Catch & Release 2024

Johnathan Rainey reply :

This is my first post ever. I've always been a fan of catch and release for bass anyways. But every now and again, I'll keep a few. BUT, I'm very strict in which ones I keep. As in they can not be over 14" (depending on lake/river regulations). I see how mad people can get over this subject. But I've always researched and found that culling out the smaller bass out of lakes is much healthier for the entire ecosystem. What do others think? And why?

sprint61 reply :

I agree with you plus they taste good.

Darren. reply :

First, welcome aboard, Johnathan!

Personally, I release all the fish I catch now.

Have kept crappie and a bass or two 30 years
ago. Fish just isn't a staple in my diet. I'll let
others eat 'em.

nascar2428 reply :

In my neck of the woods, 14" is the smallest you can keep. I personally only practice catch and release. The only time I get upset is when the regulations are being broken . To each his own when it comes to catch and release.

ethan-333 reply :

i release all bass. better tasting fish out there imho. and i cant bear the thought off keeping a fish that i could catch later and it weighs 5 lbs lol

bluegill, catfish, sauger/walleye, rainbow trout, crappie, white bass id rather eat those

Jaderose reply :

I C&R only. With that said, does that mean YOU should? Nope...so long as the fish you are taking are of legal size and you are not otherwise fishing illegally, you are good to go. Even if it DID p*ss me off....that would be my problem. Not yours.

Mike L reply :

I don't keep them either. However I have moved bass to another body of water if where Ive caught them is hurting the fishery because of over population. And only then if it was documented as such.

Mike

BassinLou reply :

I practice C&R 100% of the time, if other anglers want to eat their catch, and they are legal catches. Enjoy..

Hog Basser reply :

Catch & Release on public waters for the most part for me, but will sometimes keep a few to eat. But I have private waters where culling is necessary and I actually love the taste of bass when prepared properly. I regularly eat bass, catfish and crappie I catch on my own private waters and keep my fishery healthy with the practice. Makes for a lot more bigguns down the road since all the forage doesn't get gobbled up every year.

Johnathan Rainey reply :

Like lake chesdin here in my area, there are almost no small fish. Quality bass only. I never would keep fish out of there. But then great creek lake has really small fish, then a giant gap that goes straight to 6+ pders. I'd keep every small fish out of there to get rid of the gap, if it were legal. But I would monitor my outtake of the lake to make sure I didn't take so many that the ecosystem got extremely off balance. I wouldn't just throw them away of course! But I'd love to see some 2 and 3 pd fish in there. But there is none. That's the only way I could see it being a good thing to keep that many. But too many small fish will kill off the big fish in a hurry.

tander reply :

I mostly practice C & R but I have no problem in keeping some to eat. Saying that, I prefer crappie over bass any day.

slonezp reply :

N Florida Mike reply :

I throw back every bass over 3, unless they die on me.Im a big fish eater so I'll keep some smaller bass, mainly to cull out some of the smaller fish on the home lake.I prefer catfish and bream but small fileted bass are good too.

Sam reply :

Tackle, rods, reels and other equipment $1,500

Bass Boat, Motor, Trailer, Gas, Oil, Batteries, etc. $35,000

Catching and releasing those beautiful bass Priceless

How about going to the Introductions and letting know a little about you.

And do you live in McKenney? Best ice cream shop in the state is in McKinney. Just watch the local cops and their radar.

Welcome to the Forums. We look forward to reading your posts and giving you our input.

yugrac reply :

Have not kept a fish since I was 14 years old, [42 years ago] and then all I ever kept were bluegill or catfish. I throw back every thing I catch.

The hunt and the catch is what I am after, if I want fish I go to long john silvers.

jc68 reply :

catch and release only on bass. bream and crappie were made for eating.

Raul reply :

Dear Mr Dink, meet Mrs frying pan.

Lil Joe The Grinder reply :

To each his own. I hunt and fish like a Native American and only keep what I need. In a solid year at Toledo Bend I have kept zero bass cause I don't need them yet. When I do keep some from there, they will be a hair over 14 inches. It's Lent and I love to eat fish and find bass second only to sac-a-lait. I'm just not greedy about it and don't freezer burn fish for my ego.

Bluebasser86 reply :

I wish I liked to eat fish so I could help cull some of the little bass out of a couple of the local lakes. Nothing wrong with keeping some fish to eat, just practice selective harvest. Release the big ones to get bigger and only keep what you can eat that day. This is a very sensitive subject for sure, but some fish have to be removed to keep a fishery healthy in a majority of cases. I don't have any problem with keeping fish like I described, it's the "gotta fill the freezer", types that irritate me. Plus, in Kansas anyways, if you have a freezer full of fish, you're likely over your possession limit (3 times the daily creel limit).

Catt reply :

I practice selective harvesting under the direction of a fishery biologist. These were removed, measured, weighed, blood, & scale samples taken by a biologist. The fish were cleaned & given to a homeless shelter.

Sam reply :

On 2/24/2016 at 10:26 AM, Little Fish.... said:

To each his own. I hunt and fish like a Native American and only keep what I need. In a solid year at Toledo Bend I have kept zero bass cause I don't need them yet. When I do keep some from there, they will be a hair over 14 inches. It's Lent and I love to eat fish and find bass second only to sac-a-lait. I'm just not greedy about it and don't freezer burn fish for my ego.

Sac-a-Lait = crappie for those of you who don't know.

Hunting and fishing in Louisiana is outstanding. Keeping your Louisiana bounty does not injure the population since the mammals and fish do so well in the Louisiana environment.

Little Fish, be sure to nail a bunch of nutria, too.

Louisiana = Sportsman Paradise.

Come to Louisiana as you are and leave different!!!!!

It is a cultural thing.

Geaux Tigers!

Bankbeater reply :

I keep catfish, bluegill, and crappie. I don't care for the taste of bass.

MDBowHunter reply :

When It comes to bass its C&R, but that's just because I don't care for their taste all that much. Now when it comes to crappie, yellow perch, snakeheads or catfish, let's heat up the oil. YUM YUM

Fishin Ethan reply :

I always catch and release and part of that is because I fish ponds. Catch and Relase is a must. My friend caught a 8lb bass out of a pond then threw it back. Release the fish so you can catch it again.

Let'm go Let'm grow

DaileyLimit reply :

I C&R almost all the time. Once or twice a year, I'll help catch bluegill/crappie/catfish for a big fish fry.

Last year, I took two multi-day kayak trips on the Buffalo River. Kept a few rock bass to eat for dinner and plan on doing it again this year. Would've kept a smallmouth or two, but never caught any keeper length fish.

Super fresh fish, cooked over an open fire on the bank of the river is too good for me to pass up.

Catt reply :

For a bass to reach 10 pounds plus it must have the ecosystem, food source, but more importantly the genetics and not just in the female but in the male as well.

The releasing of bass 3 or 5 or 8 pounds thinking you'll get double digit when the genetics aint there all you will get is an abundance of 3-8 pound bass.

Those bass were harvested from a private marsh known for producing only 6-7 pound bass but through selective harvesting and selective breeding it now produces bass up to 12 pounds.

scaleface reply :

I keep and eat small bass . They are delicious . A lot of lakes have slot limits and I eat the ones under the slot mostly . If i badly hook bigger fish and they are bleeding profusely I will keep them also .One lake I go to of has no length limit and a 12 fish creel . They are encouraging anglers to keep fish and I'm happy to oblige .

WIGuide reply :

I practice catch and release quite a bit of the time with bass, but I have nothing against keeping smaller ones, usually nothing over 15" unless it's badly hooked and not going to live. I keep northerns and panfish to eat as well.

everythingthatswims reply :

On 2/24/2016 at 7:28 AM, Johnathan Rainey said:

Like lake chesdin here in my area, there are almost no small fish. Quality bass only. I never would keep fish out of there. But then great creek lake has really small fish, then a giant gap that goes straight to 6+ pders. I'd keep every small fish out of there to get rid of the gap, if it were legal. But I would monitor my outtake of the lake to make sure I didn't take so many that the ecosystem got extremely off balance. I wouldn't just throw them away of course! But I'd love to see some 2 and 3 pd fish in there. But there is none. That's the only way I could see it being a good thing to keep that many. But too many small fish will kill off the big fish in a hurry.

I fish a ton of places with the gap between 15" and 6lbs like you're describing.

gardnerjigman reply :

I'll keep and eat crappie, wipers, walleye and flathead. I've eaten bass before and have no issue with them. Around me the length limit makes them money fish in tournaments... meaning it could be $100-$500 fish... that's a lot of big macs if ya get what I'm saying.

GJM

WRB reply :

Catch & Release has become a cult like practice without using common sense.

Bass are a renewable resource and managed that way. Nearly every state has minimum size length limit and number of fish that can be kept and maintain the fishery in good health.

As long as everyone follows the states regulations, the bass population can maintain it's population.

When anglers practice C&R without considering the bass may not servive being caught due to being mortally wounded or stressed, they are killing the bass without enjoying benefit it could provide as food.

I am for C & R within reason, if the bass is released healthy after being carefully handled. If the bass isn't in good condition and well not servive it should be kept. Selective harvest; the bass is the majority population size and being kept for food within regulations.

Use common sense!

Tom

aj88kc reply :

I personally don't keep any fish unless it is hurt badly. I am in the mindset that if the fish is legally caught it is your fish to do with as you please. I am a catfisherman at heart. I mainly fish for flathead and would like to see every one released, but that being said I am not going to jam c&r down any ones throat as they pay the same amount of money if not more than I do to catch fish. So I am not going to tell anyone what they can and can not do with their catch but one thing that I have a problem with is people keeping more than they will ever eat. To me there is no need to keep multiple 20 + pound fish just to fill your freezer. We no longer live in a world that we live off the land and need to keep every fish we catch to feed a family. There are rules and regulations put in place to manage a fishery and IF they are followed by the anglers the fishery will thrive. It is up to us as anglers to abide by the rules and regulations to make our fisheries a sustainable product.

blckshirt98 reply :

I catch and release because with the exception of trout I only like to eat saltwater fish. Even if I did eat bass I wouldn't keep out here in Cali because the waters are heavily pressured and too many people keep them to eat as it is.

Someone did say walleye was the best tasting fish out there, so if I'm ever fortunate enough to be in some walleye waters, I'd be inclined to keep a legal walleye to try it myself.

River Dave reply :

This is a tough one for me but I now find my morals seem to ebb and flow with my appetite. I hadn't kept a fish in over 20 years and was one of those preachy annoying types who wouldn't even let other people in the boat keep fish (" go buy your own boat blah blah blah...."). It was a real point of pride for me and I was very serious about it. A couple of years ago we rented a cottage on the lake for our family vacation and I wanted my kids to experience the same vacations I had growing up with fresh fish for dinner so I broke my streak and fried up some fresh perch and was it ever tasty. Felt funny to actually kill a fish on purpose but I got over that pretty quickly and really enjoyed the whole experience of feeding the family with something I caught myself. That was just the first of many fish dinners we've had and there is nothing like fresh fish thats never even seen a refrigerator. So far I've only kept perch but I would love some fresh walleye sometime. Still don't know if I could keep a bass though, I think I would still feel funny about that but I never really liked bass anyway.

Bassman37 reply :

I fish mainly for Largemouth and some Crappie and always practice catch and release in the local county forest preserve ponds. A buddy of mine belongs to a sportsman's club with a private pond and we do take some from there as they claim that it is currently overstocked and ask their members to do so.

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Catch & Release 2024

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