Catch & Release

[Catt]

For a bass to reach 10 pounds plus it must have the ecosystem, food source, but more importantly the genetics and not just in the female but in the male as well.

The releasing of bass 3 or 5 or 8 pounds thinking you'll get double digit when the genetics aint there all you will get is an abundance of 3-8 pound bass.

Those bass were harvested from a private marsh known for producing only 6-7 pound bass but through selective harvesting and selective breeding it now produces bass up to 12 pounds.

[scaleface]

I keep and eat small bass . They are delicious  . A lot of lakes have slot limits and I eat the ones under the slot mostly . If i badly hook bigger fish and they are bleeding profusely I will keep them also .One lake I go to  of has no length limit and a 12 fish creel . They are encouraging anglers to keep fish and I'm happy to oblige .

[WIGuide]

I practice catch and release quite a bit of the time with bass, but I have nothing against keeping smaller ones, usually nothing over 15" unless it's badly hooked and not going to live. I keep northerns and panfish to eat as well.

[everythingthatswims]

On 2/23/2016 at 6:28 PM, Johnathan Rainey said:

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.

I fish a ton of places with the gap between 15" and 6lbs like you're describing.

[gardnerjigman]

I'll keep and eat crappie, wipers, walleye and flathead. I've eaten bass before and have no issue with them. Around me the length limit makes them money fish in tournaments... meaning it could be $100-$500 fish... that's a lot of big macs if ya get what I'm saying. 

 

GJM

[WRB]

Catch & Release has become a cult like practice without using common sense.

Bass are a renewable resource and managed that way. Nearly every state has minimum size length limit and number of fish that can be kept and maintain the fishery in good health.

As long as everyone follows the states regulations, the bass population can maintain it's population.

When anglers practice C&R without considering the bass may not servive being caught due to being mortally wounded or stressed, they are killing the bass without enjoying benefit it could provide as food.

I am for C & R within reason, if the bass is released healthy after being carefully handled. If the bass isn't in good condition and well not servive it should be kept. Selective harvest; the bass is the majority population size and being kept for food within regulations.

Use common sense!

Tom

[aj88kc]

I personally don't keep any fish unless it is hurt badly. I am in the mindset that if the fish is legally caught it is your fish to do with as you please. I am a catfisherman at heart. I mainly fish for flathead and would like to see every one released, but that being said I am not going to jam c&r down any ones throat as they pay the same amount of money if not more than I do to catch fish. So I am not going to tell anyone what they can and can not do with their catch but one thing that I have a problem with is people keeping more than they will ever eat. To me there is no need to keep multiple 20 + pound fish just to fill your freezer. We no longer live in a world that we live off the land and need to keep every fish we catch to feed a family. There are rules and regulations put in place to manage a fishery and IF they are followed by the anglers the fishery will thrive. It is up to us as anglers to abide by the rules and regulations to make our fisheries a sustainable product. 

[blckshirt98]

I catch and release because with the exception of trout I only like to eat saltwater fish.  Even if I did eat bass I wouldn't keep out here in Cali because the waters are heavily pressured and too many people keep them to eat as it is.

Someone did say walleye was the best tasting fish out there, so if I'm ever fortunate enough to be in some walleye waters, I'd be inclined to keep a legal walleye to try it myself.

[River Dave]

This is a tough one for me but I now find my morals seem to ebb and flow with my appetite. I hadn't kept a fish in over 20 years and was one of those preachy annoying types who wouldn't even let other people in the boat keep fish (" go buy your own boat blah blah blah...."). It was a real point of pride for me and I was very serious about it. A couple of years ago we rented a cottage on the lake for our family vacation and I wanted my kids to experience the same vacations I had growing up with fresh fish for dinner so I broke my streak and fried up some fresh perch and was it ever tasty. Felt funny to actually kill a fish on purpose but I got over that pretty quickly and really enjoyed the whole experience of feeding the family with something I caught myself. That was just the first of many fish dinners we've had and there is nothing like fresh fish thats never even seen a refrigerator. So far I've only kept perch but I would love some fresh walleye sometime. Still don't know if I could keep a bass though, I think I would still feel funny about that but I never really liked bass anyway. 

[Bassman37]

I fish mainly for Largemouth and some Crappie and always practice catch and release in the local county forest preserve ponds. A buddy of mine belongs to a sportsman's club with a private pond and we do take some from there as they claim that it is currently overstocked and ask their members to do so.