Catch & Release

[bear7625]

Years ago in northern wisconsin the bass population was really declining. The DNR changed fishing regulations for LM & SM bass to "catch and release" from opening day untill the middle of June. Since that change the bass population has seen a dramatic increase. I have practiced catch and release for alot of years and so have many other fisherman I know.

I would like to hear your thoughts on this subject and what other states may have done.

[JigMe]

I have never paid close attention to bass regulations in my state, I just put everything back.

If I want to bring something home, it is either crappie or trout because I like to eat them... :-[

[kyron4]

Indiana hasn't changed any laws in a long time. Every year I write and ask for slot limit type regs. for bass, walleye and catfish and it never changes. From what I see only half the people even follow the laws we have so I doubt it would do much good to even change them. We have a 25 crappie limit, yet every year I watch people take bucket fulls home and laugh while doing it. Any Bass or walleye over 14" can be taken and I've seen it alot. We have a strict law about Spoonbills (paddle fish), an absolute no-no, very stout fine; yet I see people snag them and take them home anyways. Are DNR is very under staffed and people know it and take advatage. Last year I counted 18 boats without the proper permit sticker. So Cacth and Relase laws would only work if people followed them and we had the DNR numbers we need to enforce it.

[BigEbass]

I practice catch and release for bass - we will on occassion keep some crappie or catch and keep a few trout as well on a rare occassion.

Whatever will help improve the number and quality of bass in my body of water for better fishing I am for - which may include keeping certain size bass in some situations as I understand - bass fishing for me is all about catching!!  Lets make the catching as good as possible for us all I say

[BigEbass]

I practice catch and release for bass - we will on occassion keep some crappie or catch and keep a few trout as well on a rare occassion.

Whatever will help improve the number and quality of bass in my body of water for better fishing I am for - which may include keeping certain size bass in some situations as I understand - bass fishing for me is all about catching!! Lets make the catching as good as possible for us all I say

Thats disappointing  :'(

[zero limit]

Every bass is cpr in my book, the only fish I'll keep are ones caught in Lake Michigan salmon, trout or perch. theres a big debate here on perch fishing, they close fishing for perch for the month of july, when most think that april spawning season would be better time to shut down.

even crappie fishing I might keep a few but most go back

[BucketBuster]

I don't know the regulations in my state either, and I have always practiced catch and release with any species of fish. However, I have noticed over the past several years the population of bass in SW Ohio has increased. Either that or I'm getting better at catching them, but I prefer the former. I think since more and more people are looking at bass fishing as a sport, they are passing that mentality down to their children. Now their children are getting older and exercising catch and release for someone else to do the same. Also, with adults and schools stressing the importance of the environment more and more over the past decade or two, I have seen less litter along rivers and in lakes, thus possibly resulting in growing a healthy fish population.

[K_Mac]

My favorite lake has a 14"-18" slot limit. You can keep 5 under and 1 over. I do not keep anything over, but it is recommended that some smaller fish be kept to improve the fishery. A couple of times a year I will keep a few small fish. Selected harvest can work.

In my home state (Illinois) we don't have anywhere near enough DNR agents to effectively enforce the fish and game laws either. A sign of the economic times I'm afraid.

[roadwarrior]

Hmm...Not around here.

Tournament guys and a lot of serious recreational

fishermen release bass. However, the Tennessee

and Mississippi Rivers have always been noted for

"meat hunters".

Fisherman target crappie, catfish, striper, sauger,

white bass and gills. Largemouth, smallmouth

and spots are favorites for table fare, too.

I hate to see any of my pet brown fish taken,

but medium size green fish don't bother me at

all. For that matter, I would prefer having limits

removed on spots and a bounty paid for removing

drum, buffalo and gar.

8-)

[oteymc]

I am with you on the Drum, Buffalo, and Gar.

I haven't been bass fishing that long, so maybe my opinion is not qualified. I practice Catch and Release on all Bass with one exception. There is a small lake that is not far from here that has a slot limit on bass. It says right on the sign on the ramp that anglers are encouraged to harvest bass under 12". I guess there are too many small fish in the lake?

There are people who will try to make you feel bad for harvesting any fish, but like K-mac says, selected harvest has it's place.

I am not afraid to keep a mess of crappie for a fish fry.

I would never dream of taking a large fish. I have heard it said, don't take anything out that would be hard to replace.

That makes sense to me.

[Taylor Fishin 4 life]

In Big over fished resivoirs i believe in it for sure but in small ponds with hardly any fishing preasure i believe it helps to keep the dinks and let the bigger ones go

[D4u2s0t]

Only time I have ever kept a bass is at the campsite... i'll bring a few back to cook up.  Fishing my home lakes, I have never kept any.  Any keeper walleye are going in the pan though, unless it's a monster, then it goes back  8-)

[Hammer 4]

Here in Cali, lakes and the dfg set limits and size requirments, or C&R only..I never keep any sunfish. I will however keep a nice trout If it's been in Cold water, they just seem to taste better. All bas are C & R'd.. 8-)

[DeanFishesNY]

I always Catch and Release bass.. the only fish I keep are the trout stockies I go for around April 1st for a week.

[Goose52]

The lakes I fish have a slot limit of 14" to 21" - you can keep 5 bass under or over the slot. Regardless of that reg, I have always C&R'd everything with one exception. Last week, for the first time since I was a teenager (40+ years ago) I kept a bass - it was right at that 14" lower limit. My wife had never had bass before and the two little filets from that bass made a nice sampler.

[kyron4]

....... and a bounty paid for removing

drum, buffalo and gar.

8-)

:-? Those 3 species are all native to the waterways and part of the natural enviorment of the water system as they have been, for hundreds of years before man. If anything needs to be removed it's Carp , thet don't belong here and destroy waters. I'm a multi-speices fisherman and a a 5 lbs. Drum can be just as good as fight minus the jumps. Gar can also be exciting to catch they will leap out of the water like a Tarpoon sometimes, and Gar is delious table fair, yes Gar, I didn't believe till i tried it; so I harvest most of them. Point is C&R should apply to more than just bass, it's a delicate balance. If we removed all gar ,drum, etc. from a water way what impact would it have in 5 or 10 years ?  :-?

[fishfordollars]

I C&R and have not kept a fish in years to eat.

I do agree that selective harvest of certain size fish (Bass) will help keep a fishery in a balanced state. The Kentuckies have overrun a lot of our lakes and do need to be culled back at times.

[bassman31783]

95% of all the bass I catch are C&R.  The exceptions are the smaller bass that I catch in my private pond behind my parents house for selective harvest.  I'll also keep a bass if I've gut hooked it or accidentally did something that would not allow it to survive (which is almost never).  I NEVER keep a healthy good sized bass though.  Let it go to be caught another day...hopefully by me when it's much much bigger.    

[oteymc]

Todays In-Fisherman show is about this exact subject.

[SoFlaBassAddict]

Everything in fresh is catch and release to me.  Lots of stuff in saltwater is catch and release.  There are only a handful of saltwater species that I'll keep for the table.

[Helluva_Engineer]

C&R on reservoirs. In my pond I'll keep 8-12" bass for whole fish fries once every trip. Nothing tastes better and my little lake has managed to be bass heavy for the days when you want numbers and has multiple 12+ lb fish and tons of 8 lb bass.

[RiverFisher13]

I am strictly C&R with two small exception.

1. i love my pan fish

2. at a private pond my family and i have hand stocked, got to way to many 8-12 inch bass.

[FishinTN]

I C&R most of my bass, when I go i'll keep a limit or however many keeps i catch of crappie.

However, i recently read a article (Bassmaster newspaper i think) that removing some of the smaller bass can improve a fishery. It was a biologist that wrote the article, and I believe he was encouraging people to do so.

[DINK WHISPERER]

I will occasionally keep small bass for my mom to eat. Personally, i dislike the taste of bass and prefer catfish.

[bear7625]

There is nothing wrong with selective harvest and it's been proven it dose help fishing. All of us practice catch and release, but at the same time we do keep certain fish for the table. When I started this post, I wanted to see what else was being done to preserve what we all love so much. The people on this board,young and old, have made it clear that the future of our sport is in good hands! Our grandkids are smiling.