What are you guys opinions on this?? Can too much catch and release impact a lake on the negative?? I myself think so. With the sport grow much bigger... fish are not being harvested when they get big enough too... especially on slot lakes... what's y'alls opinions?

We should be keeping more small bass for the frypan!

+1

I'd have to watch a Youtube video on how to filet a fish, it's been so long, but I think there's probably something to the idea that maybe we should be harvesting some of those fish 1.5-2.5 lbs. Maybe even 3 lbs. I'm not in fisheries management though, so as the sport has continued to grow, I also don't know the effect of everyone keeping 5 2.5 pounders per trip either.

I don't think just because some say we are supposed to harvest them we should. If you think they taste good then maybe you should but I don't like their taste.

I also don't put a lot of junk on my food. I actually like to taste what ever it is. Except french fries.

Yes we should be putting the knife to a lot more than we do.

That being said, I do not care for eating fish, so I never keep any

Yes I don't eat them either. But I'm sure a lot of us have those friends that do! Or what I like to do is dump them in my neighbors pond... with permission of course... haven't done that in awhile...

Great question. I would like to know if limits and slot limits work if followed and what is their purpose. If they work why are they optional and not required to keep those fish? Are they only to have fish and have larger and healthier fish? Has anyone ever thought about what would make the catch rate improve?
If we all actually followed slot limits then tournament fish on fork would be killed and not released including overs. Do limits even work on giant bodies of water like fork rayburn and TB or only on smaller lakes like Athens? The biologist for TPWD on Rayburn and TB, Todd Driscoll, is also a big tournament guy and would understand both sides which is why I would be interested in his opinion. I am curious how killing fish improves the fishing on giant lakes with a trillion shad, crawfish, and brim. Sounds dumb to me but some things are counter intuitive, I would be surprised if it were the case in fish management on large lakes. Small bodies of water that have no fishing pressure it makes sense because of over population and limited food supply.

They eat em on Toledo. I guarantee it

we built a trophy bass pond 5 acres 8 years ago. The biologist who helped us and did the fishery management consulting told us after the pond was 3 years old to remove any bass under 15" that we caught. We stocked the pond with minnows, perch, for one year with no other fish. In year two we put in and florida strain LM fingerlings along with 20 fish in the 3-5 lb along with 2 seven lb fish. *We couldn't wait to catch some larger fish.

The pond was unreal in the 3-4 year. Every fish seemed to be 3 to 8 lbs. Year five we started catching smaller bass and did not cull them like we should and now the pond has an unreal population of fish under 15" fish and less big fish are being caught. So to answer your question in a pond you better cull out the small fish!!!

Yea. Every boat you see out there puts them straight in the livewell.

Y'all are over thinking it. If you like catching but don't like eating, throw them back or keep and give them away. Measuring your impact on a large body of water is a bit like worrying about your impact on global warming/cooling.

I used to do a lot of Marine Aquariums and I was always told by the "EXPERTS" that a given quantity of water would only support so many inches of fish. Therefore if you remove some of the smaller fish the ones left can get bigger.

god morning,

"el salto" is catch and release on bass, however, they do have nets for tilipia.........lots of big fish,,,,,

just saying,,,,,

good luck,
PURA VIDA,
bluebonnet2

Catch and release only isn't necessarily bad for the fishery, but most lakes would produce bigger fish if small ones were harvested regularly.

Okyakfishing's example of not harvesting bass from a pond (it's just a small-scale version of a lake) has been replicated time and time again in ponds across the country. If the owner wants to catch numbers, don't harvest much or anything (this sacrifices size for numbers). If the owner wants to catch giants, harvest small to medium-sized fish heavily (this sacrifices numbers for size). There is usually a comfortable middle-ground that satisfies the owner's desire for numbers and size that takes a bit of experimentation to find. Extrapolate that out to public lakes and the same thing would happen. The only difference is that it takes a whole lot of anglers fishing a whole lot to affect a large lake. And, this is all assuming that the chemistry, habitat and food sources of the pond/lake is conducive to good reproduction and long life (for a fish).

Fished El Salto, and if you don't think the guides & locals don't keep the 1-2lbers your wrong. They smack em on the head with beer bottles and makes tacos out of them.

Look back years ago with our dads, grand dads etc with pics of bass on stringers and fish frys. Then look at the giant bass they caught. I personally think catch and release has hurt along with the pressure that all lakes get. I think this is one of the reasons that Fork is not the same anymore.....

I promise you I'm doing my part.

Catch and release can't hurt anymore than eat them all big or small !!!

I don't think it's a simple as I catch a fish and put it back in the water and it lives vs. I put it in the cooler and eat it and it's dead.

There are lots of factors to consider when we compare it to our Dads and Grandads time when they ate everything. There are so many more fisherman today than there were then and all the tools we have at our disposal to find them. Most of those deep water fish went unmolested most of the season and were only available during the spring. Technology has changed the game in a major way.

I guarantee you some of the fish I release don't thrive going forward. Hook placement can have a factor on growth and health of a fish going forward. It's not just about being dead vs. being alive it's also peak growth vs. poor growth of the fish. Some of the fish I hook more than likely will die later, gills, tongues and heaven forbid the gut hook. They may swim away, but........ With more anglers than ever this has too be taken into account.

Add the tournament factor and delayed mortality especially during the summer and I think we kill far more fish than we realize. Just because fish swim away doesn't mean it lives and more importantly thrives as if it had not been caught and stressed in live wells and weigh ins. (I'm not saying this to be negative tournament, I fish them and love them) It's a variable that must be taken into account. Not to mention tournaments are more prevalent than ever.

I let the TPWD and the Biologists answer these questions as they understand all these variables much more than we do.

I think people are harvesting legal fish based on the anecdotal evidence I observe. For instance, go to a 14" minimum lake and notice the percentage of fish you catch that are 16" long or above. Now go to an 18" minimum lake like Gilmer or Welsh and pay attention to the same thing. I can catch 16-17 inch fish all day long on those lakes but legal fish over 18" are hard to come by. Why is that?

I think it can only be because quite a few people are taking keeper size fish home to eat, whether "keeper" means 14" and above or 18" and above.