Opinion on people keeping Big Fish to eat?

[IamNewbie]

At this one place I fish at, I commonly see families fishing here leaving no room for anyone else and they keep EVERYTHING they catch... turtles, frogs, crappies, baitfish(could care less, maybe care about big crappies.), and bass(is a I don't understand to me.)

I caught my PB at this one spot and these 4 old ladies BEGGED me to give them my bass and I wasn't going to but I had my mother along and she wanted me to be nice lol. I feel terrible but it's whatever. There's other big bass in this lake and I know that for sure... next time no one is gonna be taking my bass lol.

What are your guy's opinions? There's probably been 25290529052 million threads about this topic.

[Molay1292]

If you buy a license and fish legally it is your choice to keep or release any legal fish caught.  End of story.

 

[wnspain]

5 minutes ago, IamNewbie said:

What are your guy's opinions? There's probably been 25290529052 million threads about this topic.

Correction!! Now the number is 25290529053 

[Raul]

10 hours ago, IamNewbie said:

At this one place I fish at, I commonly see families fishing here leaving no room for anyone else and they keep EVERYTHING they catch... turtles, frogs, crappies, baitfish(could care less, maybe care about big crappies.), and bass(is a I don't understand to me.)

I caught my PB at this one spot and these 4 old ladies BEGGED me to give them my bass and I wasn't going to but I had my mother along and she wanted me to be nice lol. I feel terrible but it's whatever. There's other big bass in this lake and I know that for sure... next time no one is gonna be taking my bass lol.

What are your guy's opinions? There's probably been 25290529052 million threads about this topic.

If the person in question caught the fish legally and paid his/her license it not my business what they do with their catch.

[S. Sass]

8 minutes ago, Raul said:

If the person in question caught the fish legally and paid his/her license it not my goddam business what they do with their catch.

I can't believe this still comes up as a topic. If it's yours legally do what you want with it. 

If it's someone else's legally stay the hell out of it. It's none ya ____ business what they do. 

 

[iiTzChunky]

If I catch a big one, which has only happened once I like to let them go even tho the park Ranger had asked me to remove them to help boost the sun fish population, which I don't care about. I was extremely happy about catching that big fish, throwing him back in means I can possible help make someone elses day by catching that big fish. 

[soflabasser]

Good topic.Most people that keep bass have a fishing license,so they are entitled to keep bass as long as it's a legal size and amount. Anyone who doesn't respect this is most likely a poorly skilled bass fisherman who is most likely jealous of the "meat hunters" success.With that said,I don't keep largemouth bass ,but respect those that keep legal sized bass.

[scaleface]

Next time just tell them its not legal to give your fish to other anglers . They probably wont know if it is or not .

[gim]

Up here in the north country, I don't know anyone that targets bass for food.  Personally I think they taste like mud.  I actually don't know that many people who target bass, period.  The meat hunters are mostly walleye anglers and secondarily, panfish anglers.  The big lakes and rivers all have special slot restrictions for keeping walleyes so the harvest is managed closely.  Most of the lakes around the Twin Cities are choked full of tiny panfish now for that very reason, but the meat hunters don't really give a sh** about the resource because they only wanna fill their buckets

[geo g]

They have the right to keep any fish as long as it meets all state rules and regulations.  I personally think it is just stupid to keep big bass for several reasons.  1). They are the top of the breeding stock and the future of the sport we love.  2). They can be caught again and that's why we are all here, to catch fish and enjoy the sport.  3).Take measurements a beautiful replica can be made today.  4).The big ones just don't taste that good, 4 or 5 one pound fish would be a much better meal. 

I will not lose one second of sleep over someone keeping a big slab, but it is just plain stupid for the sport!!!!!!

[GetBent]

I have yet to eat bass but my cholesterol will soon fix that. If I do keep any they won't be over 3lbs. Bigger fish aren't as good, or at least speckled trout and redfish. I suppose I won't throw any large crappie back if I am keeping them. Hopefully for the bass I become a better crappie fisherman and I don't have to mess with cooking them. I also need to give blue gill a try I suppose. 

[Molay1292]

4 hours ago, GetBent said:

I have yet to eat bass but my cholesterol will soon fix that. If I do keep any they won't be over 3lbs. Bigger fish aren't as good, or at least speckled trout and redfish. I suppose I won't throw any large crappie back if I am keeping them. Hopefully for the bass I become a better crappie fisherman and I don't have to mess with cooking them. I also need to give blue gill a try I suppose. 

Blue gill are excellent table fare, their meat is fairly flaky and has a slightly sweet taste to it, imo.

 

[everythingthatswims]

The fish that died in the High School National Championship were given to a member of the chamber of commerce in Paris, TN, who helped with te event, and some of his buddies who also wanted some fish to eat

 

I didn't know where to share this but this thread is close enough

[Penguino]

Go catch some bluegill and give it to other people lol. Bass don't taste particularly good compared to crappie and bluegill, and I would think anybody would prefer a bucketful of slabs rather than a extremely old, and muddy tasting bass.

[iiTzChunky]

Yall are making me really be wanna try to eat a bass now 

I know they're boney but I didn't know they didn't taste very good at all. My ol lady's grandma has been hounding me about keeping what I catch so we can fry them up. I've really only every ate crappie catfiah and cod. 

[Neil McCauley]

Big bass....YUCK. The meat is brown and soggy and has huge deep lateral line. It's a strange texture and flavor for sure. The Y bones are very heavy and you lose a lot of meat if you don't take the time to pull them out with pliers. I only keep bass 12-13" if possible, on the rare occasion that I acually keep bass.

My "opinion" on people keeping bass in general depends on the body of water. On my current lake (LG) bass are teaming in the water and you practically can't get away from 12-15" bass of either species. No issue with keeping those. If anything some need to go. On smaller lakes and ponds though with a lesser quality ecosystem keeping lots of bass seriously endangers their population #s. Go to the inner city ponds where people sit all day on buckets of literally whatever they catch. These places are awful thanks to people keeping fish.

[MassYak85]

If you are a licensed fisherman and are taking a daily creel that is within the bounds of the laws, then they have the right to do whatever they want. I frown upon people putting trophy fish on the dinner table because of the obvious impacts, especially in smaller lakes, but there's nothing I can do about it. 

 

To be honest though, licensed and educated bass fisherman are rarely the people taking too many or too big of bass from places. At least not around here. It's the family's that show up with a bucket of shiners and keep whatever they catch, laws be damned. 

[Ratherbfishing]

1 hour ago, Neil McCauley said:

BGo to the inner city ponds where people sit all day on buckets of literally whatever they catch. These places are awful thanks to people keeping fish.

Wow!  If all bodies of water were this packed, I'd find a new hobby.

[Neil McCauley]

1 hour ago, MassYak85 said:

If you are a licensed fisherman and are taking a daily creel that is within the bounds of the laws, then they have the right to do whatever they want. I frown upon people putting trophy fish on the dinner table because of the obvious impacts, especially in smaller lakes, but there's nothing I can do about it.

Yea, yea, I see this posted a lot in this thread. No one is criticizing poaching or anything illegal though. Obviously "they have the right" to keep their limit. What is up for debate is the unwritten ethic about keeping fish. I could catch and keep my limit every time out but I never do. I try to be strategic about keeping fish in a way that has as little impact as possible. I know a specific spot on Lake George with tons of huge pumpkinseed sunfish. I keep a few and move on, I don't want to over-fish it. There are probably hundreds down there but I try to only take 5-6 each trip because I value the spot so much. When I'm catching tons of rock bass in the spring, likewise I try only to take a few of the bigger ones. Any time I catch something rare- like, in my lake  a Northern Pike or a Crappie- I am sure to return it carefully. There is an ethic about how you treat a fishery that goes beyond laws and regulations and everyone approaches it differently. That's what's interesting to hear people explain.

[YakPirate]

Maybe it's a cultural thing , a geographical thing or maybe it's just me. I was brought up on the notion that the LMB was a game/sportfish to be sought after for the fight and to be released quickly so the next guy/gal has a shot at catching it next time. Law is the law and says you can keep certain fish at a certain length/weight, but i just don't get why you would. that said, i have had fresh fried crappie sandwich on an open fire during a fishing all night'er and it was awesome!  

[fishballer06]

My opinion on keeping big bass?

It's like cheating on your wife. It may not be the right thing to do, but if it makes you happy, then who is going to stop you?

[MassYak85]

2 hours ago, Neil McCauley said:

Yea, yea, I see this posted a lot in this thread. No one is criticizing poaching or anything illegal though. Obviously "they have the right" to keep their limit. What is up for debate is the unwritten ethic about keeping fish. I could catch and keep my limit every time out but I never do. I try to be strategic about keeping fish in a way that has as little impact as possible. I know a specific spot on Lake George with tons of huge pumpkinseed sunfish. I keep a few and move on, I don't want to over-fish it. There are probably hundreds down there but I try to only take 5-6 each trip because I value the spot so much. When I'm catching tons of rock bass in the spring, likewise I try only to take a few of the bigger ones. Any time I catch something rare- like, in my lake  a Northern Pike or a Crappie- I am sure to return it carefully. There is an ethic about how you treat a fishery that goes beyond laws and regulations and everyone approaches it differently. That's what's interesting to hear people explain.

Here's my stance on the ethical part.

If everyone who was licensed always took their creel, the laws would have to be changed very quickly to avoid species endangerment...and that's not considering all the people who poach. So I think whether you fish for sport or to put food on the table, taking a creel very often is plain irresponsible, even if you are within the legal bounds to do so, as many populations can't take that kind of pressure. So I think the "catch and release" sport fishing becoming more popular is a good way to offset the people who don't know any better, or worse, know full well and do it anyways. I'm not against keeping fish, but be reasonable, they aren't an infinite resource obviously, even though some seem to treat them as such. 

[scaleface]

Lakes I fish at they have signs saying to keep bass to improve the fishery . 

[Further North]

On 8/9/2016 at 5:27 PM, Molay1292 said:

If you buy a license and fish legally it is your choice to keep or release any legal fish caught.  End of story.

 

I agree completely.

...but since the OP asked our opinions...mine is to keep the eater sized fish, leave the big ones to improve the gene pool...

...I don't keep fish anymore...I'm allergic...unless someone with me wants to keep some to eat.  If we're on my boat, there's never enough room for more than they can eat in one meal.  If we're on their boat, or wading...their choice.

I know for an absolute fact that one local angler has pretty well fished out a section of a local creek that used to produce a fair number of 16" - 24" brown trout.  Used to be plenty until he started keeping his limit every time he could...the population couldn't sustain that kind of pressure for more than a year.  These days you're lucky to land a 14" fish...angler gluttony and mismanagement by a DNR that needs to appease people who don't get it caused this...

[Further North]

4 hours ago, MassYak85 said:

Here's my stance on the ethical part.

If everyone who was licensed always took their creel, the laws would have to be changed very quickly to avoid species endangerment...and that's not considering all the people who poach. So I think whether you fish for sport or to put food on the table, taking a creel very often is plain irresponsible, even if you are within the legal bounds to do so, as many populations can't take that kind of pressure. So I think the "catch and release" sport fishing becoming more popular is a good way to offset the people who don't know any better, or worse, know full well and do it anyways. I'm not against keeping fish, but be reasonable, they aren't an infinite resource obviously, even though some seem to treat them as such. 

Best example of this happening currently is the idiocy underway up on Mille Lacs.

For years, everyone, their brother and their uncle Stu went out on the lake and took a limit of walleyes.

...toss in a couple poor year classes...and guess what?  Not as many walleyes!  ...and they're surprised....and they're blaming muskies, pike and...smallmouth bass.

...so the Minnesota DNR has now caved into political and money based pressure from Gomers who don't know conservation from their left rear cheek...and raised the limit on smallies...and now there's party boats going out to do to the smallies exactly what was done to the walleyes.

Effect on walleye population?  Pretty much nothing...and now they've had to enact special walleye regs to try to save that fishery...

Sometimes, as concerned anglers, we have to do what's right rather that what's legal and not take a limit...and we need to help others understand why this is important.

I'll get off my soapbox now...