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.