My heart was nearly broken - how i almost hung up my poles - can you help?

[kamikaziechameleon]

There are certain fish that I take issue with eating I personally feel like in my parents lake some fish(perch for example) are all but whiped out so if I ever catch one I immediately let it go.

I wouldn't mind eating any sort of catfish since they are so prolific and fast to grow. Even large mouths are a real tax on their own water ways but for love a ... leave the large game fish be. Taking home the large females isn't just pulling the breeders but also the good catch for the next guy and the guy after that. Small bass are a dime a dozen but the large females aren't.

If we all stopped fishing like idiots allot of places could stand to not be stocked anymore and states could save allot of money. But expecting people to know squat about their own hobby and take some responsibility for it is perhaps asking to much. We few seem to understand...

If someone calls them self a fisherman they really need to have an appreciation for the environments that they fish in and not be so ignorant of their own hobby/sport.

 

[kamikaziechameleon]

No one will ever change my mind. Catching and killing large females is just wrong wrong wrong, on a sportsman level. Its my personal opinion.

For the love of grasshoppers, if you must eat fish, keep only the smallish males.

CATCH - PHOTO - AND RELEASE big, large genetically superior bass.

I totally agree with this statement all we do is reverse darwanism and damage our own hobby. This is more pertinent to smaller closed off water ways that are more over fished but basically all you end up with is smaller crappier game fish if you keep all the large fish and drop the smaller ones. Its simply a genetic fact. If don't fish somewhere that is massively stocked in a huge way (meaning you better pull and eat all the stocked fish or they just starve and die or stunt horribly)

 

[kamikaziechameleon]

^^ this is also why small ponds tend to get overrun by smaller cookie cutter bass and they never get that big, there's a pond back home that used to be absolutely full of big bass, it wasn't uncommon for 10+ pounders to get caught out of it, the biggest ever found was dead and weighed in at 13lbs, it had died choking to death on a bass that was nearly 4 lbs. If you fish there now, you can catch as many bass as you want, but they're nearly ALL in the 8-12" in range. People starting keeping the big hogs and the smaller guys can't keep up, there's not enough food and the pond will eventually crash. All the bream in the pond are huge, a pound or more in most cases, and very few of their offspring survive to keep things balanced. There isn't enough food for the bass to grow because there are too many small bass.

Ecologically your story wouldn't make sense,The university of Wageningen did a research and concluded that the fish above average size sustain a healthy population of fish,because they lay more eggs and eat bigger prey.
In Holland,Zander is a populair fish to eat and alsmost al zander that are caught are eaten,you are only allowed to eat zander when they are above 17inch. In the 90s the amount of zander underneath 17inch has increased by 15% and the zander above this line has decreased by about 55%. A recent study revealed that the small zander can't lay enough eggs to sustain the population,resulting in a decrease of 28% of smal zander and a 11% in the last 10 years in the population above 17inch. Every year I catch less zander then the year before.


The research from the University of Wageningen also showed that instead of a miniumlenght to take a fish home(the lenght when the average fish has breeded twice and is about 2-3years old) It's better to make a maximumlenght,for example say that all zander can be eaten except those over 28inch these are then safe to grow big and old and lay thousands and thousands of eggs.

You guys are totally and completely right and all the other guys on here don't seem to realize. The argument that, its ok the DNR will fix it is not an argument. Thats like saying crime is cool the cops will fix it. Wouldn't it be nice if we all payed less taxes because there where less cops and less DNR and people just didn't steel from each other or waste a natural resource. Because you can take something doesn't mean you should. The OP isn't saying "don't eat fish" he's saying "respect the animal respect yourself" If you care about your hobby show it. yeah there are places and times one could fish and not worry. This is just a thread about people ignoring their own impact on their own hobby and the natural world in witch it resides. I'm not gonna stop fishing because someone else doesn't know how to do it respectfully and I would advise the OP to do the same.

 

[MN_Rebel]

This thread is getting dumber......A grown man complained about the strangers took their legal catch of breeder bass home so they can have fish dinner. What he is expecting from us to do same thing as his ways? Like I said, it is just an opinion and seems that some people in here don't understand that there are different fisherman that have different opinions with the fish.....I think you guys ain't being fair to the strangers who took breeder bass home, giving the fact that we don't know them and what is their reason about why they took breeder bass home. What if they have busy lives and don't have time for fishing or having fish fry? My folks have busy lives and they rarely have time for fishing and when they does, the size of the catch doesn't matter as long as they can enjoy the moments and have tasty fish dinner.

Man some of you guys were being snobs.....and I can't stand of the snobs in the fisherman's world.


The strangers took a LEGAL catch of breeder bass home: end of the story.

 

[kevinfleming21]

Hahahahaha, i just have to laugh at this non sense, people are so crazy sometimes.

 

[ramba]

Call PETA. It's a fish for Christ sake.

 

[MN_Rebel]

Before you guys say something against me, let me explaining.

You know people have different views about the fishing. It may be a hobby or a sport. But not everybody do same thing, you know? They have different beliefs on fishing and how they are raising around the fishing. Sure it's irresponsible to keep a trophy sized fish as food IF you view it as a sport but it isn't against fishing regulations. Some people who view the fishing as sport has too much time in their hands while others might not have time for fishing, they won't treat it as sport but to treat the fishing AS hobby so they can enjoy their moments as they don't know when next time's for fishing.

I hope the OP and other snobs understand what I am trying to saying.

 

[kevinfleming21]

save your breath Rebel, was not directed @ you by any means

 

[mshill90]

I think many, many of you are missing the point.

In Pa, it's very rare to catch a 5lb bass. Why? Because they have been so fished, that the only bass around are stocked bass. They don't have the time to spawn, and have their own babies before they are fished out of said water source.

In Pa, Muske used to be common.. now, good luck catching one.

I used to fish when I was younger.. I haven't gone fishing in years.. Probably since I was 12.. I'm 21 now.

Yes, sometimes we would keep our catch. I remember keeping catfish (which ended up as dinner during camp), we kept a carp once, and trout. We never kept the super big ones, and we never kept what was under regulation.

I think the OP is concerned because sooner or later, the only bass you will catch is stocked. It's not a so called native specimen of the said water.

It's kinda like sturgeon.. once you fish all the big ones, the fate of the species is pretty much determined. You have to work to breed them, when they should be able to naturally do it.

I can't find it in my heart to fish anymore, but I don't oppose to anyone who decides to fish.

 

[EsoxAngler]

Thank God I live in a state where people see a nice fish headed to the family table is appreciated. That bass with sides would feed 2 adults and 2 children easily. I excpect to eat a certain amount of my catch annually to justify the equipment expenses. If I can home empty handed all the time my wife would complain about the cost. If you think the keeping of a "breeder size" bass is wrong never go salmon fishing on the great lakes. Legal size is 9 inches ( and will hit a 5in spoon) because after you bring the fish up 50-150 feet in a matter of minuits and fight it in with the boat doing 2.5mph it wont survive release. 100% catch and keep fishing. If you get a fish that isn't 9inch its legal bait. Got a 38inch King defrosting for saturday nights 5 family fish fry. I hear there is some big walleyes coming too. My personal opinion on bass is that they are way overprotected in MI. I can take you several lakes that produce 10-12 inch in hordes so large you cant catch spawning gills. 12 inch bass gutted and scaled on a spit over open flame is very tasty.