How many of you actually fillet these things...

[Bass Hammer]

For me if I'm going to eat something it's the tunas in my freezer.

I personally don't care for bass.

Hammer

[bunchdouglas]

Here is the absolute best way to fillet a bass, hands down:

1.  Catch a beautiful LMB in the 3-6 pound range

2.  Take a quality picture of said fish

3.  Catch 10-20 crappie

4.  Release bass

5.  Fillet crappie and cook

6.  Eat fillets and admire picture of beautiful bass

never tasted better.........

[bassindude]

I still havn't heard what those of you that absolutely dont or will not eat bass do with fish that die in the live well, or are sure to die from being gut hooked.  Please don't through dead bass back into the lake.  Thats just wrong.  I to believe in releasing all that we can, but it is not ethical to kill something for the mear pleasure of fishing.  If it dies or will die eat it.  There is no difference between this and shooting a deer in the woods and walking away.  I don't mean to sound preachy but I hear a lot of people ( not necessarily here ) that are quick to judge people who keep fish to eat and I think that they should tack a look at there practices also.  

[dabluz]

I'll probably get flamed for this... and I don't even eat fish! ...lol

I have talked to Tx parks & wildlife staff as well as biologists about catch and release and always get the same response. Lake limits are established for a reason, some fish need to be kept. Keeping smaller fish will help almost every fishery... the exception being fish kills, new fisheries, etc. The biologists I have spoken with agree that to grow big bass you need to control the little bass populations. Little ones eat a much higher percentage rate per pound, than large bass. It's how they manage the lakes. When populations are high so are the limits, when they are low, the limits get lowered or sometimes temporarily halted. Just like deer tags or turkey tags, etc., etc..

I'm 100% against keeping a trophy fish- photo,weigh, measure and release- the replica mount will look better and last longer. Slot lakes are ideal and fish under the slot are what should be kept, if you keep any.

Now, having said all that, how many bass have I kept in the last couple years... NONE. But when asked to bring some home for friends in the past, I have kept small ones and would again, with no regrets.

To the original poster- if you ended up with thin small fillets on a 16-17 inch fish, you either caught a really skinny fish or missed a lot of meat.

We should be more worried about people keeping and killing illegal fish and people polluting our waters than a few legal fish kept for a dinner.

Final thought:

Stay within the laws and respect the resources that the Good Lord provided... and if you keep a few for dinner, don't forget the blessing, those fish were not there by accident!!

-keith

I completely agree with this.

[bassindude]

Well said Keith!!!

[Low_Budget_Hooker]

I still havn't heard what those of you that absolutely dont or will not eat bass do with fish that die in the live well, or are sure to die from being gut hooked. Please don't through dead bass back into the lake. Thats just wrong. I to believe in releasing all that we can, but it is not ethical to kill something for the mear pleasure of fishing. If it dies or will die eat it. There is no difference between this and shooting a deer in the woods and walking away. I don't mean to sound preachy but I hear a lot of people ( not necessarily here ) that are quick to judge people who keep fish to eat and I think that they should tack a look at there practices also.

I have eaten maybe 10 bass in my life.  Gut hooks, every one of them.  My partner I fish with now likes them more than I do so he has kept any bass we've accidently killed in the last couple years.  Either way, if he/she dies in a battle I started, the least I can do is show respect and not let it go to waste.

[Matt Fly]

I don't begrudge people for eating what they catch.  They paid for their fishing license to.   Bass are not bad to eat, they just aren't the best eating fish available if one is fishing for supper.

I will attest to the fact that,  I have never weighed a dead fish at a tournament.   Knocking on wood as we speak.  

LBH,

    Most T's I fish, the dead go on ice and get eaten by the tourney staff.   Providing the gills have some color left.  Not already spoiled.  

This time of the year, I don't worry about the livewell temp, its okay.   During the summer months, I fill my livewell up early in the morning as to get the cooliest water in my wells.   I add my live release and Ice as needed to keep my fish fresh and the water cool in the dog days of summer.

Most Tournaments, I fish out of a BassCat PanteraIII,  If you haven't seen the depth and size of these LW's,  they are some of the largest out there.  That was my first priority on selecting a boat.  Deep livewells.  I fish out of a 2004 skeeter that doesn't come close to having enough space for fish.  But Skeeter pays bonus money for fishing out of a qualified skeeter.  On lakes that produce average of 15lbs stringer on the norm, it works.  But for lakes like Sam Rayburn and Toledo Bend where 25lb stringers are common, a good livewell is a must especially in the summer.

[bassindude]

Thanks guys, I'm just glad to hear that common sense prevails.

[Keepin_It_Reel]

bassindude

if you are talkin about me saying that i will never eat a bass and that you think that i throw my dieing fish back into the water u r wrong. 2 tell u the truth i have never gut hooked a fish so that common sense post better not be aimed at me.

[dabluz]

The only time a fish could be gut hooked would be when using live bait.

When using live bait, the best thing a fisherman could do is strike the fish fast.....before the fish has time to swallow the bait.

[Chris]

bassindude

if you are talkin about me saying that i will never eat a bass and that you think that i throw my dieing fish back into the water u r wrong. 2 tell u the truth i have never gut hooked a fish so that common sense post better not be aimed at me.

How someone can take a post and think its aimed at anyone strikes me as odd. I don't think the post was aimed at anyone. Sometimes fish get gut hooked it is just part of the game. It is not a fault of anyone or anything but what you choose to do with the fish is in our control.

[dabluz]

I tried to fillet a bass and I don't see how there's enough meat on them to get it done. The one I had was 2.5 lbs and like 16-17" long, and that seemed like a decent size, so I would think most of them caught aren't going to be much bigger. I was told to first cut the meat off the bone on one side and then cut the skin off the meat, but the amount of meat was so thin (like 1/8" inch) that you when you try to cut the skin off you couldn't keep the meat together. I was thinking it would have made much more sense to scale it and then just bake it whole.

When a fish is well filleted, you normally end up with about 1/2 of the fish's weight in meat.  I think you just need a bit more technique and you will be happier with your fish fillets.

[Guest River_stumps]

I have always practiced catch and release when I'm bass fishing. But that is my personal preference, and I have no problem with anyone eating their harvest.. I live in an area where I can load my freezer with Stripper, croaker and other game fish.. But neva, neva do I fillet a bass.

[Guest River_stumps]

I still havn't heard what those of you that absolutely dont or will not eat bass do with fish that die in the live well, or are sure to die from being gut hooked. Please don't through dead bass back into the lake. Thats just wrong. I to believe in releasing all that we can, but it is not ethical to kill something for the mear pleasure of fishing. If it dies or will die eat it. There is no difference between this and shooting a deer in the woods and walking away. I don't mean to sound preachy but I hear a lot of people ( not necessarily here ) that are quick to judge people who keep fish to eat and I think that they should tack a look at there practices also.

I believe every one here will try to keep their fish alive. But if one dies, I don't believe it will be thrown back into the lake or river with the live ones. And I believe everyone has given their personal preference on catch and release. I don't have a problem with them wanting to eat their catch. My preference is catch and release..

[bassindude]

It was not aimed at you KIR, but it was aimed at club tournament fishermen.  I'm sure that my small club had done this until I stepped in and started gathering up the dead fish.  Don't get me wrong, i'm not aginst clubs either, they just need to use common sense.  As I stated earlier, Thats how clubs and tournaments get a bad reputation.  I don't know about your part of the country but here in middle tennessee we have to get permission to hold a tournament at a particular ramp.  If, after weigh in, there are dead fish washing up on shore, and word gets out, do you think you would be more likely or less likely to be granted permission for the next tournament?  I think that one of the solutions is better livewell management, I probably should have said that earlier.  As far as directly pointing the finger at someone I would not do that in this forum.  If I did have a disagreement with someone I would send them an e-mail.  So were good KIR. I wish I could say i had not gut hooked any.  I use a 3" worm sometimes and I dont always feel the hit early enough.