Do You Eat Your Bass?

[WRB]

43 minutes ago, Active_Outdoors said:

100% Mortality rate for Bass caught and released in 90 degree or warmer water ? Is this accurate, or a typo ? 

Accurate as the report it came from. I believe it was a study in the 2018 conservation summit by Hal Schramm and Gene Gilliland. If I can find the link will post. When the DO levels fall below 3 mg/l bass can't survive and occurs when water temps rise above 90 degrees.

Tom

[Fishingmickey]

1 hour ago, WRB said:

The Catch & Release religion is starting to see the Lght of Selective Harvest.

To all you who believe every bass you release survives, the mortality rate rises with the water temperature, the warmer it is the higher the post mortality rate is, over 90 degrees is nearly 100%.

Largemouth bass taste different then Smallmouth bass and all fish taste differently do to the water quality and food sources they eat. The key to eating any fish is how soon it's killed, cleaned and refrigerated.

Bass are a renewable resource and managed to be harvested within limits set by the states and local biologist.

I am all for releasing big bass that are healthy and keeping a few to eat occasionally or injured fish I know will not survive. Releasing injured fish is killing the animal, eat it or give to someone who will.

Tom

I haven't read the report but I have a hard time believing the 100% mortality rate. Some of our power plant lakes here in Texas reach well over 90+ degrees and are heavily bass fished. I believe that you'd see hundreds of dead bass floating in these lakes if the 100% mortality rate is correct.  I'm not trying start a BS war.

Thanks,

FM

[WRB]

Bass are capabable of swimming to locate water they can survive in unless they are held captive in a livewell. This report was a study of tournament caught bass and post release mortality rates.

You may recall what happened to Ike during the 2006 Classic tournament when his livewell circulation pump quite and his bass died.

Bass in the wild can get under green weed mates that produce DO during the day time, it's cooler and oxygenated naturally.

Not a fan of Gene Gilliland, B.A.S.S. biologist, Hal Schramm I do respect.

 

Tom

[NYWayfarer]

3 hours ago, TnRiver46 said:

In my opinion, y'all can keep your supermarket fish from China and I'll eat out of the river 

You wouldn't if you saw some of the rivers around my way. They have been dredging to get rid of contaminants for years. It will be decades before the fish in them become safe for human consumption.

[J.Vincent]

1 hour ago, WRB said:

Accurate as the report it came from. I believe it was a study in the 2018 conservation summit by Hal Schramm and Gene Gilliland. If I can find the link will post. When the DO levels fall below 3 mg/l bass can't survive and occurs when water temps rise above 90 degrees.

Tom

Yes, I would love to read more information regarding this topic and I agree with you, not all bass released after a tournament will survive. I've seen as many as 5% floating at the release tank on Great Lakes tournaments in July. But I was always under the impression, that most tournament bass mortality had more to do with catching Bass in deeper 20 and 30 foot water and the air in their swim bladder. 

[WRB]

Low levels of DO kills hundreds of thousand if not millions of wild fresh water fish, including bass, in their natural habitate every year during extended heat periods.

LMB can easily rush from water over 20' to the surface and return quickly without any harm, they do it everyday. What causes extended air bladders from pressure change is quickly changing more then 1 atmosphere of pressure and kept in a livewell so they can't return to the depth they were at.

Largest tournament post release mortality was at Falcon Lake in Texas during a summer event, heat and low DO was the cause.

Tom

 

 

[Catt]

2 hours ago, Fishingmickey said:

I haven't read the report but I have a hard time believing the 100% mortality rate. Some of our power plant lakes here in Texas reach well over 90+ degrees and are heavily bass fished. I believe that you'd see hundreds of dead bass floating in these lakes if the 100% mortality rate is correct.  I'm not trying start a BS war.

Thanks,

FM

 

Power plant lake are the thorn in fisheries biologist side!

[OkobojiEagle]

I'm fortunate to live on lakes with abundant populations of walleye, perch and crappie.  I choose not to eat bass, but would do so before consuming boiled crustaceans...

 

oe

[WRB]

The LMB from SoCal deep clear structure lakes are good eating fish compared to LMB from warmer weedy water lakes with less water quality. C & R works in SoCal because the pubic lakes get tremendous fishing pressure without bass being restocked. Recreational anglers kill their bass for food, the bass manage to maintain a decent population.

My in laws thought bass were not good to eat preferring walleyes. I cooked my in laws some local bass and they like it saying their bass tasted weedy and mushy. Walleye is  an excellent eating fish out of the same lakes bass don’t taste good, so I get it.

Tom

 

[jr231]

On 5/10/2018 at 4:54 PM, soflabasser said:

I rather eat grouper, snapper, hogfish, lobster, and other delicious seafood that I catch than eat a bass. 

Most folks don't have this luxury!

[RPreeb]

40 minutes ago, Yeajray231 said:

Most folks don't have this luxury!

Yep.  Not a lot of grouper here in Colorado waters.  While I agree that grouper, snapper, hogfish and others are truly fine dining, if I want fresh caught fish, it's going to be from fresh water.  There is a real issue with that here in that Colorado is still on the kick of protecting little fish (most areas walleye, LMB and SMB are protected below 15"), and only allow harvest from 15" to 21", then it's shut off again above 21" with the exception of allowing a single large fish 21+ to be kept.  Like many of you have stated, this seems to promote ponds full of dinks while it's nearly impossible to find anything that's legal to keep. 

 

I had the same issue years ago fishing for brown trout, with a 15" limit.  I could catch 14" fish all day and never sniff a keeper.  It tells me that there is something a bit off in their management plan.  I do understand some of the problem, with a lot of fishermen and not a lot of water to fish (Colorado's climate is semi-arid), but seems like a guy ought to be able to catch an occasional legal keeper.

 

Then there is the issue of returning a badly damaged fish to the water.  Keep it and you are breaking the law, return it and it just dies to be food for the bugs.  I'd rather be able to keep it for myself in that case, but it's not an option.

[soflabasser]

41 minutes ago, Yeajray231 said:

Most folks don't have this luxury!

Yes most people live away from the ocean so it can make it difficult to eat fresh caught seafood. Still where there is a will there is a way and many northerners come down to South Florida for the lobster mini season, catch a bunch of lobster, and eat them while on vacation. As for eating bass, I am not against it as long as someone has a freshwater license and follows the slot size for the location they keep bass. 

1 minute ago, RPreeb said:

While I agree that grouper, snapper, hogfish and others are truly fine dining, if I want fresh caught fish, it's going to be from fresh water. 

The hogfish is by far my favorite fish to eat and I am grateful to be able to catch them since they are delicious! I even prefer hogfish over the lobster,shrimp, and crabs which gives you a idea how good these fish taste. With that said, I have eaten bass before and they taste ok.I rather eat crappie, walleye, yellow perch, and bluegill if I lived in Northern states and could not fish the sea to harvest my own seafood.

[gim]

I don't care for them. Walleye, perch, and trout are all better options here in the north country. Plus up north a bass takes longer to grow than it does down south and there is no supplemental stocking of bass in MN.

[LxVE Bassin]

Depends on the body of water and it must be cold water. Big bass get taste mushy so I prefer them right at the legal limit.

[NorcalBassin]

So much mining happened in the watersheds of the lakes I typically fish that I pretty much don't eat anything from them. However, I have zero issue with anyone wanting to take home their limit of 12-14" bass.

[lonnie g]

I usually don’t because they have more of a fishy tast. If I do I put them on the grill on tin foil with lemon pepper, they are great then! 

[NittyGrittyBoy]

I'm all catch and release, unless my 70yr old Grandpa wants some fresh fish. I'll keep 5-6 dinks 

 

I live by the motto "let em go, let em grow"

[FishDewd]

I think to some extent it can help a pond to harvest a few now and then... if they are all competing for food then none of them will grow that trophy size. I've raised catfish for a long time so I know what I''m talking about there. The big cats I let go... the ones 10-18" get pan fried and are delicious. I honestly don't see bass being any different. The small mouth taste pretty good fried, not on the level as a catfish or perch, but hardly muddy or anything despite coming from muddy waters here. Like anything it's about moderation and respect for the population. Don't take the really small ones or big ones.

[TXNate31]

No.  I release all of them so they can grow bigger to catch again.  And i negatively view people that do keep them since there are generally much better options than culling the pond that people like to fish of catchable bass because they're greedy and selfish.

[Hog Basser]

I live right by the Arkansas river, but wouldn't eat a thing out of it.  Whenever we get a hard rain, the city sewage treatment plant runs over into the river.  The EPA has fined and mandated the city fix their wastewater issues, our city just excels at kicking the can down the road.  And our sewer bills are skyrocketing as a result.  

 

Have a private fishing lake on the other side of the state, I keep and eat everything between 10-15 inches (unless it is an absolute football) to keep from getting too many dinks.  The local biologist advised us to remove 1000 lbs of bass per year out of it to keep it healthy.  

[the reel ess]

On 5/11/2018 at 2:41 PM, NYWayfarer said:

You wouldn't if you saw some of the rivers around my way. They have been dredging to get rid of contaminants for years. It will be decades before the fish in them become safe for human consumption.

You think your local rivers are more polluted than the Mekong River? At least you know your local river. I don't eat fish from our local rivers and reservoirs either. Maybe crappie, but they're on the list of safer fish, considering PCBs and mercury contamination. Farmed fish are lacking in omega 3 fatty acids and aren't healthy either. The "steelhead" sold in Sam's has to be dyed pink because it's grain fed. You might as well eat a lean steak.

[frosty]

6 hours ago, TXNate31 said:

No.  I release all of them so they can grow bigger to catch again.  And i negatively view people that do keep them since there are generally much better options than culling the pond that people like to fish of catchable bass because they're greedy and selfish.

Seems a little much to view people negatively for keeping a few bass. If they are keeping huge ones or more than the limit fine, but keeping 5 bass isn’t going to ruin a healthy pond. 

[AggieBassin10]

I don't unless the pond or lake is in need of it. Sometimes you have too many smaller bass that the "let'em go, let'em grow" motto can't work. The fish simply can't expand their size or numbers cause there are too many small fish. In that case it's helpful to harvest fish in the 14"-16" range (if fishing public water with state wide limits) and 12"-14" range (if fishing privately waters with permission) this allows for the size and health of the bass population to increase. I only do this though if the body of water I am fishing is in bad shape

[MIbassyaker]

As a youngster, I ate my first bass -- a smallie -- along with a nice channel cat and a sauger that also came home with me from the river. My two brothers and I did a taste test, and we all preferred the smallmouth. 

 

Nowadays I don't eat bass mostly because I don't feel like carrying them around and cleaning them. And, as nobody else in the house likes fish much (other than the dog), there is not much gratitude to be earned by doing so.

[buzzbaiter83]

I don't mind to eat small spots if the lake is crowded with them. I don't eat largemouth or smallmouth. I'd rather have a mess of crappie, walleye,  or shellcrackers.