Keeping fish for eating.

[BassHunter69]

i refuse to keep largemouth or small mouth bass, i'll eat stripper however or sea bass,walleye,crappie,bluegills,and catfish. everything i may keep will be legal limit. wont keep cats over 2 lbs,nor will i keep tiny crappie fish  or bream, i refuse to eat musky or northern pike dont like them those get released with the bass. i do have a few great fish recipies however such as smoked striper dip, and a few others.

when i eat fish i like fried,smoked,grilled,baked etc....... i'm a big boy so i do eat  

i've been reading about selective harvest however and not too sure what to think about it,and when i do keep fish its not all that often,most of the time i release them .

[hamer08]

I tend not to keep fish because its a PITA to carry and clean them. We also have a protect slot at most lakes (12-18") for bass. I would prefer to see it 16-21". I think most of the lakes could use some more harvesting of 12"ers. Most of the bigger bass I catch tend to be long and lean, which to me suggests not enough food to support fat bass. I can usaully catch alot of 1-2 lbers so more harvesting wouldn't hurt.

Here is a 3 lb, 12 oz that is long and lean and typical of what we catch.

[dodgeguy]

that fish would be 6 if it was fat!!!i kept 1 this year.

[rondef]

I catch them, take a picture and then release them.  I even had some folks laugh at me the other day for taking a picture until I explained that I only catch and release bass and that is why I take pictures.

[Tokyo Tony]

If you just look at the head that fish looks like a 5 pounder  :'(

I've never kept a bass, don't really have much of an interest in keeping them (I heard they're not the tastiest fish in the world), but would have nothing against keeping the smaller ones.  With the bigger bass, I just have too much respect for them to be able to kill them, even if it's for eating.  I'm more tempted to kiss them than throw them in the livewell.

[Pond Hopper]

I love eating fish, bluegills, crappies, walleye, and perch.  However fishing mostly small farm ponds selective harvest is a must and I end up keeping a handful of small bass out of most of them every year to keep the population somewhat in check.  Lots of times, such as last night, I clean the bass and give the filets to the farmers to earn some brownie points.  

[Del from philly]

Every now and then i will keep a fish

*end of season, and over 2lbs.....

*Crappie slabs

Only in a large, well populated lake....

put it like this....

I caught about 60 fish this year....i kept 2 largemouth about 2lbs each, 1 smallmouth little over 3lbs, and 4 crappie...

[Davis]

Never keep LM or SM bass. Its almost like a thing of respect between the fish and I. Weird I know.

Never have kept blue-gill or pumpkinseed either. But I hear they are good eating.

In the small lake that I fish, there are a good amount of brook and brown trout. I do keep the brookies because they re-stock them every spring for the purpose of taking and eating them.

But bass IMO are off limits to me.

[Del from philly]

catch and release just feels good, but sometimes its nice to feed yourself the oldfashioned way

[Bob Kavanaugh]

I'm C&R, period. There's nothing wrong with keeping your share, but cleaning fish is too much work for me.

[TruflShufl]

I've only kept fish one time in my life, when I went catfishing with some other guys.

Other than that I'm strictly C&R. I don't like to eat fish, smell fish, cook fish. I just catch em (and most the time I aint too good at doin that  ;D). Nothin wrong with keepin em so long as they're legal, that's just not my bit.

[Jimzee]

I'll keep some bluegills once or twice a year to eat.  That's about it.

[Lucky Craft Man]

I C&R everything. Here's a story that happened and it rather angered me. There was a gentleman fishing with a bobber & worm and threw everything he caught into a dry white bucket. I figured that was no big deal since he was only catching bluegill. Well, he then caught a 5 lb Smallmouth in a lake where a 5 lb. SM is about as common as 20 lb LM are in CA. He procedes to throw the SM into his bucket (with the tail sticking out of the top). Before everyone here starts to say that it is his right to keep a fish, this took place a week before Bass season was even open. I approached the guy and informed him that Bass season wasn't open yet and that it might be in his best interest to release that fish. He proceded to tell me that was the biggest fish of his life. Then I told him that maybe the case, but if he was caught with that fish, he would face some heavy fines. Well, to make a long sory short, by the time I convinced him to release the SM, it was already dead, since it was sitting in a dry bucket for the 10 minutes it took for me to get through to the guy. Needless to say, I was a little angry.

[jaystraw]

I never keep fish, that's why I have a camera and scale.  I just do not like to kill fish if I can help it.  I feel terrible when I gut hook them, much less if I killed it on purpose.

But, I do not think its wrong to keep them, I'm just a wuss when it comes to killing anything.  My friend kept a 13 oz yellow perch he caught with me and he said it was great.

[Tucson]

I figure that once I've got him in the boat I can count coup so there's no point in killing it, just seems a little rude.  They've got those big eyes and..........

One point for me, thanks for the sport now swim back home and tell your story to your grandfish.

[ZombyGuru]

I C&R, i just fish for sport and fun, but mostly because i don't have the heart to snuff em' out!  

[WRB]

You should keep and eat a bass that is going to die, or let it go and the gulls, turtles or whatever will do that for you.

Take a look at http://www.State.tn.us/twra/fish/Reservoir/blackbass/livebass2.pdf

This is wriiten by a well known and repsected biologist is the fishing industry.

The point is C & R is a good practice, however not all the bass survive that you release. About 1 out of 4 tournament caught bass, that have been placed in a live well, may die as a result. The only way to reduce that number is to improve your handling of the bass; 70 degree cool water in the live well, oxygenation pumps to keep the DO levels up and salt water solution to reduce stresses. If a bass rolls over and can't keep upright, it may die. If you keep a bass out of water for more than a minute it may die. If it looks in poor condition, loss of irridesent coloring, fins not extended or very sluggest behavior it may be over stressed to the point that it may not recover regardless of the attemps to do so. Take that bass home and enjoy what nature has provided, a good meal. Release the healthy bass and improve your handling of these fish so they can live after C & R, it's in your hands.

Large bass over 24" long are the most affected by stresses of being captured and require the best possible handling. Avoid putting them in a live well and taking several pitures requiring the bass to be held out of water for more than a minute. If you must put them in a live well, try to reduce the amount of time and be sure to keep the water cool, add ice if needed and keep well oxygenated. About 50% mortality rate of big bass when handled poorly.

[Siebert Outdoors]

Yes I do keep fish but not often.  I'm to lazy usually, its easier to throw them back.  Now this year I've kept alot of crappie, gills.  I dont think i've cleaned over 5 bass.  Ask me sunday my answer might be different.  I'm feelin a fish fry coming on.

[Clayton]

I voted sometimes, but sometimes is more like once a year.  I help with our annual fish fry.  Actually last year I was the only one who caught any fish.  Caught 15 and fed a whole bunch of people.

[roadwarrior]

You should keep and eat a bass that is going to die, or let it go and the gulls, turtles or whatever will do that for you.

Take a look at http://www.State.tn.us/twra/fish/Reservoir/blackbass/livebass2.pdf

This is wriiten by a well known and repsected biologist is the fishing industry.

The point is C & R is a good practice, however not all the bass survive that you release. About 1 out of 4 tournament caught bass, that have been placed in a live, well may die as a result. The only way to reduce that number is to improve your handling of the bass; 70 degree cool water in the live well, oxygenation pumps to keep the DO levels up and salt water solution to reduce stresses. If a bass rolls over and can't keep upright, it may die. If you keep a bass out of water for more than a minute it may die. If it looks in poor condition, loss of irridesent coloring, fins not extended or very sluggest behavior it may be over stressed to the point that it may not recover regardless of the attemps to do so. Take that bass home and enjoy what nature has provided, a good meal. Release the healthy bass and improve your handling of these fish so they can live after C & R, it's in your hands.

WRBnote; large bass are the most affected by stresses of being captured and require the best possible handling. Avoid putting them in a live well and taking several pitures requiring the bass to be hels out of water for more than a minute. If you must put them in a live well, try to reduce the amount of time and be sure to keep the water cool, add ice if needed and well oxygenated. About 50% mortality of big bass when handled poorly.

Excellent points, good post. I think the focus should be on bigger fish, the rare ones not the common gamefish in a healthy environment. Creel limits are designed to promote the species. Still, I just can't bring myself to keeping smallmouth. I admit, I'm bias!

[Davis]

Excellent points, good post. I think the focus should be on bigger fish, the rare ones not the common gamefish in a healthy environment. Creel limits are designed to promote the species. Still, I just can't bring myself to keeping smallmouth. I admit, I'm bias!

LOL thats how I am with both LM and smallies. You know how certain cultures consider a cow holy?

Well its that same kind of respect that I have for bass. Except I don't see them as holy considering that I'm a christian.  ;D

[Del from philly]

road warrier,

why dont you keep smallies??? because they are caught less???

[CJ]

i'll eat stripper however

;D sorry I had to

I don't keep any bass and never have.Dad just raised me that way.I do eat crappie,sauger,and catfish from the lake.

[MemphisFisherman]

Wow good responses =)  I used to feel just TERRIBLE putting fish in the livewell, but then I realized I only caught them because they were trying to eat a fish as well, it's the circle of life.  

And before someone say's "well they have no other option than eating other fish" YES, I AM BROKE AND STARVING!!

[roadwarrior]

road warrier,

why dont you keep smallies??? because they are caught less???

No, I just have a special regard for them. The is no legal, ecological or ethical question, just a personal perspective. I consider smallmouth my pet fish. I don't have as high regard for green bass, but I don't keep they very often either.