Keeping large bass on a regular basis in publically fished waters is an inconsiderate thing to do and generally the people who do it fall in to one of three categories, poor, ignorant, or douches. Draining a resource for your own benefit at the detriment of a fishery for others is just not cool.
That being said it is not illegal to keep big bass in most states, and if done properly it will not have a major impact on an ecosystem. I am not going to have a heart attack if I see an 8lb bass being kept out of a large lake. I don't have to like it, but it is what it is. Somebody pulling an 8lb bass out of a 1 acre farm pond however, is not cool.
It's all situational but this is my point at the end of the day. The fish populations need fishermen like nick and redear as well as fishermen like Rebel. If everybody wanted to release every bass they ever caught, fisheries will end up stunted without enough of a food supply due to other anglers keeping panfish and other food sources for the bass. If everybody was like rebel, there'd be a shortage of bass in general as the big breeders would be gone. It's all a balancing act.
Personally I would love to see a bass slot limit similar to the red drum limitations at the coast. A slot of 12-18" would ensure anglers that wanted to keep their catch the ability to keep some quality meat for the table without keeping big breeders and ruining it for everybody.
