Kept a bass and regretted it??

[BASSnRacks]

Have you ever kept some fish you've caught and later regretted keeping them? Came across some older photos of a few fish I wish we're still swimming around. Unfortunately excitement got the best of me and I didn't know how long it took some of those fish to mature.

All bass are quickly photographed and released to swim another day now.

[Pond]

I let them all go for that reason. I want a mount someday but I think it will be a replica I'll just take measurements. 

[scaleface]

No regerts . 

[Choporoz]

Might be locked away, but the other thread isn't even cold yet....lol

[Brew City Bass]

In the big scheme of things.. With how many people fish and keep anything they catch, me keeping the very few fish I have kept would have made no difference. Everyone up here will keep anything that is the legal length..

[CarolinaBoy4Life]

I don't ever keep fish per say. If a catch a nice one I will take a picture and release it. In some area's I fish I will remove smaller fish every now and then to keep the population down. These are private ponds and a smaller 36 acre lake that my buddy owns. I know these places pretty well and if I do not remove some fish throughtout the year it will become stunted. I will put them in a livewell cooler I created and take them to another pond and release them

[MassYak85]

I use to keep some but now I only eat them if i don't think they will survive, like a really bad gut or gill hook. Then I'll filet them just so they don't go to waste because I feel bad letting them go knowing they will die anyways. 

[Nitrofreak]

1 hour ago, scaleface said:

No regerts . 

Sorry, I was eating a snickers...

I saw that and it gave me a chuckle LOL !!

As for the bass, I always practice C.P.R. With the exception of tournament fishing, there are some that I wish I would have measured  along with weighing and had some replicas made, as for keeping any, if for some reason the bass expires in my livewell I will keep those.

[Raul]

I have enjoyed greatly every single bass that I have taken to meet Mrs Frying pan.

If taking away a fish causes you discomfort look for another hobby.

[Dye99]

All my regrets have to do with Women, Whiskey, and air strikes...

I don't keep bass, but have no regrets about the trout that met their demise with my cornmeal and frying pan.

[KYBassin']

Big fish always go back.  Keeping some eaters here and there doesn't hurt...actually usually helps.

[Chomped]

To the OP: I keep a few bass out of the lakes without ever having any regret but none are ever 3lbs or over. If I'm wanting to keep many fish, I usually hit an overstocked pond.

 

[avidone1]

Your going through a phase and it's a good one so don't fret.   when the catch and release first set in with me, I also regretted keeping some bass, but it passed.  Even the fish I just showed off but never ate.  We seem to forget at times that fishing is about having fun.  Of course having a conservation mind set is a good idea, but part of the fun in the beginning, especially for youngsters is to show off the catch "look what I did mommy" or some similar sentiment.   It's all good.   I'm glad you have accepted catch and release as your way of fishing but don't fret keeping a chunky two pounder now and then.   bass are very tasty and full of Omega 3's

[BASSnRacks]

4 hours ago, avidone1 said:

Your going through a phase and it's a good one so don't fret.   when the catch and release first set in with me, I also regretted keeping some bass, but it passed.  Even the fish I just showed off but never ate.  We seem to forget at times that fishing is about having fun.  Of course having a conservation mind set is a good idea, but part of the fun in the beginning, especially for youngsters is to show off the catch "look what I did mommy" or some similar sentiment.   It's all good.   I'm glad you have accepted catch and release as your way of fishing but don't fret keeping a chunky two pounder now and then.   bass are very tasty and full of Omega 3's

I don't mind keeping a few smaller ones every now and then. I had caught bass fever a few years back and I caught 2 big ol mommas. My phone was dead and therefore I didn't have a camera. Figured no one would believe me when i said I had caught some true michigan chunkers. Had to take em around to my buddies houses and brag. Wish they were still swimming. 

[slonezp]

6 hours ago, BASSnRacks said:

I don't mind keeping a few smaller ones every now and then. I had caught bass fever a few years back and I caught 2 big ol mommas. My phone was dead and therefore I didn't have a camera. Figured no one would believe me when i said I had caught some true michigan chunkers. Had to take em around to my buddies houses and brag. Wish they were still swimming. 

So what makes you put more value on the large fishes life than the smaller ones? They're fish. We're higher on the food chain and if you're harvesting within the law lose the guilt. Chances are, unless you were fishing in some vast body of water, those fish have been caught and/or will be caught again. They might have made it into the skillet or on someone's wall or eaten by a cormorant or died of natural causes. The fact is it is a fish, and nature is not a friendly place.

[NCBasseater1]

The limit is 6 over 12in where fish so if I take the notion I will do just that and no man walking will make me regret or feel bad for that. I mostly catch and release but unlike most I love eating a mess of bass every once and awhile especially in a mostly shad like with a nice spot population YUM ! you people who claim to like to eat fish  don't know what your missing .But that thank you for everyone that exclusively catch and release it really helps me out .

[everythingthatswims]

[Hawkeye21]

I rarely ever keep fish.  If I'm fishing by myself I never keep them because I don't care to go through the hassle of cleaning them.  If it's a nice fish I take a picture.

If I'm on a fishing trip with others then I will keep any fish that we care to eat.  That's just part of the fun when on a fishing trip, having a great meal with your buddies after a long day of fishing.

[scaleface]

I regretted keeping a sickly looking bass to fill my limit . When I stuck a fillet knife in it , some sort of smelly liquid spurted out of it .

[gim]

Up here in the north land, we keep quite a few of 15-20 inch walleyes and jumbo perch because they're good eating.  A mess of sizable bluegills or crappies will work too but they're becoming difficult to find enough big ones.  Some people keep pike when they're desperate but they're so slimy and they have a ton of bones.  Can't remember the last time I kept a bass because I wanted to eat it.  They just don't taste that good.  Smallmouth are slightly better out of colder, cleaner, Canadian waters.  I deep hooked a 21 inch largemouth about 5 years ago that I knew wouldn't survive so I kept that one for the wall.  If I get another one mounted, it will be a replica.  They just look better than the real thing and they last longer now too.  I think the previous generation of anglers and hunters were mostly "meat hunters" but its more about managing the resource now and selective harvest.

[nameiztaken]

On 5/25/2016 at 2:56 PM, scaleface said:

I regretted keeping a sickly looking bass to fill my limit . When I stuck a fillet knife in it , some sort of smelly liquid spurted out of it .

Ohhhh nooo! That gave me the chills.

[Mumbly]

I have only kept one smallmouth in all the years I have been fishing. It was my personal best (4.5lbs) that I allowed myself to be talked into getting mounted. I still didn't feel right about it but I relented and took it home.

I placed her in the fridge and the next day I called the local taxidermist to ask about taking the fish in to get it mounted. While I was on hold waiting for guy that does the fish, I kept seeing smoke drift by the kitchen window. Thinking fire, I ran to the window and looked for the cause. I stood there in total shock taking in the image of my Dad standing over the grill, grilling my fish. I stood there in stunned silence for what seemed like forever, then was brought back to reality by a voice saying, "You wanted to get a fish mounted?"........"I did but apparently I was too slow and it is now being grilled for someone's lunch." He had a great laugh and story that he still remembers.

Dad still says it was delicious.

[edfitzvb]

This is a two-edged sword. I have a skin mount on my wall, but it is not one that I caught. I caught one that I released that was a certain size, and then bought a skin mount on an auction site that was the same length. It looks real nice on my wall, and if my fish is no longer swimming around it is not MY fault. I thought about a replica, but this was far cheaper and I like it better

[wytstang]

I only keep fish when a friend ask for some to eat, either then that they go back in the water.

[Bluebasser86]

I regret keeping one in my livewell for pictures. I caught a 4lb smallie on 6lb test and a light rod. It was an extremely prolonged fight and I wanted a picture but the wind was howling so I opted to finish out fishing the bank and get a picture when I was out of the wind. My livewell was small, boat was all metal, it was hot, fish was tired. After an hour, I finished out the bank and she done, color already leaving her gills. I felt bad, that's a really big smallmouth around here, but it's possible that fish may not have survived just from the fight anyways. I was near a fish cleaning station and there were guys already knifing a bunch of fish and they happily accepted one more. 

Last bass I remember keeping before that was the skin mount I have that died from being hooked deeply and wasn't going to make it regardless. I've kept quite a few for friends and co-workers out of lakes that badly needed some fish removed, never worried about those fish since it was helping the rest of the lake out.