure I didn't take so many that the ecosystem got extremely off balance. I wouldn't just throw them away of course! But I'd love to see some 2 and 3 pd fish in there. But there is none. That's the only way I could see it being a good thing to keep that many. But too many small fish will kill off the big fish in a hurry.

This is my first post ever. I've always been a fan of catch and release for bass anyways. But every now and again, I'll keep a few. BUT, I'm very strict in which ones I keep. As in they can not be over 14" (depending on lake/river regulations). I see how mad people can get over this subject. But I've always researched and found that culling out the smaller bass out of lakes is much healthier for the entire ecosystem. What do others think? And why?