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

[Lepisosteus platyrhincus]

The guy is saying that he saw a fisher man catch 2 big fish that was breeding and was taking it home. It is sad.

No, not even close. He is complaining because because the people decided to keep breeding SIZE bass, not bass in the throws of passion.

This is what protects the fishing. The sport. I got a massive 19 3/4" rainbow on my wall, well above 5lbs I didnt think twice about taking. The only reason I dont often keep bass is because the amount of huge sunnies I get out of my grandfathers pond, gives me plenty of food. I see nothing wrong with thise because this is what gives them protection. Hell us gar guys arnt big on bow hunting esp the 7 or 8' gators, but many encourage it because it gives them protection as a game fish. Taking the big fish allows another to take its place. If ur that torn up over it, im sorry but its time to smash ur poles. What do u do when u reel in a fish with its gills destroyed or a gut hook? Far worse imo....

 

[NCStateFisher]

there's a difference in keeping a fish that has been gill or gut hooked and a fish with nothing wrong with it, that's why the big thing is wishing their was a slot limit for bass, it allows people to fish for food but protects larger fish

 

[Redearsunfish]

there's a difference in keeping a fish that has been gill or gut hooked and a fish with nothing wrong with it, that's why the big thing is wishing their was a slot limit for bass, it allows people to fish for food but protects larger fish

Exactly.

 

[Redearsunfish]

there's a difference in keeping a fish that has been gill or gut hooked and a fish with nothing wrong with it, that's why the big thing is wishing their was a slot limit for bass, it allows people to fish for food but protects larger fish

End of discussion.

 

[College fishman]

End of discussion.

cant end a disscusion if the thread is still up .....



i agree with lepi.
but i agree with you a little

i work at a state hatchery and i promiss you, if you got on your states DNR, they would help. but they are not going to stop people from taking breeding size bass for food if they KNOW there are other breeding fish in the lake. if the lake was good enough to put the fish in, then they monitor it. if they notice a HUGE decline in bass, then they will put more in. and then most likely put a catch limit, or a size limit on them untill they are back up to acceptible levels.

now this could be really irrelevant to your lake/DNR, but in WV we take care of our lakes and rivers. fish are watched and protected, but they are understood to be food if they are a game species.

 

[Redearsunfish]

there's a difference in keeping a fish that has been gill or gut hooked and a fish with nothing wrong with it, that's why the big thing is wishing their was a slot limit for bass, it allows people to fish for food but protects larger fish

Again, this X100,000,000

 

[studd muffin]

No, not even close. He is complaining because because the people decided to keep breeding SIZE bass, not bass in the throws of passion.

This is what protects the fishing. The sport. I got a massive 19 3/4" rainbow on my wall, well above 5lbs I didnt think twice about taking. The only reason I dont often keep bass is because the amount of huge sunnies I get out of my grandfathers pond, gives me plenty of food. I see nothing wrong with thise because this is what gives them protection. Hell us gar guys arnt big on bow hunting esp the 7 or 8' gators, but many encourage it because it gives them protection as a game fish. Taking the big fish allows another to take its place. If ur that torn up over it, im sorry but its time to smash ur poles. What do u do when u reel in a fish with its gills destroyed or a gut hook? Far worse imo....

This^^^

 

[flemming]

No, not even close. He is complaining because because the people decided to keep breeding SIZE bass, not bass in the throws of passion.

This is what protects the fishing. The sport. I got a massive 19 3/4" rainbow on my wall, well above 5lbs I didnt think twice about taking. The only reason I dont often keep bass is because the amount of huge sunnies I get out of my grandfathers pond, gives me plenty of food. I see nothing wrong with thise because this is what gives them protection. Hell us gar guys arnt big on bow hunting esp the 7 or 8' gators, but many encourage it because it gives them protection as a game fish. Taking the big fish allows another to take its place. If ur that torn up over it, im sorry but its time to smash ur poles. What do u do when u reel in a fish with its gills destroyed or a gut hook? Far worse imo....

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.

 

[NCStateFisher]

^^ 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.

 

[JteSchertz]

I am a fisherman, and an avid fish keeper. I understand what the OP is saying but don't think it is really anything to get that terribly upset about. If you love to fish, keep fishing. Worry about the things you have control over, if you want the control, then try to start something to change the rules regarding the size of bass that are taken.

To me, I think the size of lake these fish are being taken out of, total population, and (as College Fishman has stated) whether the state you are in monitors the bass population should also be taken into account.