Guilty Pleasure Species?

[KSanford33]

Assuming you're going out to catch bass, which species (or more than one) are you not upset to catch instead of bass?

[Jig Man]

Walleye, crappie or white bass so I could eat them.

[A-Jay]

Local By-Catch on the bigger inland waters here includes Musky, Pike, Walleye & Trout.

Early season, the brown and rainbow trout are a total blast on light spinning gear,

putting on quite a show. 

My strike to land ratio on big Musky is pretty low but I've managed to hold a few.

Pike are almost always a huge PIA, even when they are bigger.  They trash everything.

But when I hook a big one, I'll still work hard to land it; just to get my bait back if nothing else.

When the toothy critters are thick, I'll either move or add a trace of wire.

Then there's the walleye, I like them.

Because they taste very good, I'll knock the sides of a limit of cutters just about every chance I get.

I will often make them my target species after initially heading out for Brown Bass.

Depends if the season's open on them yet or not. 

Panfish taste awesome too, just not a fan of cleaning so many at a time. 

A-Jay

 

 

[DogBone_384]

I'll take anything when bass aren't playing nice.  I fish one pond where yellow perch rival a lot of the smallies I catch and a couple other ponds that have 3 & 4 pound chain pickerel.

[Woody B]

I only target Bass.....or at least I use bass tackle and bass lures.   The lake I fish most if FULL of BIG Catfish.   I can usually tell the difference between a Bass and a big Cat on sonar, but I'll cast to the cats anyway.   Blue Cats fight hard but give up quickly, so they aren't all that fun.   Flatheads don't fight that hard to start with, but when they see the boat the freak out.   It takes patience, steady pressure, good boat control and luck to land a big one on bass tackle.   I was 1/2 mile away from where I hooked this one when I finally got it in the boat.   

 

[Skunkmaster-k]

White bass scratch my itch , but I’d rather eat a walleye. 

[Jar11591]

I don’t mind catching big pike or panfish. On the rare occasion I’m not targeting bass, I’m targeting panfish or trout with fly or spinning tackle. I get enough esox while bass fishing to get my fill without having to target them. 

 

[TOXIC]

Tons of fun.  Never targeted, common to catch and on a Ned with 6lb test, it’s a hoot. 

[gim]

Walleye or muskie are a tolerable bycatch for this guy when targeting bass.

 

Pike generally are not because 90% of them are of the small annoying variety. Every once in a while a more sizable one is had. I catch more pike than any other species of fish besides bass here in Minnesota.

 

I release my bycatch. I am not really interested in eating them anymore like I used to be when I was younger. I should probably keep more small pike. They are very abundant, easy to catch, and the daily bag limit is 10 here. I’m just not really into cleaning those slime darts.

 

The bass, walleye, and pike pictures posted I caught on three consecutive casts in October with a jerk bait in the exact same location. I didn’t want to take a photo of the pike but my friend made me so I could have evidence of a “trifecta.”

[greentrout]

A slab sac-a-lait caught on a rattlin' rapala. It gets released too.

Good Fishing 

[Susky River Rat]

I am not upset to catch walleye. Unless of course it’s doing a bass tournament on a body of water bites are hard to come by. Which I have done. Musky are pretty rare I even hook up with. Despite all the stories of the 50” musky the bass guys can’t keep off their lines I haven’t had this issue. (All heard while musky fishing) 

[Captain Phil]

Here in Florida, it's a Mudfish also called Bowfin and Grinnel.  They grow fairly large and fight like Heck!

[Dwight Hottle]

I always enjoy other species as by catches especially walleye. The only by catches I don’t enjoy are trash fish like drum & the occasional alligator here in FL. 

[TnRiver46]

Striper, gar, walleye, catfish, drum, crappie, bluegill, shellcracker, skipjack, sturgeon, white bass, yellow bass, redbreast, yellow perch, rock bass. 
 

I’ve caught 8-10 species in a 2-3 hour trip after work many times, I like to catch about anything except trout  

[Bankbeater]

Fighting and landing a nice catfish is always fun.

[scaleface]

I dont care what it is. I really like fishing for common carp .

[T-Billy]

 

I don't feel guilty about catching any species while bass fishing. I enjoy catching them all, but......

[gim]

@T-Billy you caught all those while you were bass fishing??

 

I rarely catch any panfish when I’m bass fishing. Certainly not a cooler full of them. The only time is when I’m using a ned rig that I think of.

[T-Billy]

9 hours ago, gimruis said:

@T-Billy you caught all those while you were bass fishing??

 

I rarely catch any panfish when I’m bass fishing. Certainly not a cooler full of them. The only time is when I’m using a ned rig that I think of.

Yep. Crappie love little jerk baits. 

[gim]

5 hours ago, T-Billy said:

Yep. Crappie love little jerk baits. 

Well alright then

[RipzLipz]

It is often painful for me to put down the baitcasters but always enjoy the colors on these little guys.

 

 

 

 

Released to the grease!

[galyonj]

I literally do not care what I catch. If I hook any kind of fish at all, that's a good day for me.

 

 

[RipzLipz]

I know of one bottom feeder, to which I was once married, that you wouldn’t want on your line. The stink bait alone is not worth it.

[MN Fisher]

Crappie and Walleye are my alternate targets...if the bass ain't biting, I'll pull out the gear for those others and try to get some table fare.

 

Snot-rockets I can do without...might taste good, but cleaning them is a total pain.

[gim]

1 hour ago, MN Fisher said:

Snot-rockets I can do without...might taste good, but cleaning them is a total pain.

I could go without catching them too.  I'd rather catch nothing than catch a pile of slime darts because at least my tackle won't get ripped up and shredded from the teeth.  And I land well over 100 of them each season targeting bass/muskie.

 

Seriously if you can't catch at least a few snot rockets, fishing may not be your thing here.  Billiards or bowling may be a better option.  You'd have to really be doing something wrong to completely avoid at least a few.