13 + Lb Bass Caught Above Pickwick Dam.

[Brian Needham]

That's not a frown, it's a scowl. I don't like anyone keeping big bass.....

^^^ This. Anyone that keeps a huge class bass is pretty selfish to me.

I know Capt. made the deer/fish relation and the only thing I can say is...I cant get a replica of a 200 class buck.

I am not a pansy liberal at all, I just believe we NEED to protect the things we love and as fisherman that is suppose to be the fish!!

By the same token I get peeved as well cause no cares about jumping carp until they hit the great lakes..... what's so special about the durn great lakes?..... is the great lakes anymore special fishing waters than all the fishing waters jumping carp DESTROYED down south? I personally think not.

back on topic.... I am just starting on the fishing journey, I can only hope there is still water, and fish in that water when I learn how to really catch em. With all the lead bans, non oil mixing, barbless hook laws going on the last thing we need to do IMO is take away the very thing we are trting to catch.

I maybe wrong....

[tomustang]

Isn't that the nature of the job? A game warden isn't out looking for someone poaching deer at 11 AM. A biologist isn't going to do electroshocking when most fish are deep. Whether it's an officer or a biologists they aren't working a normal 9-5 job.

I actually have no clue what the requirements are out of your states biologists.

The problem wasn't getting scales, it wasn't getting a wildlife officer there, it wasn't keeping the fish alive. The problem was getting the biologist there to get a sample of the fish. Why? Did they sample the current state record caught in 1954? Doubt it.

Even if you take the biologist out of the equation, it still wasn't certified, but anyway why didn't guy keep him, certify the weight at a station? If someone has a boat with a livewell and a tourney bag it might be possible to keep it alive. It does state that a biologist has to confirm species but it's up to them to reserve the right to do testing, it's not mandatory

Like you said earlier, fish tend to shrink out of water and under stress. I would imagine the scales they did have on hand were pretty reliable and it beat the state record by an oz. In TN, you only have to beat the fish by an oz. so it would have been imperative for that bio to get off his butt and get down there. For a state record bass, no I don't think it's overboard when you actually talk to the guy on the phone. I know if I was that guy I'd drop everything I was doing to get down there if the guy didn't want to kill the fish. Apparently it's part of the job description.

It also raises the question about what was done when that record happened in 1954, from what I've read about the current rules for record there's up to a 30 day time period, but was it like that in 1954 too?

[Pete-K]

I actually have no clue what the requirements are out of your states biologists.

Even if you take the biologist out of the equation, it still wasn't certified, but anyway why didn't guy keep him, certify the weight at a station? If someone has a boat with a livewell and a tourney bag it might be possible to keep it alive. It does state that a biologist has to confirm species but it's up to them to reserve the right to do testing, it's not mandatory

It also raises the question about what was done when that record happened in 1954, from what I've read about the current rules for record there's up to a 30 day time period, but was it like that in 1954 too?

But they did tell this guy, it woudl have to be tested to make sure it was not a Fl bass. Heres the rules for Tn.

http://www.tn.gov/twra/fish/FishRec_PDF/FishApplication.pdf Also if the from TWRA was in nashville its 2.5 hours one way. Thus this guy was not going to take a chance on killing the fish just for a record.

[Brian Needham]

so only non FLA bass can be records?

if so why does everyone stock them?

i am confused....

[Hyrule Bass]

"its one thing to encourage catch and release, but quite another to frown upon someone if they dont release a trophy fish or any legal fish for that matter""

That's not a frown, it's a scowl. I don't like anyone keeping big bass.

while you dont like it, its their right and choice to keep a big bass. you can scowl and be mad all you want, youre probably wasting your time. Its possible your scowling could cause some people to keep big bass just to get under your skin for not respecting their rights to keep fish...

That's not a frown, it's a scowl. I don't like anyone keeping big bass.....

^^^ This. Anyone that keeps a huge class bass is pretty selfish to me.

anyone who doesnt want a man to have his trophy of a lifetime sounds pretty selfish too, as well as jealous/envious...

[roadwarrior]

Well now, I am a little jealous and envious of Fish Chris and Big O,

but they release all their monsters.

I don't want to continue arguing a point we both have made. Let's just

agree to disagree. If you want the "last word" go right ahead, I'm done.

-Kent

[Brian Needham]

no, no.........I want everyone to have any huge fish they want. I am saying there is no reason in today's age. and for you to call me/us full of *** and the like is absurd IMO.

with pictures, measurments, ect ect, replicas are easy to get done. and they last longer, look better, and most of all preserve the wildlife we are trying to catch.

I have seen bodies of water go down hill fast.....nothing worse than watching someone drive off with a cooler full of 3 to 6 pound bass.

I have heard Bob Lusk say that even taking out 3pound fish can change the entire food dynamic of a body of water. so what to you think taking out use 15# does.

I am done, agree to disagree and walk away.

each his own, and mine will differ from yours. No big deal.

[Ebrahim Ali]

Catch,photograph,release...Three words to live by

[Basswhippa]

I am pretty well stunned by this entire thread. I've fished Pickwick many a time and released many great fish from this wonderful resource.

I am somewhat a contrarian. Up until this point I have never kept a single bass from Pickwick. Not one. I believe that I very well may begin keeping every single fish that I catch out of there that is a legal keeper. It would be well within my rights.

This thread sickens me. The guy probably is like most of us, we release thousands of fish over our lifetime and when he keeps one, people want to slit his tires or crucify him or something.

Instead of telling folks what a low life this man is, let us be happy for him. It's a great fish. It would be far more productive to figure how to get lots of milfoil back into the lake rather to argue what an outlaw loser that some who kept a single fish that is probably on it's last leg or year of life. Milfoil is the only reason the hawgs are there, and it's lack is why they are being caught.

I'm rethinking my catch and release only policy. A bass is still a fish, one of natures more simple life forms, maybe on par with an amphibian or turtle. As a bass and fish, as such, it is no better than a shad or drum or carp or catfish, which I have no qualm about killing. I've not eatin a bass in 30 years that I know of but I've never eatin a bad sunfish, of which a bass is one.

PS, if you want people to not take large fish from Pickwick, please have folks quit starting and posting internet threads on 14.58 pounders that are swimming around there(actually someone said it would be even bigger due to egg buildiup ) , posting threads of all the 10 pounders that are being caught right now, telling people there are World Record smallmouths cruising in there (which is highly doubtful and yes, I have seen brown fish between 8 and 9 pounds personally) and pull you 8 pound smallmouth avatars down!