Just curious about the different reasons and how often you guys keep your catch and what specific species y'all keep...

I am pretty much a catch and release on largemouth bass. Plan on trying some crappie this winter, those will go in the frying pan!

Catch and release on all bass...might keep a few crappie or white bass for the pan. Depends on if I am in the mood to clean fish.

what about catfish? are any of the cat's you can catch in TX (mainly asking about Cedar Creek) good for eating?

The same for me, and the cats here are great, other than mud cat.

I solely keep only on a need for food. I don't care too much for fish and I am out there for fun and to relax. If I do get a hankering for some fish I will keep some sandies or cats or if someone asks me for fish for a fish fry. I will NOT keep LMB or SMB's and I will NOT keep something that will go in the trash.

I pretty much catch and release everything, I just fish for fun pluss I hate cleaning fish.

Crappie and White bass are kept when i'm fishing for them, course this is rare. I occasionally keep bass. But even then I try to only keep 14-16 " bass. Bigger go back in the water.

That being said, I think I have eaten 5 crappie and 15 bass this year. The Crappie from Conroe, the bass from Toledo Bend.

Harvesting fish now and then is good for a lake.

If it's legal, I keep them.

I only fish for bass and never keep them and yes to those that don't bass fish that doesn't make any sense to them. We did get into the crappie at a family reunion up in Missouri last April, kept over 150 of them for a big fish fry (had over 30 people in for the reunion). That was a special circumstance deal though as it was Dad's last fishing trip (cancer, passed in June).

Cats, sunfish, crappie, sandies, striper, and bass all end up in the freezer for later meals, whether for myself or with friends. Bigger kitties and sometimes bigger bass will get released, depending on what I've got in the freezer and in the boat already. If the freezer is empty and I've got 2 5 lb. bass, they're probably meeting the knife.

I release all catfish over 15lbs. I keep bass and crappie for the table (my wife LOVES bass)
If I am going to have a fish fry will keep my limit of cats that are under 5lbs.

why release all the larger fish?

I release just about everything but when i do keep them they are small ones (catfish)i release all catfish over 10lbs. So someone else can someday catch a big one if we all kept the big ones there would no longer be any to catch

I eat all the 10 lb green trash fish I catch , along with
all the legal crappie, a few 2 lb channels , lots of
redfish and spec trout that I import from LA.


MO

I usually keep enough for a meal or two then release the rest of the fish. But rarely keep anything over 6 or 7 lbs.

No matter what the size I just holler....."FRY 'EM CRISP!"

I only keep fish when Im camping out. Catfish and crappie only. Let the pretty green fish go.

channel cat, blue cat and crappie are going in the freezer

M'mmm love me some 10 lb Bass!

I only eat carp

Catch and release most bass. Keep some every once in awhile, usually smaller ones for frying. 3lbers on the grill every once in awhile.

I pretty much keep them if I want to. Fish do not last long in my freezer.

I mostly catch/release but i do like to keep a few whites/hybrids/crappie in the freezer just in case i can't get to the water or have some friends over.

How do you cook carp?????

I am 99% catch and release unless I have a taste for fish then I will keep enough for a meal or two.

I do catch and release except for: 1. My guests want to keep the fish, 2. We want some for lunch or supper, and 3. I'm going to donate a fresh catch to my church's food bank. I used to keep everything legal, filet and freeze them, but I ended up with way more fish than I knew what to do with. One very nice thing about catch and release - no back breaking cleaning sessions after coming in tired from a long fishing trip.

I eat 'em all, but I release most. It's only the wife and me so we generally only have a couple of small bags of filets in the freezer. I release all cats over 10 pounds and any bass over 3 pounds.

Happy birthday Catfish Mike.

I've actually eaten carp only once. We cleaned 'em like any other fish, cut the red stripe out, pressure cooked 'em bones and all, then made patties out of 'em, like salmon patties. It was good.
I've talked to folks up north who have big fish fries featuring carp at lodge get togethers.

I have had carp once and only once. This place in Omaha is famous in the area for their carp. They score them then fry them up. Pretty nasty if you ask me, but they have been in business for a long time.

http://joetessplace.com/

crappie= freezer... everything else= back in the water.

For me personally, I think I kept 7-10 Hybrids this year and about 50 Sandies. People always ask if my freezer is full of fish.....

I cant stand to hear people keeping 10lb bass, or any bass for that matter. I signed a catch and release program for bass when a was 10yrs old with my dad, almost 20yrs ago. I love to eat fish of all kinds but just cannot bring myself to kill any bass. I guess i just had such a good experience catching big 'ol bass when i was young and i want to give that same expierience to my son. I remember fishing choke last year and seeing a man bank fishing right around the calliham boat ramp, saw a man catch a bass that had to be 10+lbs and simply flop it up on the bank and return to fishing. It took everything i had to keep from jumping off the boat, swimming over to him, and smashing his head against the rocks. But i guess thats just my personal problem

I release the bigger fish because they have the best chance to reproduce. Plus I figure that the larger the fish the better chance it has to have that special combo of genetics and water conditions to get even larger.
As for the bass comment right above mine, I think that bass taste just like perch. They are just easier to fillet. With the 5 bass limit and some good common sense I think keeping bass could actually help the fishing/bass population. I have been to several lakes where you catch nothing but 1 to 2lb bass. I mean HUNDREDS a day if you do not get bored with them. These are the lakes I will go to if my wife gets hungry for bass. I have kept several 5-8lb bass but that is because they will swallow the hook when they bite my cut shad I have out for catfish.

I fish because I like to eat fish so if it's legal and makes good table fare I keep it. I don't keep bass because I don't keep up with the legal length limits on them and I don't keep large catfish because they aren't as good as the smaller ones.

Crappie and catfish= freezer On bass, which is what I fish for the most, I only keep if I know that aren't going to make it or if we are thining out some in private water.

what would it take for yall to keep a bass as a trophy, to get mounted?? largemouth, striper, hybrid, etc....

what determines if i keep em. that lil book TPWD sends out that sets out size restrictions lol. but if i dont catch enough keepers to make it worth while, then i will throw em all back. that and i wont keep any if i dont feel like cleaning em.

thats cuz ur abig baby...... i was taught to eat what we catch, afterall, thats what it was invented for.

The only fish I eat are Miss Paul`s mmmm mmmm good

I like to eat fish. Let the big ones go. But my buddy took a 50 lb cat out of Tawokoni and we ate it and it was delicious!

You must have leanerd that at U.T.

I personally do not keep many fish at all any more.
I pretty much am just catch and release now, but my opinion is you buy a fishing lisence just like me and you have the perrogative to keep your limit just like anyone else..
Just my opinion...

catch and release for me, as I am not a big fish eater.. But having 2 ponds of my own, I completely understand the need to harvest fish...my catfish pond is retardly full right now...anyone wana clean'm?

pm me if your around sulphur springs and want to fish for catfish

nope, i just think ur wrong for wanting to go and smash someones head in when they have done nothing wrong, just because u put a LMB up on some high, unrealistic pedastool.

so where did u go to school?

This kind of thinking is what is ruining many lakes. Lakes with a large bass population need to have small fish removed in order to keep the prey/baitfish ratio healthy.

I personally never keep one over 3 lbs. When I keep a largemouth or spot or smallmouth to eat, they are usually around 2-1/2 lbs.
I don't agree with keeping big fish, but it is not my business to tell someone else what they can or can't do when they are following the law.


Catch and release is a good thing, but when taken to the extreme it will hurt the fishery just as bad as over harvesting.
All it takes is a little common sense.

Went to your favorite school in texas, Texas A&M, and to TX largemouth, i guess you didn't read what i said, the fish he threw on the bank was a 10+lb bass. thats the reason i wanted to smash his head in. if it were a 2-3lb i would have no prob. as long as it measured out.

Unhook 'em at the side of the boat and immediately release 'em. Don't matter if they are 7.5" or 27.5".

I only eat bass that are over 7lbs, and even then if they are bedding.

I keep fish if I plan on doing so, but I don't generally decide on the spur of the moment to keep a fish. If I am fishing saltwater, I will put some meat in the freezer, and I keep crappie because that's almost never a "for the fight" trip. I haven't kept any bass in a long time, but I am not against taking certain sizes for management purposes (and they are good table fare as well). Basically I don't care if someone takes their limit of legal fish every day, but I don't have a reason to.

There's always going to be people who think their outdoor etiquette should be made into law, but I don't let those guys influence or bother me.

I understand the concept of conservation, but there's a difference between conservation and preservation. Some people are moving towards preservation where we have no rights to even fish, and some who are trying to push their fishing etiquette over on others are only assisting them. I say we all only fly fish, only catch bait sized trout and never keep anything, not even bait. In fact, we should always use barbless hooks and never lift a fish out of the water, and when we have hooked our limit, stop fishing. Otherwise, haven't the terrorists already won?

Fightin' Texas Aggie Class of 2007 here!

NICE! GIG'EM, Class of '03 here

that explains it!

You notice the Aggies also catch and release the football a lot.

Thats a good one i like that, its true our football program really has gone to [censored].