Should Goggle Eye be considered a game fish??

[LittlePineyAngler]

Should goggle eye be considered a game fish? I personally think this is an extremely fun fish to catch and darn good eating too. In my area they say there are not as many as there used to be. 

You have a daily limit of 15 goggle eye (ROCK BASS). The season runs all year long. Just like largemouth bass has a season after the spawn. Should these fish? 

[WRB]

No....Rock Bass are not considered a game fish, too small averaging between 6" to 10" and well under a pound. Rock bass fall into the pan fish category like bluegill, not as good table fare as crappie.

Tom

[Bladesmith,]

They sure are scrappy little devils. Will hit and be caught of larger bass lures. They sure are fun to catch on a fly rod with poppers or other top water flies. I consider them a game fish regardless of what others may think.

[LittlePineyAngler]

We call them goggle eye. Missouri Conservation call them Rock bass. I may be mistaken but thats what i seen on their site. But yes i would definitely agree they are a ton of fun to catch. I too consider them a game fish. Making them illegal to keep during the spawning would help out in my opinion.

[Bluebasser86]

There's a ton of them in the Elk, at least I never have any problems catching them there. Catch a big one on Table Rock every once in awhile. I think people keeping everything they catch is the main issue on those Ozark streams. There's only so many fish in a stretch of river and when they get fished every day during the spring through fall with lots of folks keeping fish, you run out of fish eventually and they aren't replaced until the next high water event. 

[ww2farmer]

10 hours ago, WRB said:

No....Rock Bass are not considered a game fish, too small averaging between 6" to 10" and well under a pound. Rock bass fall into the pan fish category like bluegill, not as good table fare as crappie.

Tom

I like them better than Crappie. They are as good as any bluegill. When mixed in with bluegill fillets I cannot for the life of me pick out the Rock Bass. The only down side to them, is they are all head and bone............a bluegill of similar size has more meat.

 They are a fun little fish to catch, when I take my kids out during the prespawn period, I leave the largemouth and smallmouth alone on those days and have them aimlessly chuck and wind small crank baits, and 3" curly tailed grubs on ball head jigs at the bank. They catch them one after another and always come home with a smile on their face. I even, as a "warm up" to bass tournament season here, hold a rock bass tournament on my home lake. It's great fun, and we donate all the rock bass caught to a group that comes down from Rochester for a big fish fry for their church.

[WRB]

According to the Missouri list of game fish the Northern Rock Bass or Google-eye is listed as a game fish.  IGFA record for Rock Bass is 3 lbs, Lake Erie in 1998.

I stand corrected!

Tom