What Would Happen If Everyone Kept They're Legal Limit Of Bass Everytime Time They Went Fishing. 2025
clh121787 reply :
How do you guys feel about keeping bass to eat.could it benefit a lake by taking uneducated fish out.
Bluebasser86 reply :
On 7/15/2015 at 2:04 PM, clh121787 said:How do you guys feel about keeping bass to eat.could it benefit a lake by taking uneducated fish out.
Why would you want to take the "uneducated", fish out of a lake and how do you tell the difference?? If it wasn't for the dumb ones I might not ever catch anything.
Most limits are put into place under the assumption that only a certain portion of anglers will catch and keep fish, so if everyone did it every time I'm assuming you're going to see a reduction in the fish population.
clh121787 reply :
Hahaha yeah.my mistake Remove the educated fish from the lake. Caught = educated some what . If every fish that's caught gets taken out it leaves alot of fish that have never seen a lure. I was just thinking about how old timers in my area Loved to fish and kept all the legal fish for food.maybe those lakes were stocked more.
hawkoath reply :
This actually happened recently to one of my favorite fishing spots. There are usually a few decent resident bass (5lb, 3lb, 2lb and 1.5lb and a lot of smaller ones). Some person posted about the spot on Fish Brain and what ended up happening was that several guys went there one day when I was there and kept them. The spot is now not worth fishing. I showed them the regulations about not keeping the 13"-17" size ones but not one cared (you are only allowed to keep ones under 12" and one above 18") and 5 total per license. Anyhow, my personal take is that for the time and money it's more cost effective to buy them from the store. And the annoying thing is around my area there are many fish that taste better.
Lund Explorer reply :
On 7/15/2015 at 2:04 PM, clh121787 said:How do you guys feel about keeping bass to eat.could it benefit a lake by taking uneducated fish out.
First & Worst - Everyone would post up their avatars sideways! After that, the end of the world would be upon us.
Oregon Native reply :
Couldn't eat that many bass and nor would I want to and lastly I've done the sharing fish thing with friends and neighbors and lets say I won't go down that road again.
the reel ess reply :
If everybody who fished took their legal limit, limits would drop to 2 or 3 with a min size. But it could be good for size. DNR's don't necessarily want a trophy lake with few small fish. To keep the most people fishing, you need a mix of dinks and bigger fish.
Dennis1972 reply :
it would be bad, i would much rather catch them than eat them (i let them all go.. even crappies 
). i usually go catch a bunch of fish and stop on the way home and get an Italian beef and fries.
WIGuide reply :
You can't determine if a fish is educated or not just because you caught them. That also really has nothing to do with the question. If everyone always kept their legal limit of bass, the populations would go down. However if nobody does, on the smaller lakes especially, the populations will increase until the point where the bass will begin to get stunted. It happens when the population exceeds the forage base and the bass will stop growing. They will also not produce normal sized off spring and those fish will also be stunted.
Wayne P. reply :
One of the lakes I fish has this sign posted:
I caught this one at that lake Sunday:
Maxximus Redneckus reply :
I think in streams or lakes with water flow it wont effect them but in bodies of water that are only stocked by humans it has a negative effect the farm ponds i fish have good bass populations.if i kept every fish i caught in these ponds id give them 2 weeks before they were depleted of bass.
Rhino68W reply :
Or better yet, what if no one was allowed to fish a certain lake for 10 years. Like that California lake. 10 years of uninterrupted spawns and habitat. Oh my :DD
Scott F reply :
Few people realize that in order for a slot limit regulation to work the way it was intended, you have to remove those fish on the short end of the slot.
If you want to see what bass fishing would be like if everybody kept limits of bass, go to Wisconsin and fish for walleyes. Few people release walleyes. The limits on many if not most Wisconsin waters is 3 and the state must do heavy stocking to keep up with the demand. That, plus the native tribes are allowed to spear fish for walleyes in the spring, and that keeps the populations low.
einscodek reply :
If everyone kept their limit like the over pressured lakes I used to fish near urban areas.. the fishing would get REAL tough
and then noone could enjoy their weekend.. makes for some guys going postal over the weekends
Yea one can rationalize this and that but nothing in this world works that simply and playing God often has its consequences.
ie.. turning your lake into bluegill or crappie infested waters (great for panfishermen)
HoosierHawgs reply :
On 7/15/2015 at 9:22 PM, Wayne P. said:One of the lakes I fish has this sign posted:
I caught this one at that lake Sunday:
Did you take that fish? What else are you catching in this lake? As for me, if we all had to keep our limit, every time we fish, I would stop fishing. I don't like to eat fish. I fish for fun, not for food. But I wouldn't take out a bass unless I planned on eating it. Maybe one day I'll develop a taste for smaller fish fillets, and maybe one day I'll develop a taste for game and start hunting, but today is not that day.
HoosierHawgs reply :
On 7/15/2015 at 10:27 PM, Scott F said:Few people realize that in order for a slot limit regulation to work the way it was intended, you have to remove those fish on the short end of the slot.
So in the example above, this would mean to harvest all bass under 16"? Sounds logical, just trying to clarify.
Wayne P. reply :
On 7/15/2015 at 11:07 PM, HoosierHawgs said:Did you take that fish? What else are you catching in this lake? As for me, if we all had to keep our limit, every time we fish, I would stop fishing. I don't like to eat fish. I fish for fun, not for food. But I wouldn't take out a bass unless I planned on eating it. Maybe one day I'll develop a taste for smaller fish fillets, and maybe one day I'll develop a taste for game and start hunting, but today is not that day.
No, I did not keep it. I don't keep any fish I catch. Too lazy to clean them, LOL
CPR Catch Photograph Release
I only bass fish and caught 46 more of them---larger though.
That lake does need help from those that will kept them.
The most bass I have caught there in a day is 184.
At that lake, 50-100 a day is common------for me.
WRB reply :
Not to worry, none us can catch a limit every time out!
Tom
the reel ess reply :
My dad came back to the lake house with 14 stripers once. I informed him the limit was 10. He told me he was catching them so fast, he lost count and thought he had 10 when they quit. Said by the time he had 10, most were already dead anyway in the livewell and he wasn't about to stop while they cooperated. But he would likely never limit out on them again so he was unlikely to hurt the fishery. That lake is stocked based on shocking survey.
WRB reply :
You can't catch too many stripers!
Tom
Scott F reply :
On 7/15/2015 at 11:10 PM, HoosierHawgs said:So in the example above, this would mean to harvest all bass under 16"? Sounds logical, just trying to clarify.
Well, not ALL bass under 16" in the lake. A slot is put in when here are too many little bass. The slot is to reduce the number, not eliminate the small fish.
HoosierHawgs reply :
Makes sense, but all that I catch up yo the 5 fish limit under 16 I should take?On 7/16/2015 at 1:32 AM, Scott F said:Well, not ALL bass under 16" in the lake. A slot is put in when here are too many little bass. The slot is to reduce the number, not eliminate the small fish.
GetJigginWithIt reply :
On 7/15/2015 at 2:04 PM, clh121787 said:How do you guys feel about keeping bass to eat.could it benefit a lake by taking uneducated fish out.
What exactly is a uneducated fish? A bass has a memory span of about 20 minutes and no ability to logically think.
poisonokie reply :
On 7/16/2015 at 3:22 AM, GetJigginWithIt said:What exactly is a uneducated fish? A bass has a memory span of about 20 minutes and no ability to logically think.
That's not true at all. If you catch a bass on a crankbait, he's going to remember that crankbait for months and you'll have to catch him on a jig. If fish only had a 20 min memory, pressured waters would be a non-issue.
poisonokie reply :
I'm just glad the catfishermen keep the bream population down at my local honey hole
Big C reply :
There would be an incresase in fish frys. Which would make many fishermen eat in. Which would make restaraunts lose money. When they lose money they will have to lay people off. When they lay people off there will be an increase in unemployment. When an increase in unemployment happens there will be an increase in crime. When crime increases there is a good chance your car will get stolen. Don't let your car get stolen, vote against keeping 5 fish limits
kingmotorboat reply :
On 7/16/2015 at 4:50 AM, Big C said:There would be an incresase in fish frys. Which would make many fishermen eat in. Which would make restaraunts lose money. When they lose money they will have to lay people off. When they lay people off there will be an increase in unemployment. When an increase in unemployment happens there will be an increase in crime. When crime increases there is a good chance your car will get stolen. Don't let your car get stolen, vote against keeping 5 fish limits
Sound Like a directv commercial
HoosierHawgs reply :
Bass can remember, but they don't truly "remember" so to speak. They only remember that there may have been a negative stimulus, which depends on how traumatic the experience was, and a host of other factors, not to mention a fish's natural instinct. Some crankbait strikes are indeed feeding strikes, but most are generally a reaction strike, in which the fish's natural instinct bring it to react to the wobbling bait by striking it.On 7/16/2015 at 4:24 AM, poisonokie said:That's not true at all. If you catch a bass on a crankbait, he's going to remember that crankbait for months and you'll have to catch him on a jig. If fish only had a 20 min memory, pressured waters would be a non-issue.
the reel ess reply :
Even an earthworm can learn to avoid negative stimuli.
Raul reply :
That´s it, from now on I will only fish lakes where the population of fish has a PhD, ok, I´ll settle for less, at least a Masters Degree.
RUSS9999 reply :
The lake I fish most of the time has a 6 bass a day limit. Bass 12" to 15" have to be released. You can catch a limit of short fish every day. I go one day a week some times two. I love to eat the little ones so I keep them. Most of the Bass are 13" to 14" and a lot of 4 to 7lb. bass. Most of the guys I know never keep a Bass just the Cat fish.
Neil McCauley reply :
As long as it's only during the season ie summer, I doubt many of the people who are fishing for them most in the summer would actually be able to catch their limit every time out.
C&R mortality is also higher in the summer because of the water temps and fish depths. And again, the people who handle the fish the most are kids/tourists/etc, taking pictures, using barbed treble hooks, live bait, light/damaged tackle, etc.
I think there would only be a problem if the season included spring, or if there was no keep limit during the season.
Silas reply :
Oh, you mean like the number of fish that are brought to weigh in at a tournament? And lakes and areas that have tournaments most weekends?
I feel that those dead big fish are a much bigger, but ignored and swept under the rug , issue.
tcbass reply :
On 7/15/2015 at 10:18 PM, Rhino68W said:Or better yet, what if no one was allowed to fish a certain lake for 10 years. Like that California lake. 10 years of uninterrupted spawns and habitat. Oh my :DD
What lake was that?
What was the result?
Wayne P. reply :
Speaking of slot limits. One lake in Va used to have a bass slot limit to help with fish management.
The problem was catch and release was defeating the purpose of the slot limit since very few kept the target fish.
The slot limit was done away with.
slonezp reply :
What would happen?
People would get sick of eating fish
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