Would you eat a pot bellied female bass full of eggs in the spring?

[fourbizz]

UrbanRedneck is a biologist, and a dang good bass fisherman. He sight fishes too.

[Catt]

Let me take it one step farther; if you put a filet knife to a big female in the summer, you are just as guilty of removing a spawner from the population as you would be in the spring.

[burleytog]

What kind of ingredients do I have at my disposal?  Salt, pepper, panko, peanut oil?

[ROCbass]

I've always wanted to try caviar, this is the only way I could afford it ;D

[RobbyZ5001]

UrbanRedneck is a biologist, and a dang good bass fisherman. He sight fishes too.

As I know some will, but I can't picture the majority of them agreeing with it. I think it depends a lot of region as well. I don't think there are too many studies done on angler effect on spawning fish either. If anyone knows of any articles I have access to over 100 databases. I was looking last night for quite awhile.

[Bassnajr]

If my family needed food...yes

Other than that...no!!!!!

ajr

[Gatorbassman]

UrbanRedneck is a biologist, and a dang good bass fisherman. He sight fishes too.

As I know some will, but I can't picture the majority of them agreeing with it. I think it depends a lot of region as well. I don't think there are too many studies done on angler effect on spawning fish either. If anyone knows of any articles I have access to over 100 databases. I was looking last night for quite awhile.

Another thing to consider is how many biologist specialize in warm or cold water fisheries. There are a lot of cold water biologists who think they are warm water specialists just because they learned about it in school but haven't practiced it in real life. There are a lot who think that how they learned to do it in school is the only way it can be done. There are some who think that the LMB is a predatory fish that needs to be eradicated to save the trout and salmon. I work with Bob Lusk on one of the most heavily managed bass lakes in the country. To many he is considered the top warm water fisheries biologists in the country. One thing that I've learned is that every body of water is different and if you ask 10 biologists to give you their opinion you will get 10 very different opinions. So you can't say that it's wrong or it's right. You must consider the ecosystem of that particular body of water before you come to a conclusion of weather it's detrimental or not.

[SPEEDBEAD.]

Robbie, echoing what Fluke said...

You should hear Bob Lusk speak about what he does.  It is a very informative and entertaining session.  The guy flat-out knows how to grow fish to their potential.  

He builds a pretty dam good lake too.  LOL

He is a member here, PM him.  He has answered questions for me in the past and each one turned out to be spot-on.

[SPEEDBEAD.]

UrbanRedneck is a biologist, and a dang good bass fisherman. He sight fishes too.

I didnt know he was a biologist.  No wonder he is a stick.

[RobbyZ5001]

That is some interesting insight fluke. I see what your saying and I agree with some of it. I stated that I think that it varies with regions. I am sure warm and cold water have different effects on spawning fish. I couldn't tell you which does what or how, but overall I don't think catching and release spawning fish is beneficial. I am not saying it has a large impact, but I think it does have an impact.

Fish have a large fecundancy (sp.?). Say there are 15,000 eggs and only 3000 eggs produce fry. The 3000 fry which is a fragile state need to survive and continue to decrease until they reach a certain size.

Some ways that catching and releasing bass could have a negative effect on the spawn

-Stress on female resulting in less eggs

-Removing males from the bed

-Males losing energy resulting in having a hard time defending the bed.

These are just a few I thought of. If there are a large amount of anglers catching and releasing the bass, and it does have an effect then even a small amount of egg loss can have a large effect. Suppose that by catching and releasing spawning fish it loses 50 eggs. In 3 fish caught and released you would lose 1 fingerling. Say it takes 150 eggs to get 1 fish to the fingerling state.

This is all said with no research done, but just how I think of it. I voiced how I felt now you can all rip me apart. The numbers are made up for the most part, but I believe 15,000 is high end to the amount of eggs. I would be interested in some of the biologists views.

[fishfordollars]

The 2-3 lbs up always go back any time of year.

If I had to eat bass(And I don't), it would be all those popcorn spots that are infesting our lakes. They are worse than rabbits and are out of control in this area.

Please, all you s.e. boys, I'm not refering to those beautiful Alabama spotted bass that grow up and down the Coosa chain. They are a different species and I would love to be back there catching a few.  

[RobbyZ5001]

Robbie, echoing what Fluke said...

You should hear Bob Lusk speak about what he does. It is a very informative and entertaining session. The guy flat-out knows how to grow fish to their potential.

He builds a pretty dam good lake too. LOL

He is a member here, PM him. He has answered questions for me in the past and each one turned out to be spot-on.

Yea, I have contacted him before about job information. I am going to PM him about this, because it has been in my mind for awhile there needs to be some light shed on it for me. My prof's are some of the best fisheries biologists in the nation as well. They don't do work with bass though. The one works with Africa Cichlids, and the other primarily works with the Lake Trout fishery.

[tyrius.]

I wouldn't keep one mainly because I'm too lazy to clean them and my wife doesn't like fish.

One must study their home water and try and determine how many fish are being kept.  In order for the fish in the lake to reach their maximum size some fish from each year class MUST be harvested or killed.

As Mattlures said you can have a ton of small fish or a few huge fish, but you won't have both.

[J Francho]

I think the point the OP is trying to make is that bed fishing equates to eating them, despite practicing C&R.  I don't agree, but on smaller waters, I avoid bed fishing.  This is a VERY personal issue, and I wouldn't even bother to try to convince one side to change their minds, let alone cast any judgment about that person's opinions.  I don't think any results, either anecdotal or published research can possibly apply to every body of water, everywhere.

Bottom line, it is an ethics question, and for me the answer is fluid.  As far as the fish I have caught off beds (BTW, I suck at this when targeting them, LOL), I have no guilt or remorse.

[Tin]

I bet everyone who is against bed fishing on here has made a blind cast and caught a fish off of a bed multiple times and they never even knew it.... :

[Btech]

Agreed Tin - Im just out there to catch fish ... thats it...

[R@ngerman195vs]

My personal choice is Catch and Release.  I don't fault those who keep an occasional fish or two.  My jaw only tightens when I see folks who are just out on a meat hunt.  Anyone who fishes from my boat better be prepared to release every fish they catch, unless one is mortally wounded.  

[brophog]

If my family needed food...yes

Other than that...no!!!!!

ajr

There are a lot easier fish to catch for food than a fat bass.

Better tasting fish, too.  

[AverageJoeBass]

My family and friends always C&R.  Unless the fish is of course mortally wounded.  IMO,  a properly cooked bass is a tasty treat.  

[fishinfiend]

 Its going to have the same effect regardless of when you remove it, only difference is that when the fish is full of eggs it has more of a psychological and emotional effect on some people than other times of the year.  

That is an excellent point. I think bass taste delicious, but I only eat them a few times a year because it is a pain in the butt to clean them and break out the  fryer.  

[J Francho]

Why are we discussing C&R?  The question isn't whether you C&R or not, its if you C&R, why do you bed fish?  I think many are missing the analogy.  

The answer to the rhetorical question posed in the thread title should be, "No."  What we're answering is the question, "Does removing a male guarding a nest equate to harvesting bass."

I already answered that question above.

[Tin]

So....

If you sight fish for guarding males you should not practice catch and release with other fish because you're putting fish back into the water that will eat fry that are unguarded because you caught the males guarding them....

;D

[J Francho]

Or you could judt go fishing, LOL.  Tin, you know as well as I do that to limit our shortened fishing season any more would basically leave us all of 5 weekends a year to fish.  Not going to happen.  ;D

[ROCbass]

The answer to the rhetorical question posed in the thread title should be, "No."

Why? As long as its a legal fish I see nothing wrong with keeping and eating it if thats what the person chooses to do

[J Francho]

The answer to the rhetorical question posed in the thread title should be, "No."  

Why? As long as its a legal fish I see nothing wrong with keeping and eating it if thats what the person chooses to do

If you answered, "Yes, " then the second half of the question doesn't apply to you, and there is no need to answer the thread.  Read th initial post again, and you'll see what the OP is getting at.  I never said anything about whether it was right or wrong for you to keep and eat bass, as you said, its legal.

Legal issues and moral issues are two different things.  The assumption is, that if your answer to the title is, "Yes, " then there is no need to explain bed fishing, since you'll keep and eat those as well.  As its legal.  The OP is referring to a bigger moral question, and possibly trolling in the meantime.