Would you purposefully keep a spawning fish?

[gim]

Not necessarily a bass, but if the fish was legal to keep and you knew they were spawning, would you keep it?

[GaryH]

No.

[Jig Man]

Are you talking in the act of spawning or during spawning season?

 

 I have caught many female white bass at night during the spawn which were laying their eggs.  I released them immediately.  I release all largemouth and smallmouth immediately after I catch them.

 

 

[volzfan59]

Nope, no way.

 

[Bird]

My fishing buddy always laughs at me because I frantically release fish during the spawn. 

No, won't keep a spawning bass but you do as you want, not my business. 

[A-Jay]

It takes a decent chunk of time for females to grow the eggs.

Accordingly, I've kept & eaten a few different species of fish

(don't eat bass) that were not actively spawning but still loaded with eggs.

Some folks chow hard on the egg sack.

I'm not one of them, but as I understand, it's quite a delicacy depending on the fish.

A-Jay

[jbsoonerfan]

I have cleaned a bunch of crappie that were full of eggs. Many times the crappie spawn is hard to judge when they have eggs or when they don't. Even 12" crappie can have eggs and you really can't tell. So yes, I suppose I purposefully kept them during the spawn. 

[Skunkmaster-k]

I like the eggs , if they’re cooked  thoroughly. Never had bass eggs, but walleye are good. Crappie too. Just got to be careful not to bust the sack when you clean them. They pop hot grease all over the place if they’re open. 

[padon]

dont keep bass. ever. i will keep crappie bluegill and perch during the spawn. i only keep about 20 of each every year. just what im gonna eat. dont load the freezer.

[WRB]

You are in a tournament and catch a DD female bass that wins the event, do you release it or weigh it? 100% of the time it gets weighed and often killed for a mount.

90% of all Baclk Bass, LMB, Spotted and Smallmouth over 4 lbs are females with eggs in some state of development and spend about 20% of each year in the seasonal period.

Tom

[Mike L]

The only time I would and have kept a bass with eggs is in a tournament setting especially after spending an inordinate amount of time trying to get it to bite. 
Those are what are targeted. 

Great care is made to transport and release alive and it’s not given a second thought.  
 

If fun fishing then No, it’s handled and released immediately with care. 
 

 

 

 

 

Mike

[Trox]

If it's a white or striped bass, yes. I actually clean em and feed them raw to my two cats... pet food is expensive!

 

to be fair though, I don't know (or care) enough about those species of bass to know if they are spawning or not, so "purposefully" may not be the best word. And I never target them but sometimes randomly catch a couple by accident. When that happens, and they're legal, I'll keep em.

 

 

[CrashVector]

No 

[Smells like fish]

Catch & release 

[Hammer 4]

Nope...They get treated with kid gloves and released asap. Usually I don't even take pic's of them, so they get back in the water fast.

[TnRiver46]

Well I fish in the spring time and eat fish so I’m sure I have. I have eaten eggs from white bass , don’t know if they were spawning or just getting ready. I’ve definitely kept limits of male white bass that I could see spawning in shallows. Any other species is a mystery, Like @WRB said they seem to have eggs inside almost year round 

 

you hunt deer when they rut, you hunt turkey when they strut. You catch panfish when they nest

[Catt]

I don't put bass or any animal on a pedestal above humans...period.

 

Y'all ain't got not problem eating beef, pork, chicken, crappie, walleye or any other species. I ain't got no problem eating a bass or an issue with someone who does.

[Derek1]

24 minutes ago, Catt said:

I don't put bass or any animal on a pedestal above humans...period.

 

Y'all ain't got not problem eating beef, pork, chicken, crappie, walleye or any other species. I ain't got no problem eating a bass or an issue with someone who does.

We’ll said

[Mobasser]

I have kept and cleaned hundreds of crappie that had eggs over the years. Not purposely, but because they met creel/ limit rules.  I usually don't keep any bass I catch.

[N Florida Mike]

1 hour ago, Catt said:

I don't put bass or any animal on a pedestal above humans...period.

 

Y'all ain't got not problem eating beef, pork, chicken, crappie, walleye or any other species. I ain't got no problem eating a bass or an issue with someone who does.

That’s it right there…

Sometimes it’s hard to tell if any kind of fish is carrying eggs or not . I don’t keep any bass over 17 inches , so the big egg bearers get released anyway. Any bass under that is fair game if I need some fish. Other fish I don’t worry about although if Im catching plenty I’ll let the obviously pregnant ones go.

[gim]

1 hour ago, Mobasser said:

I have kept and cleaned hundreds of crappie that had eggs over the years. Not purposely, but because they met creel/ limit rules.  I usually don't keep any bass I catch.

 

This is why I posted the question.  The overwhelming response so far seems to be that people don't purposefully keep spawning bass, but they keep other species that are spawning.  Why?  I realize that this is primarily a bass website, but it doesn't make a whole lotta sense to keep one and release the other if they're both in the middle of the reproductive process.

 

3 hours ago, Catt said:

eating beef, pork, chicken

Those are livestock, not wild fish or game.  They're specifically raised for that purpose.

[rtwvumtneer6]

Not on purpose. 

 

When I look at my local regulations, it appears that they try schedule the harvest season around the general reproductive schedule.  I.e. bass are catch and release until mid-June.  Doesn't always work, especially if we have a winter that hangs around for way too long.

[leinad]

100% catch and release !

[Catt]

16 minutes ago, gimruis said:

Those are livestock, not wild fish or game.  They're specifically raised for that purpose. 

 

They were all put in the earth to eat!

 

18 minutes ago, gimruis said:

but it doesn't make a whole lotta sense to keep one and release the other

 

Because some have put bass on a pedestal 

[gim]

5 minutes ago, Catt said:

Because some have put bass on a pedestal 

I'm just trying to probe some brains on this subject.  I realize that bass are on a pedestal with this crowd.  If we're trying to allow bass to reproduce, it seems to me that we should allow other game fish to do their thing too.  Maybe that is the most honest, blunt answer someone can give: because a bass is a superior game fish to another game fish.