Do i have an unorthodox opinion on Killing fish (in general for all purposes)

[WRB]

If you were raised as a child to appreciate natural and it's creations, to respect life and not waste it, killing animals like fish or game quickly for food shouldn't bother you. Killing animals and not respecting it and wasting it should bother everyone. 

Tom

[813basstard]

Doesn’t bother me as much as seeing someone using a spinning reel upside down. Now that gets me going. That’s over slot on ignorance 

[TOXIC]

The catch and release fever is good in some respects but bad in others.  Your local DNR, based on established science and studies, know that in order for any fishery to be healthy harvest must take place.  The amount and number of fish harvested are different on different bodies of water relative to their health and fish population.  That's how you get size slots and creel numbers.  That's also why harvest rates on smaller bodies of water can be higher.  Have you ever seen a lake or pond with an overpopulation of fish?  It's not pretty.  Skinny, sickly fish are common as is a large winter kill in areas that get colder temps.  I have fished a pond that was over run with fish.  All were small and stunted.  It had Bluegill, Bass and Crappie.  The pond owner asked me what could be done.  I told him that for 1 season, no bluegill that was caught should go back into the water and that there needed to be a number of Crappie removed as well as every stunted bass caught.  He did it for 2 seasons and I personally brought home 5 gallon buckets of stunted bluegills and Bass to be used as fertilizer.  They were too small to fillet.  I also brought home many, many limits of Crappie for the table even though they were really smaller than I like.   He just called me the other day (it's been 4 years) and asked when I was coming back out to the pond and that the populations were healthy and large.  My point is that killing or harvesting fish is not a cardinal sin as many have come to believe.  Look at the Asian Carp problem in many lakes and rivers.  Few fish for them no one harvests them and they are a problem.  Same with some carp although they are commercially harvested in some lakes.  Just do some research and educate yourself before you adopt the mindset that every fish is sacred.  

[Ralph Nicholas Vito]

1 hour ago, Fishin Dad said:

You are missing out man, they are delicious!   I don't eat bass however.  On the menu:  walleye, sunfish, crappie, perch.   Yum

it's just not my thing is all

 

i feel the same way about land animals too (cows pigs etc.)

(not that a burger or hot dog isn't delicious more so i feel terrible about it) m

[813basstard]

45 minutes ago, Ralph Nicholas Vito said:

it's just not my thing is all

 

i feel the same way about land animals too (cows pigs etc.)

(not that a burger or hot dog isn't delicious more so i feel terrible about it) m

I wish my wife had the same moral dilemma as you. Woman took out an entire generation of Hybrids one night. 

[Mobasser]

I grew up around a farm owned by my grandparents instill age 16 when they retired from farming. Fishing and hunting were a way of life. My brother and I hunted rabbits before school shot qauil and hunted deer also. We were taught never to waste anything and never did. Now each spring I catch crappie for the freezer and still do a little hunting too. Obey the laws, and respect the fish and game. I see nothing wrong with it. 

[burrows]

I always wanted to try squirrel but it’s not allowed here in California because apparently they can carry the plague here ? 

[scaleface]

17 minutes ago, Burros said:

I always wanted to try squirrel but it’s not allowed here in California because apparently they can carry the plague here ? 

That   sucks . Squirrels are good . 

[Glaucus]

If you're taking big bass from a small pond, shame on you. If you're taking huge stringers of bass from a small pond, shame on you. Legal doesn't always = moral.

 

Rivers and lakes usually produce in abundance and I generally don't feel any sort of way about it. But it's easy to decimate a pond. And then it becomes selfish.

[OCdockskipper]

I think I understand where the OP is coming from.  One of the reasons I practice catch & release is that I have a lot of respect for largemouth bass as a predator & sportfish.  As I spent years learning about them in order to catch more of them, I found I appreciated the characteristics that made them different from other species.  Heck, the fact that you can land them by grabbing their mouth without hurting yourself is just too cool.  That respect is why I treat largemouth with kid gloves, even if they don't need it.  They are almost to the level of a pet for me.

 

That said, other species don't bother me to see people keep or keep them myself.  Go to Lake Mead or Powell & they beg you to keep the stripers and I happily oblige.  A mess of bluegill make a fine meal.  Sometimes I find myself wanting to let catfish go just because they are so darn tough (durable) and they make me laugh when they squawk.

[FishDewd]

I was at a local park the other week I don't fish at often because the fishing there tends to be really poor. On this trip I learned why that is. A lady was there when I starting fishing. At one point she gut hooked a small catfish and didn't have pliers. I had needle nose with me and managed to dehook the fish without too much injury for her. However, I expected her to release it cause it wasn't even 9" long. Nope. She walks over to the dock and pulls up a long stringer full of similarly sized or smaller catfish and added to it. That annoyed me quite a bit but I didn't say anything. Those fish werent even a decent bite imo. Maybe I should have or called tpw and reported it cause catfish legal limit starts at 11". But she left shortly after.

[tander]

As long as a person catches are legal,no problem. I love to eat bass. I bring home the legal limit of small bass when I want a meal. In the small 50 acre lake I fish, the head of the wildlife dept. told me to never throw back any small bass up to the limit. If I didn't want it, give it away. Most lakes you need to harvest some of the bass if you want a good bass lake.

[LionHeart]

5 hours ago, Ralph Nicholas Vito said:

it's just not my thing is all

 

i feel the same way about land animals too (cows pigs etc.)

(not that a burger or hot dog isn't delicious more so i feel terrible about it) m

You feel bad about eating a burger or hot dog?  I mean, like, for the animal? 

 

Nah, gotta say I don't understand that mentality even a little bit.  To answer your question, I don't feel that way about fish either.

[Ralph Nicholas Vito]

1 hour ago, LionHeart said:

You feel bad about eating a burger or hot dog?  I mean, like, for the animal? 

 

Nah, gotta say I don't understand that mentality even a little bit.  To answer your question, I don't feel that way about fish either.

i'm an animal lover i love animals just how i am how i was brought up and taught

[bassguytom]

It only bothers me when I see 4 guys in a pontoon boat using shiners and keeping everything of every size they catch. I still don’t say anything I’m not a game warden. 

[diversity210]

The only fish I will sometimes take and eat are bluegill and crappie.  For one they are just my favorite fish to eat.  They are to tasty to pass up.  There is also no size limit on them where I am and you can take up to 25.  That tells me that the population is healthy and there is no problem taking them to eat.  Call me naive but I kind of put my faith in the laws, regulations, and limit on the particular species of fish being caught.  They take fairly good stats on how healthy and abundant certain fish populations are and determine limits accordingly.  So i dont have a problem with people taking fish to eat as long as those fish are with in the limit of what is lawful to take.

[Black Hawk Basser]

Bottom line is, if you fish, even if you release everything, you kill plenty of fish.

[Jaderose]

OP...I'm curious about something......what happens when you accidentally kill a bass?  It happens.  I feel bad but it doesn't stop me from fishing.  It has made me a better, more attentive fisherman to try to eliminate those incidents but it DOES happen.  I'm surprised a person that feels bad about eating a cheeseburger even CAN fish.  That is not criticism.  Just seems surprising.

[FCPhil]

I favor strict catch and release laws (for bass) on public waters. I think it is within the government’s jurisdiction to pass such policies (especially on manmade ponds and lakes not naturally created). 

 

From a social standpoint I advocate everyone should catch and release (especially large bass) for the sake of the sport. I respect people’s right to disagree with me just as I have a right to tell them they should leave the fish. 

[Gundog]

It seems like the people on both extreme ends of this spectrum are just too hardcore about their beliefs. Somewhere in the middle is where I take my stand. Call it common sense or just being normal but if someone keeps what they catch and its legal, ok. If they release everything they catch, so be it. I release most of the fish I catch because I don't eat much fish anymore and I don't want to waste the resource. I've seen people catch and keep some big fish and even seen one guy with a limit of big smallies in a cooler on the Susquehanna. I know there are more in there and I can't wait to catch them. 

[scaleface]

A fellow gave me a hard time about keeping bass earlier this year and it got  ugly . What was a pleasant day of fishing  turned into a heated argument because of some  jerk .  Dont be like that guy . 

[Happybeerbuzz]

I know too much about agro-farming and buy too much meat from the market to even consider allowing myself to judge people who legally harvest meat from other sources.  

[geo g]

No I don't care about people taking bass legally.  I personally never take bass since we have a mercury problem, and I am not fond of the taste of bass, and would rather eat a lot of fish before having a bass.  The only thing that bothers me is when someone kills a trophy bass.  Culling smaller bass can be a good thing for a body of water.

[the reel ess]

I've had people ask me for a big bass before and just let it go in front of them. I hate to see a trophy or even one in the making go for food, but there's no law against it. Now, if they're trespassing, and I've seen that too, I'll report them. Those people are the worst stewards of resources because they know they aren't even supposed to be there. They're really thieves.

 

Here's how I look at it. If you catch a 6 lb bass, releases it and catch it later, that's two big bass, not one. No one could say it's the same bass. But it could be.

 

On the other hand, smaller bass make good fried fillets.

[Spankey]

On 7/27/2018 at 5:17 PM, OCdockskipper said:

I think I understand where the OP is coming from.  One of the reasons I practice catch & release is that I have a lot of respect for largemouth bass as a predator & sportfish.  As I spent years learning about them in order to catch more of them, I found I appreciated the characteristics that made them different from other species.  Heck, the fact that you can land them by grabbing their mouth without hurting yourself is just too cool.  That respect is why I treat largemouth with kid gloves, even if they don't need it.  They are almost to the level of a pet for me.

 

That said, other species don't bother me to see people keep or keep them myself.  Go to Lake Mead or Powell & they beg you to keep the stripers and I happily oblige.  A mess of bluegill make a fine meal.  Sometimes I find myself wanting to let catfish go just because they are so darn tough (durable) and they make me laugh when they squawk.

The way I feel about Smallmouth bass and Largemouth bass out here in PA. I can see how the OP has such a passion and regard for the bass. Please don't blow a gasket over it. As another post implied don't approach anyone over it not worth a possible bad out come. Not worth getting ugly over.

 

OP, I like how you mentioned about how you saw that pond rebound over time. Good pond that went bad only to rebound.