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.
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.
