Bass fishing etiquette??

[OG SmashSauce]

Hello!

 

I don't know if etiquette is the right word BUT!..... I am very new to bass fishing. I caught my first 4 this last Saturday here in Washington State and I am completely hooked!

 

My questions are.... Do people actually keep/eat the bass they catch?

Is it just for sport and you should always put them back?

If you do keep them, do they taste good? 

 

I am only asking because I had some guys watching me and I wasn't sure what to do so I put all 4 back in. It was an awkward feeling for some reason with them watching me...like they were judging me lol

 

Thanks!

[TnRiver46]

They taste great but it is frowned upon by most bass anglers to eat them. Bass resource is the only forum I’ve ever been on where people can actually admit they eat bass without getting attacked haha

[Hammer 4]

Some folks are die hard CR, others will keep any bass, including big females with eggs. Keeping smaller bass isn't a problem as it keeps the body of water balanced. I'm in the CR camp, I've kept 1 bass and that was in the 80's..

 

If the guys around you are giving you the stink eye when you catch a bass, it's probably a good idea to let em go to avoid any confrontations. It's up to you.

[LCG]

Hello and welcome. Bass fishing is an awesome sport. There is so much to learn, it's not a quick learning curve. Being that you caught 4 already, your off to a great start. 

 

As far as etiquette, some simple things to remember. 

 

Always leave the area as you found it. Don't litter or leave line and hooks all over the place. 

 

Be respectful to others, fishing or not. No need to get into a conflict over something silly. 

 

If you have a license that allows you to keep fish then it's within your right to do so. It's up to you. 

 

I have a friend you eats bass and likes it. I don't personally, but to each their own. For me it's catch and release. 

 

If you do catch and release, do so with the least amount of harm to the fish. Learn how to remove the hooks, especially if you gut hook the fish. Take a quick Pic if you so desire and safely release the fish. A rubber net is great for this purpose. 

 

And have fun, it's a great sport full of lots of great people. It's fun to evolve and learn new techniques and how to use different equipment. 

[N Florida Mike]

Obey the law concerning the keeping of bass in your area. That should go without saying. You can legally keep fish according to the law, and you shouldn’t feel bad about it.

That being said, you also can choose to throw em all back. I personally don’t keep any over 16 inches. I don’t like to see people keep fish much bigger than that, because most of the larger fish are the females that lay eggs to keep up a good population of fish. But I won’t harass those that choose to do so even though I wouldn’t. It’s your perfect right to keep any fish you want under the law, bass included.

There are also better fish to eat than bass, but they are still good filleted. ?. 

[FishinBuck07]

You pay for a license just like I do, me personally I don't keep fish at all.  I don't like to eat fish, I know I am weird, been told that my whole life!  I have no right and neither does anyone else if you buy your license and follow the same rules as everyone else does.  I don't like seeing pictures of people keeping big fat bass but I won't say anything to them as long as they follow the laws!  

[Shimano_1]

I wouldn't pay any attention to what anyone thinks as far as eating them. I personally dont but have no issue with it.  Id pay a lot more attention to etiquette as far as not cutting people off or fishing on top of them. That gets to me much more than anyone keeping a bass would.  I wouldn't keep a 5 lb fish to eat but its legal I guess lol. As others have stated I've never kept or ate a bass in my life but I grew up around tournament fishing, but its totally your right to keep and eat them all you want as long as you're obeying the laws

[OG SmashSauce]

Wow.....Thanks for all the responses!

 

So, basically its up to me if I want to keep them as long as its legal. Someday I may keep one, cook it up and see how it is but I was fine putting them back.....what a blast! I was just curious what people thought about it, I didn't want to step on any toes lol.

 

Appreciate the thoughts!

[Bird]

Welcome to BR and an etiquette way to enter. Lol

 

We as fisherman don't always think alike and have are own agendas but should always respect others. 

 

I personally will release every fish I catch regardless of specie BUT when I was a young man, kept everything I caught.....ate everything I caught. 

 

My wife still today today wants me to bring home fish, I won't. 

I tell her that Walmart has a better selection. 

 

You do what you feel is right and don't worry about onlookers. 

 

 

 

 

[TnRiver46]

6 minutes ago, Bird said:

Welcome to BR and an etiquette way to enter. Lol

 

We as fisherman don't always think alike and have are own agendas but should always respect others. 

 

I personally will release every fish I catch regardless of specie BUT when I was a young man, kept everything I caught.....ate everything I caught. 

 

My wife still today today wants me to bring home fish, I won't. 

I tell her that Walmart has a better selection. 

 

You do what you feel is right and don't worry about onlookers. 

 

 

 

 

Wal mart does NOT have a better selection of fish. Blasphemy! Haha! And definitely not captured on the same day you buy it 

[OG SmashSauce]

3 minutes ago, TnRiver46 said:

Wal mart does NOT have a better selection of fish. Blasphemy! Haha! And definitely not captured on the same day you buy it 

hahaha!

 

 

[Bird]

1 minute ago, TnRiver46 said:

Wal mart does NOT have a better selection of fish. Blasphemy! Haha

Lol.....no flounder in our rivers, yours either. 

 

[TnRiver46]

7 minutes ago, Bird said:

Lol.....no flounder in our rivers, yours either. 

 

Funny you would say that, there’s a launch that I use that always has a massive pile of filleted fish on it. We put in there one day and my buddy says “hey wait a second” and starts walking into the water toward the pile of fish carcasses. I said whoa man, it’s always there, don’t walk in that mess. Next thing I know he’s holding a up a filleted flounder with a stick! I pondered forever on how that might have gotten there. Years later, I’m standing in the same spot looking into another fresh fish pile and there’s a bank fishermen there that says “nasty, ain’t it? That guy that runs the seafood market dumps his fish carcasses here.” Mystery solved 

[RoLo]

2 hours ago, OG SmashSauce said:

My questions are.... Do people actually keep/eat the bass they catch?

Is it just for sport and you should always put them back?

If you do keep them, do they taste good? 

 

As long as you stay within state regulations, do whatever you see fit with your 'legal' catch.

Those who look down their nose at not releasing every bass caught, are living in the dark.

Removing 2 to 3 lb eaters is a service to the bass population and to the fishing community. 

Fresh-caught bass will likely be more delicious than any fish served in a high-priced restaurant.

 

 

Roger

 

[Teal]

I only keep what I will eat.  I typically do not keep largemouth bass for eating.  If I know I'm going to eat them soon, I'll catch stripers, crappie, or catfish.  That's just my personal preference as far as a food choice.  I like flounder and mahi too.  

 

Just clean up behind your self and communicate with other angles near you and dont intrude on them while their fishing a spot.  

 

Hypothetically, if I was to eat largemouth bass I would be funny about what sizes I ate.  I'd probably stick to the bare minimum legal length as a way to conserve some of the larger fish for the sport of it.  

 

Be careful fishing certain ponds and private lakes, some may have conservation programs and have special limits. 

 

All in all, just be considerate of others and our environment 

[mcipinkie]

One other note of interest:

 

In areas that have slot limits, the fishery is improved (at least that's the theory) by removing the fish under the slot per the limit allowed.  The purpose of a slot limit is to encourage the harvest of small fish.  If the theory is correct, we CR people are actually damaging the fishery by not keeping the unders.

 

I actually do understand the theory on a lake that is overpopulated with little fish, but I don't like to clean fish any more, and my wife doesn't like to cook them.

 

Shame, because 10 - 11 inch bass taste great. 

[gim]

There’s probably better eating quality fish in your neck of the woods up there in the Pacific Northwest than bass. Walleyes, salmons, trout, and various species of panfish will generally all taste better than bass. I am in the camp of releasing them but I have tried bass more than once and it’s just not very good.

[soflabasser]

Welcome to the forum. Bass taste ok if you prepare them properly but there are much better tasting fish where you live. You can keep bass if you want if they are legal size and in the time of year you can keep them. They where probably watching you since you where doing well and they where not. They where probably observing what technique you where using. Same thing happens to me when I am fishing and I learned long ago to not pay much attention to those type of people. 

[OG SmashSauce]

12 minutes ago, gimruis said:

There’s probably better eating quality fish in your neck of the woods up there in the Pacific Northwest than bass. Walleyes, salmons, trout, and various species of panfish will generally all taste better than bass. I am in the camp of releasing them but I have tried bass more than once and it’s just not very good.

Ya, I don't doubt it...I was just curious if they were any good. It seems at least a few people think they are good so, I will at least try it some day!

[MN Fisher]

58 minutes ago, RoLo said:

Removing 2 to 3 lb eaters is a service to the bass population and to the fishing community. 

Fresh-caught bass will likely be more delicious than any fish served in a high-priced restaurant.

That's my 'slot' for keepers - though only every other one in that range is kept. I love Bass cooked under the broiler. Decent Crappie and slab-Sunnies also go home with me.

[WRB]

Welcome to bass fishing.

You live in the state of Washington where cold water fish are held at a higher esteem then warm water fish like bass. The majority of anglers where you live believe bass are trash fish and should be tossed on the bank to die because they don't taste as good as the trout, steelhead and salmon they seek. Your states fishery management believes bass are invasive species that should be eliminated.

The vast majority of anglers in the rest of the country hold bass as a sought after sport fish. This site holds bass at a high esteem and made up of catch & release anglers and anglers who believe in selective harvest to keep fishery population balanced.

Tom

[bassh8er]

2 hours ago, Hammer 4 said:

 

 

If the guys around you are giving you the stink eye when you catch a bass, it's probably a good idea to let em go to avoid any confrontations. It's up to you.

Sorry, but I think this is horrible advice.  If you are following legal length and crew limits, do whatever you would like; just make sure you know the regulations.

 

As long as you know how to clean and take care of your catch; enjoy them.  I don’t prefer to keep Bass but I just kept a 2-man limit of crappie on Saturday and fried them up that night.

[Teal]

17 minutes ago, WRB said:

This site holds bass at a high esteem and made up of catch & release anglers and anglers who believe in selective harvest to keep fishery population balanced.

Tom

VERY WELL SAID.

 

[Hammer 4]

14 minutes ago, bassh8er said:

Sorry, but I think this is horrible advice.  If you are following legal length and crew limits, do whatever you would like; just make sure you know the regulations.

 

As long as you know how to clean and take care of your catch; enjoy them.  I don’t prefer to keep Bass but I just kept a 2-man limit of crappie on Saturday and fried them up that night.

Your opinion...I have witnessed guys almost getting into fights over keeping bass, even though it was legal. Better to keep em another day than to risk a confrontation. And as I said, it's up to the op. I stand by that. 

[scaleface]

1 hour ago, mcipinkie said:

One other note of interest:

 

In areas that have slot limits, the fishery is improved (at least that's the theory) by removing the fish under the slot per the limit allowed.  The purpose of a slot limit is to encourage the harvest of small fish.  If the theory is correct, we CR people are actually damaging the fishery by not keeping the unders.

 

I actually do understand the theory on a lake that is overpopulated with little fish, but I don't like to clean fish any more, and my wife doesn't like to cook them.

 

Shame, because 10 - 11 inch bass taste great. 

 Problem with my local lake is I rarely catch bass below the slot . Lots of bass in the slot and I limit out more times than not on bass over the slot .So once or twice a year I keep a limit of fifteen inchers .