A little different question on releasing trophy fish vs keeping them

ON the 16lber thread there is a big debate and some are mad that the guy didnt release his lawful catch.
I have been thinking and to me it seems that for a person to have the view that it is wrong to keep, kill, eat, donate or do anything other than release a trophy fish is wrong is a very Liberal stance, just like gun control or government assistance. So my question is, those of you that dont like the fact that it was not released or frown on folks for mounting thier trophy fish, how many of yall consider yourselves Liberal or democrats? Conversly how many that realize it is perfectly legal and his right to do so and have no problem with it consider yourselves liberal?

Me I am very far right wing and have no issue whatsoever with a person keeping a legal limit per TP&W of any sized legal fish.

good question. from what i got out of it the angler tried to get it into the SAL program. some don't agree with the program but it is a scientific way to benefit all of us anglers in Texas. Success or failure can only be determined in the long run and either way its a benefit to all of us from whats learned. that's how science works; you have to figure it out and knowone knows the answers ahead of time. one other thing to consider is how old that bass was and how many hundreds of thousands of fry she has already put into the lake. she might have even been to old to successfully spawn anymore, no one knows. just a few things to think about.

Nobody knows if that fish would live if it was released. At least there's a chance it can produce more genetically superior fish. I'm to sure on the right vs left thing. I'm on the right and say if he wanted fish for dinner last night so be it.

exactly

I believe it is more of how long people have been fishing, what they have personally witnessed, the bad reports they have read, the research they have done, and how they were raised up through the fishing ranks.
As a child growing up I was taught you fish to eat. You hunt to eat. You eat to live.
As time has passed many of our fellow hunter and fisherman are just like my Granddad sees them. They live to eat.

What you said may be true. OOPS SORRY forgot to quote Donald Harper. I am not sure though how someone who has reasearched it can be against keeping a trophy fish. I mean if the experts (TP&W, biologists ect) say its ok to keep them (by allowin them to be kept in a daily bag limit on certain lakes) then how can one think otherwise. Now on some small lakes that are managed for trophy fish you cannot keep any big fish for the simple fact there are not but a few in the lake due to size. ON fork though (TP&W's trophy lake) you can keep one big fish a day. They would not do this if it hurt the lake. ALso they work hard by putting tons of baby bass in our lakes each year. As far as the taking of the big fish taking out milions of baby fish with thier genetics, a big fish is an old fish, thus it has had several spawns in which it was able to put its offspring back into the lake and most likely only has a year or two left in life anyhow. Even if it would live another 5 years, it still had that or more spawns in its past.

A very few persons live to be 500# plus. Having people live longer doesn't effect that. So why would it with fish? They only live so long. So those in the 15# range might get bigger and they might not. A fishes genetics are spreadout there many times by the time they get over 10 pounds. Lots of Catch and Release going on. Sooner or later someone beats the State record.

I don't care if anyone keeps the legal length and limit of fish. Fishing would probably be better if people took their limit sometimes instead of throwing them all back. I know it I catchable fish that size I'll donate it to sharelunker or I'll get her mounted. Bash all you want but untill you're in the position how can you say what you'd really do.

I think it's great that most people take the stance to catch and release, but for one not to shouldn't be questioned. The pic a saw showed the fish floating in the tank, so would she survived? I think if more people would harvest the over populated smaller keepers we bring to the scales, this would help produce larger fish because of less completion for the forage. Pigs aren't the sprinters in the school. They are more opportunistic. As I said, it's great that most people are onboard with catch and release ethics.

We know that fishes best chance of survival was to be, immediately,released.

it would have died a slow death and eaten by birds and turtles, is that what you want? at least now it has a chance...

What did I say in my post?

Lol.

Well it didnt answer the original question

to me its kinda like trophy deer hunting, we (most choose to shoot deer at a minimum of 4.5 to 5.5 years old, knowing that they have a chance to get bigger, but also that they have already passed on thier genes to offspring and that the odds of them growing a ton bigger after that age is going down hill. We dont kill every 5.5 year old on a ranch and we dont catch every 16lber in a lake.

Those posts were not directed to you,were they?

I was fortunate to catch a beautiful 10.88 pig on Fork years ago. Took pics, meaurements and had a replica mount made. Which turned out GREAT!And years later it still looks fantastic unlike skin mounts that do not hold up well. My thought was release it for someone else to catch or me......and maybe next time EVEN BIGGER!! Good friend back home said "If you put it next to fried potatoes you can't catch it again another day"!!

No, we don't know that, You don't know that..........

First off, Immediate release of that fish without being fizzed would have been almost sure death. Second, you nor anyone else knows how many "immediatly released" fish die of delayed mortality. So, for you to act like it is a certainty is a LIE.

The only person that should have a say is the person that caught the damn thing... end of story

^^^

"Best chance". We already know is wasn't fizzed.

Yes and you don't know that is the best Chance, Especially since the fish is alive and well now.

If you have an opinion say it's your opinion.

Stating it like it is fact just makes you look foolish.

Dude,you dont have to be a jerk. Did you happen to see my smiley face and I did start this thread so I figure I can quote anyones comment to it.

On another note, I think the best thing said so far eluded to the fact that if he would have released the fish it for SURE would HAVE DIED due to not being able to sink, it would have just floated off. Since it needed to be fizzed at the Minnow Bucket or whereever, it didnt magically need that from the livewell, it needed that as soon as it was brought up from the deep water. So it is pretty much fact that they either saved its life or prolonged it by putting it in the sharelunker program.

Whether you like it or not this is the way it is, get over it.

Actually,I didn't know that the fish was on it's side prior to arrival at LFM. I don't fish deep.

my 2 cents worth, I caught an 11.7 and kept it to have mounted, taxidermist screwed it beyond any reasonable repair. with the quality of reproductions I will never keep another one. I will take lots of pictures and measurements, do no harm to the fish and release it then have a repro done. I have no problem with people who keep what is legal to keep and even do so myself sometimes. I would hope that like me they just keep what they will eat and take care not to waste. common sense goes a long ways. I would never take the right of a person to catch and keep their fish away from them and even if I disagree with the decision they make it is still their decision and their right. I am a conservative

OK, I can understand that. I will try to explain it best I can (no expert either). Fish need to be fizzed due to when brought up quickly from deep water their swim bladder (what allows them to suspend at any depth and not use any energy almost like a life vest) expands due to the quickly reduced amount of atmospheric pressure. I do know that at sea level normal pressure it 1atm, for each 32 ft of water you are under you increase that by 1 more atm. So as soon as she was brought to the surface she was doomed unless she was fizzed.

I consider,myself,an independant. I understand that you can't control how big the fish is that bites. You're not a better angler just because you get a big bite. So,I am not concerned with the size of the fish I catch. I,simply,enjoy the activity of Bass Fishing and want to take care of the fish. "I am haunted by waters."

You can Target Big Fish and that usually requires fishing deeper water.......The guys that Catch big fish consistently aren't lucky, they understand how to catch big fish...........

This usually means fishing deep for all but about 3 months a year.

Just to help clear up some things about a fish airing up after being caught from deep water. This comes from my experience from over the years fishing some really deep water on Lake Amistad.
Most of the time we are fishing in tournaments at 20 to 25 ft.. That is just the lenght of most big bass boats. It takes a while but those fish will need to be fizzed. Now if we catch a fish that will not help our sack and release it immediately it will swim back to its comfort zone and relieve the pressure off by itself. The process takes time for them to air up.
Next is a depth of about 50 ft.. The process of a fishes air blader filling up whith air happens much faster. You can't play around and take pictures you got to get it back quick. Past 50 ft. you might as well put them in the livewell because they will need the needle. Sometimes they will air up twice at that depth and need it again.
I don't believe anyone except the man that caught the fish knows how deep she was caught or how long it took before she could not stay upright because of extra air in the blader.
Hope my experiences helps you to understand the process.

Question Donald. Why have some fish that i have caught in as little as 10 ft of water fill up with air? one day on Toledo bend we were catching fish in 10-15 ft and all of them but one were laying on their sides in live well... Fizzed them and then all was well. But i never thought that happend so shallow. If it is any correlation we were throwing cranks

Good explanation,Thanks.

How close were you to Deeper water? Could the school have moved up from deeper water Quicly to feed?


My experience with Deep fish is the Bigger they are the harder it is for them to get back down to depth....

Thank you, Donald. I'm trying to update/modernize my fizzing knowledge and this really helped. And I'm neither a liberal or conservative because bass fishing is far more important than any of that:).

You catch it do what you want with it. I am right wing I would have put it in the SAL program.

For all the folks that are so concerned with the fish's health, breeding chances etc. The best thing you can do to live your mantra is put down your rod and reel and leave them alone.

It's a shame that a guy caught a fish of a lifetime and so many people have nothing better to do than try to drag him through the mud.

AMEN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I have a replica of an 11 lb. bass 25 years old that looks better today than the fish did when I caught it. Skin mounts don't do that. To kill a 16 lb bass to me is incredible waste. I've fished for bass for over 60 years, and know how rare fish like those are. On the other hand, he caught it so it's his fish. Aint really my business.

your livewell water was too warm. ive seen this dozens of times including 2 of the LL records which were both fizzed, just not soon enough. both died within 2 days later, one was in my care. both in july.

Catch and release has killed many of the true trophy fisheries in Texas.

You shouldn't even be entitled to an opinion because you will never catch a fish of that size. You don't fish deep or fish during the spawn, and you sure won't drive 8hrs to go fish another trophy bass lake besides Fork. I sure hope the angler that caught this giant doesn't get on here and read all of your ludicrous analogies. He may get a kick out of your "typing in third party" posts, though.....Give the guy some credit which is what he deserves. Nobody should have any input on what he should have done with that fish BUT HIM.

Well,you are entitled to your opinion,but,FZ1(lol)has,already, caught a 28/22 that was immediately released back into Fork.You? Some of us fish because we enjoy the activity of fishing. Some of us know that we are not in control of the size fish that bites our line,so,we place less "value" on "Trophies".Now go look at the Texas top 50. Do you,really think,that List represents the best 50 bass fishermen,in order,of weight? Look at number 1 and number 2. Do you,really,think Barry St. Claire is better than than Mark Stevens and the other anglers listed below,St. Claire? Have a nice day.

Here is a good article about a fish's air bladder, it also says that it's not always just deep water fish that need to be fizzed....

Click Here

Thank you, Doug R. Excellent material in that article. Certainly explains a lot of "fish floating on side" mysteries. Again, many "Thanks" for the article.

question how can the water be to warm? it is the same water that is in the spot where i caught fish from. Yes i know it is warmer on surface than at the depth the fish were caught but i dont see how this would affect them so much.

livewells heat up. depth of fish caught, many reasons why.

I am calling BS on that unless you can provide your name, date, and marina where it was certified.

Put, your, goofy, money, where, your, goofy, mouth, is,,,

I agree with the OP. It is nobody's business what he did with the fish. He caught it, he gets to decide.

Come on Moderators, how long are you going to let the name calling and insults go on. Time to close this discussion.

I'm conservative. It's up to the person who legally catches on public waters. But with that said, it is public waters that everyone uses. Respect the fish and respect that others are enjoying these public fisheries. How long would a fishery last if everyone fishing would keep their God given limit? A big lake like Fork, maybe a long time, but a small power plant lake like Fayette, probably not long at all.