Keeping fish for eating. 2024

MemphisFisherman reply :

Not just on this forum, on every bass forum, I see HUGE number's of people who claim to be c&r only. I want to know how many people actually think that way. Me personally, yes...heck yes I keep fish, bass, sometimes. I don't keep bass out of small pond's, but in larger lakes that have a great population of bass, yes I will keep my limit if I catch it...but I never keep the larger bass (over the size limit), I just feel that they have lived their time and I should leave them be...sorta like a respect for the elderly. So what about you guy's? Be honest.

NEBassMan reply :

I never keep any fish. It's not that i don't want to (i would keep legal crappie to eat) but my wife will absolutely not eat any fish, and will not allow me to cook it in the house (can't stand the smell). It's ok though, i enjoy releasing them to catch another time or for someone else to catch and enjoy.

Jason

dman reply :

Never, i dont enjoy fresh water fish. And, i'm too much of a wuss to kill anything ;D

fourbizz reply :

Spots are tasty

Largemouth and smallies are safe!

SimonSays reply :

I generally C&R, but if i'm taking a friend fishing for the first time I'll fry up his first catch ever (if it's within the size limit).

guest reply :

I am going to make some popcorn, this should be better than Leno tonight

MemphisFisherman reply :

Quote
I am going to make some popcorn, this should be better than Leno tonight

I'm doing both right now :-p

32251 reply :

I C@R in ponds and other water that is not state certified as clean and safe. I checked on the Ga. DNR site and they list many bodies of water that are tested and the fish pass the safe to eat test. I plan on going to one of these and trying to catch just enough to enjoy a good meal like I used to do with my Dad when I was young. I figure about 6 Bream and a couple of small legal bass will be just fine. The limit in the lake I will fish is 15 bream and 6 bass so I am well under that.

None of the sites I checked out recommended keeping larger fish to eat at all. Release them. They collect things in their bodies over longer periods of time that are not safe for human consumption.

Hookemdown. reply :

Do I like to eat fish? -- Of course!

I often enjoy catfish (which should be the state food of Arkansas), perch and walleye.

I C&R for two reasons

1. It helps protect the future of bass fishing

2. I hate the taste of bass

eastkybass reply :

I will release bass when they are caught but I do spend sometime out crappie fishing and will keep them to eat.

BASS fisherman reply :

I am truely C&R. ;)

From what I understand, it is better to keep the smaller fish from an over populated lake, and let the larger fish go due to their genetics. A great example of this is the Texas Sharelunker program. If you catch a fish over a certian length, you call the program and they collect the fish to use for spawning, and then release it. Guaranteeing a higher population of genetically superior fish.

But most fishery agencies are run by government and lawyers and they don't yet understand the importance of properly restricting certain length limits to allow for genetically superior fish.

Muddy, too funny man, too funny! ;D

Plus I couldn't bring myself to cut open a little fishy, scoop it's guts out and fry it up. I'd rather go to the grocery store to buy fish. I fish for the sport of it, not because Im starving.

techo reply :

How can anyone resist keeping the crappies? They beg to be ate.

grimlin reply :

Depends....i rarely do though.I'm the only one who will eat fish in this house.My girl and kid hates fish for some reason...but yet they'll eat fish sticks that can be brought in stores...go figure.

Ghetto_Basser reply :

I'm a chef. I break down enough fish in my work day. I just want to catch them and throw them back.

When you have 50 lbs of Salmon, Ahi Tuna, Trout and other fish you get for the day, you get over it

pretty quick.

5bass reply :

This thread is doing well so far.

Valascus reply :

I usually never keep a bass. However, the one place I will keep a bass is on my grandparents property. The two ponds she has are way overpopulated resulting in stunted bass. So I harvest some of the smaller ones and throw the larger fish in the population back. Any other fishery, the bass go right back in the water. For the most part, I am strictly catch and release on any species, but I have been known to keep enough crappie or catfish to make a meal for my wife and I. That hasn't happened in well over two years now. Fish I enjoy eating are walleye (best tasting freshwater fish IMO), crappie, trout, and catfish.

As far as keeping your catch or C&R go, it is all up to each persons personal preference when it all boils down to it. I prefer catch and release. I have absolutely no problem with the folks who paid for their fishing license just like I did to keep a few fish to eat, no matter what the species. Where I get is fired up is when they do it illegally, i.e. keeping fish under the required length, keeping more than the legal limit on a body of water, keeping fish without buying a fishing license. As long as everything is on the up and up, I'm cool with it.

Catt reply :

It's a well know fact I'm a Cajun & Cajuns eat seafood of every type but with that being said I haven't keep any fish in over 5 years.

roadwarrior reply :

No pond fish expect The Secret Pond. It's ruined and I don't fish there much anymore, but when I do I kill all the little bass. I fish for striper during the summer and keep some. If we have guests that want fish we keep limit plus all the catfish. We always keep crappie and legal sauger. Some of our guys have work crews that like buffalo. Spots are a nusiance, we keep them if somone will take them. Same with white bass.

So, I keep a lot of fish but don't actually eat many myself. No one that fishes with me keeps smallmouth, ever. My partner released the only 10 lb brown fish I have ever seen and one of just a few that have ever been caught. We have set the bar pretty high, but I will keep the one weighing 12 lbs!

Red reply :

i dont keep any fish now a days...when i was in MN i would keep MAYBE 1 or 2 walleye a season for myself...and a few for my neighbors if they asked for them...i dont like fish much....but who can resist a walleye!?...when i was younger i would keep bass(smallies) for my parents...along with perch, rock bass, gills....but now looking back i wish i never kept one smallie....oh well...i release everything now and always will.

Cliff

Olebiker reply :

I haven't killed a bass in over 20 years. Dad used to say that bass fishing is like basketball. If you kill all the losers today, it's hard to get up a game tomorrow.

I will keep crappies and bluegills.

MALTESE FALCON reply :

I will keep an occasional walleye, but that's all. Every smallmouth, largemouth, pike, and muskie will be released.

Falcon

T-rig reply :

Quote
I will keep an occasional walleye, but that's all. Every smallmouth, largemouth, pike, and muskie will be released.
Falcon

x2. I also keep a few perch.

Bass_Cash reply :

There's nothing wrong with keeping LEGAL sized fish. Personally I C&R with bass, but thats just me. As long as people keep within the limits/size, then you really can't say much.

ThomasL reply :

Glad this is brought up,try not to flame it!We have a pond around 3 acres a old mill pond,the other day i went down to pull some more trees from the low water and there was a older man fishing... :-?I asked him did he have permission to be there he pops up and shouts across the pond do you have permission to be here :-?(no i thought i just drive this tractor here for the fun of it)i said i'll be right over there,to make a long story short some guy that owns land next to the pond said he could fish there,i said otherwise and looked down in the water to see a basket full of crappie and a catfish.Sure the crappie could need culling but i always throw them back.Now for the flame part,can we buy chemicals from a ag agent to put in OUR pond that will not kill fish but make them uneatable to humans thus stopping the poaching problem.Can you say add some mercury to the pond!!! :o

Bream Master reply :

I never keep any fish unless I'm fishing with my uncle and he takes bream and catfish for eating. Or, unless the guys are wanting a few trout for dinner. I always encourage C&R with the guys I fish with when it comes to bass.

Personally, I don't think the bass fishing in NC is all that great compared to other surrounding states that I've fished in. So, I always do my part and release.

By the way, I'm real sensative about people keeping smallies. I'll throw a rock at you or something.

Cheers!

BassHunter69 reply :

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 reply :

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 reply :

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

rondef reply :

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 reply :

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 reply :

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 reply :

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 reply :

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 reply :

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

Bob Kavanaugh reply :

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

TruflShufl reply :

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 reply :

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

Lucky Craft Man reply :

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 reply :

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 reply :

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 reply :

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

WRB reply :

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 reply :

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 reply :

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 reply :

Quote
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 reply :

Quote

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 reply :

road warrier,

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

CJ reply :

Quote
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 reply :

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 reply :

Quote
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.

Branuss04 reply :

I will keep some fish, trout, salmon, etc. But never bass. Don't care for them much.

.ghoti. reply :

The bass I eat are the ones I kill. I fish a lot of plastics, and it's inevitable that I'm gonna kill one now and then. It's usually small bass that have been gut-hooked that end up on my table. The ethic I was raised on was "if you kill it, you eat it".

I do not target bass for the the skillet. The small ones are good, but there are tastier fish out there. When I want fish for the table, it's usually crappie. Tasty and plentiful in my waters. Or, I'll take my 3WT fly rod out and get a mess of big bluegill. I take enough for one good meal, with a few left-overs for the next day's lunch. I never freeze any. If I wanted frozen fish, I could buy all I want at the supermarket.

Selective harvest is something I wish were practiced more often. Keep a few small, but legal sized fish, for the table, and release all trophy candidates back as breeding stock for future generations. There are a lot of bodies of water that could benefit from this.

Conservation officials regularly report that their slot limits, designed to improve the fisheries by promoting harvest of selected sizes, are not working because the anglers will simply not take the fish home. Granted, there are waters so fragile that a sustained harvest would be disastrous. But, for every one of those there are many that suffer from over-population, and could be greatly improved if we would all take a few home for dinner. That's the case for most of the lakes in my neck of the woods.

Many things can happen to bring down a fishery. Drought, flood, disease, contamination, etc. None of these are in our control. The harvest is just about the only management tool we have that we can control. It's shame it's not used.

Cheers,

roadwarrior reply :

ghoti,

No disagreement here with me, those are all good points you have made.

"Resource management' is the key to a healthy system.

Pond Hopper reply :

Quote
The bass I eat are the ones I kill. I fish a lot of plastics, and it's inevitable that I'm gonna kill one now and then. It's usually small bass that have been gut-hooked that end up on my table. The ethic I was raised on was "if you kill it, you eat it".
I do not target bass for the the skillet. The small ones are good, but there are tastier fish out there. When I want fish for the table, it's usually crappie. Tasty and plentiful in my waters. Or, I'll take my 3WT fly rod out and get a mess of big bluegill. I take enough for one good meal, with a few left-overs for the next day's lunch. I never freeze any. If I wanted frozen fish, I could buy all I want at the supermarket.

Selective harvest is something I wish were practiced more often. Keep a few small, but legal sized fish, for the table, and release all trophy candidates back as breeding stock for future generations. There are a lot of bodies of water that could benefit from this.

Conservation officials regularly report that their slot limits, designed to improve the fisheries by promoting harvest of selected sizes, are not working because the anglers will simply not take the fish home. Granted, there are waters so fragile that a sustained harvest would be disastrous. But, for every one of those there are many that suffer from over-population, and could be greatly improved if we would all take a few home for dinner. That's the case for most of the lakes in my neck of the woods.

Many things can happen to bring down a fishery. Drought, flood, disease, contamination, etc. None of these are in our control. The harvest is just about the only management tool we have that we can control. It's shame it's not used.

Cheers,

GK

That was a very informative post that I follow to the T. I also agree that under harvest can be a disaster especially if the bass is the main predator in a body of water.

hamer08 reply :

Ghoti,

I see your from central IL also. I too see a problem with the slot limits. The picture I posted on pg 3 is a bass from Banner Marsh and is common for lakes with slot limits. Hopefully, the DNR will modify the limits some and encourage a little more harvesting of the dinks. I may try a few myself once the water cools down some more.

Jake. reply :

I keep fish at the beach, I belive that they taste MUCH better than freshwater fish. I kept a few bluegills once, but they were . I never have and never will keep a bass though.

GeorgiaSpotSticker reply :

I'll NEVER keep any bass... whether it's a spot, smallie, or LM.... I just wont do it... There's plenty of natural selection for people to think they NEED to keep bass just to "help" the lake.

WRB reply :

Quote

Quote
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!

This may not be the right forum for the C & R topic and doubt that many activated the link posted. The fact is anyone who bass fishes kills bass. The issue is what do you do with them? toss them back and watch it slowly swim away, out of sight out of mind. If you are holding a bass by it's mouth, the bass should have it's dorsal fin raised and tail fanned out trying to swim, natural defense mechanism for bass. If the bass has the dorsal fin flattened, limp tail, that bass is severely stressed and more than like not going to survive. The bass should be "hot" racing around in the live well and difficult to handle. If the bass is bleeding out the gill covers, it more than likely a dead fish. If you place that bass in live well water over 75 degrees for more than one hour, it's survival rate is very low. Most tournamnet fisherman pump surface water into their live wells and the bass become severely stressed. Everyone kills bass like it or not, it's what you do with them is the issue. The statements ;" I never kill bass" are fisherman who needs to educate themselves.

WRB

Daniel My Brother reply :

Quote
The bass I eat are the ones I kill. I fish a lot of plastics, and it's inevitable that I'm gonna kill one now and then. It's usually small bass that have been gut-hooked that end up on my table. The ethic I was raised on was "if you kill it, you eat it".
I do not target bass for the the skillet. The small ones are good, but there are tastier fish out there. When I want fish for the table, it's usually crappie. Tasty and plentiful in my waters. Or, I'll take my 3WT fly rod out and get a mess of big bluegill. I take enough for one good meal, with a few left-overs for the next day's lunch. I never freeze any. If I wanted frozen fish, I could buy all I want at the supermarket.

Selective harvest is something I wish were practiced more often. Keep a few small, but legal sized fish, for the table, and release all trophy candidates back as breeding stock for future generations. There are a lot of bodies of water that could benefit from this.

Conservation officials regularly report that their slot limits, designed to improve the fisheries by promoting harvest of selected sizes, are not working because the anglers will simply not take the fish home. Granted, there are waters so fragile that a sustained harvest would be disastrous. But, for every one of those there are many that suffer from over-population, and could be greatly improved if we would all take a few home for dinner. That's the case for most of the lakes in my neck of the woods.

Many things can happen to bring down a fishery. Drought, flood, disease, contamination, etc. None of these are in our control. The harvest is just about the only management tool we have that we can control. It's shame it's not used.

Cheers,

GK

Excellent post.

David P reply :

Honestly, I never keep fish. When I was 12 I used to keep trout BUT not anymore.

I haven't kept a fish for the past 5-7 years.

I feel too bad for the poor fish.

Glenn reply :

Good posts. It's great to see more and more anglers understanding how selective harvest works, and why taking home the occassional legal limit is beneficial to a fishery.

Quote
The bass should be "hot" racing around in the live well and difficult to handle.

This is absolutely incorrect. A fish acting this way is severely stressed out. Lactic acid, endorphines and other chemicals are at high levels at this moment. These levels are lethal over a prolonged period of time. In addition, his need for oxygen has greatly increased. This fish is dying!

You want a calm, relaxed fish. Upright, slowly moving their fins... just "hanging out". "Catch & Release" formula contains a mild sedative that calms the fish and reduces stress, thus decreasing post mortality. Sure, the fish will probably "freak" when you touch him, but he shouldn't be "hot racing" around the livewell simply by opening the lid and looking in.

I use the culling clips on my bass. When I'm ready to bring them to the weigh-in, I grab the tag and quickly get them into my bag - no chasing around trying to grab them. This helps minimize the stress during weigh-in.

Anyway... I digress. Good posts all around. Again, selective harvest works. Use it. Read more about it in the "About Bass" section of this website.

Cheers,

Glenn

jeremyt reply :

I only keep saltwater fish. Not that I think that harvesting freshwater fish is wrong, I grew up only eating ocean fish. I had friends who's parents would eat bass and crappie and catfish, but I always thought that was wierd I know its not, but my family never ate freshwater fish when we fished ponds it was for fun. I will say whatever type of water you fish that harvesting fish can be a touchy subject. Get to the southeast area of the states and start talking redfish and people will start fighting. ;D

electrikal reply :

Everyone seems to be making good points here. I'm a firm believer in C&R but do, occasionally keep a few smaller LM. Love eating bluegill and crappie!! All smallies are released. If I don't bring home a few to eat occasionally, the wife might decide that the baitmonkey is a lady. ;D. She loves eating fish but not bass and certainly not the bigger ones.

tritz18 reply :

I never keep any bass, I'd rather catch them bigger the next year ;D

rondef reply :

I convinced someone that caught a 2.5 llb LMB from taking it home to eat. I did not want to see that fish sacrificed for someone's dinner. The father and son were afraid to take the hook out so I did it and I showed the kid how to hold the fish and remove the hook. I then had him take it out of my hand and hold it and then watched him release the fish. After he held the fish for the fist time he was pretty psych'ed. It was cool to see the expression on his face. The dad was going to step on it and yank the hook out. Of course I had to explain to him that it is not cool to do that and I informed him that he needs to learn how to handle fish if he plans to take his kids out fishing. The kid caught the LMB on a live minnow next to a floating dock and near the beds of Hydrilla.

MemphisFisherman reply :

Quote
I never keep any bass, I'd rather catch them bigger the next year ;D

I'm afraid to say this isn't always the case tho, sometimes a lesser population of bass can improve the size of other bass in the lake. A good example would be Shelby Forest here in West TN...I can go there and catch a bass on probaly 50% of my cast, all of which weigh about 3/4 of a pound. It's the same story EVERY year, the fish won't get any bigger, it's too populated. The lake was drained about 12 year's ago and when they filled it back up and restocked it, they went completely overboard. Too many bass can be a good thing, but it can also be a bad thing. Of-course this is just one situation out of a million, there are plenty of lakes that barely have a good enough bass population to reproduce.

I made this post to not only see how many bass were taken from lakes but to find out the reason's why they wernt. I have to admit I am a bit suprised by some of the responses, I was thinking there would be alot of tree hugger's that just held bass up to this holy grail and would pass judgement on anyone who kept them, but the reply's here show that isn't the case. Many if not all of the people who say they don't keep bass feel that way because it is just thier own personal preference, whether it comes from not liking the way bass taste, to being too lazy to clean them, to just enjoying the sport without wanting to eat them. But I dont think one person really passes judgement on those who do. In the end we must remember that eating fish has alway's been a part of history, just like eating cow's that are slaughtered or drowning the cricket to catch that bluegill. As long as it is being done within legal parameter's then it's a personal choice.

I do beg of you tho, please use your best judgement when keeping any type of fish, not just bass, don't fish a lake dry just because you can...but don't feel bad if you want to fill your belly a time or two =)

WBFishing reply :

I love to fish, but am allergic. The only fish I can eat is tuna. I can catch and clean a freshwater fish, but if I get the scales all over me I will have an allergic reaction. Especially to catfish. Kind of wierd for someone who enjoys fishing.

MemphisFisherman reply :

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I love to fish, but am allergic. The only fish I can eat is tuna. I can catch and clean a freshwater fish, but if I get the scales all over me I will have an allergic reaction. Especially to catfish. Kind of wierd for someone who enjoys fishing.

I hate it when I get Catfish scales all over me, just ruins the day ;D

Mrs. Matstone reply :

I never keep any fish but hold nothing against anyone that keeps them to eat.

Some of the ponds and lakes that I fish I often find large pickerel and other types of fish just tossed up on shore and that is what bothers me.

guest reply :

Kudos to Memphisfisherman for starting this poll.

This is a hot topic among sport, tournamnet, recreational, and meat fisherman.

I voted "I keep fish once in awhile"

I rarely keep a bass. Snook and redfish are SOOOOOOOOOO tastier,

but I have.

I see nothing wrong with a basser keeping a few LMB every once in awhile.

So long as all legalities are met it's a personal choice.

roadwarrior reply :

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I hate it when I get Catfish scales all over me, just ruins the day ;D

Touche'

George Welcome reply :

This subject is as bad as politics or religion for discussion. Do what you feel is right and don't worry about what others think, as long as its your legal right to do so.

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Keeping fish for eating. 2024

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