I keep and eat any legal fish I catch this year....may my freezer be full.

Ain't that the truth. But I've also kept a few smallies from there as well. I've put my father in law on a couple of 2 lb smallies and he kept them. He's from up north(New York) and loves em. Heck I love em too. I didn't like it but he was in his right to keep what HE caught. I don't care WHO you are, but it's NOT your place to tell someone or look down on them for keeping what they LEGALLY caught. As for the Belton dinks.....they DEFINITELY need to be thinned out.

I grew up in NC if it was big enough to get hooked my Uncles kept it.. so yes I have ate some big bass.
I will still keep some bass every now and then but like others have said the smaller ones are better eating so that's what I keep. I personally don't believe in total catch and release on some lakes I think you end up with a lot of cookie cutter bass and reduce trophy potential. IMHO

I love hunting/stalking the elusive black bass (all the ones with big mouths, whatever their name). But, I don't feel right keeping them for the table.
When I want to have a fish fry, I catch kraw-peh,...like these:

He is within the low to choose what to do. You choose to release as I do. That doesn't make us right. It makes us feel good. This is why there are limits and everyone that fishes has the right to keep anything within the guidelines of the law.

If I had caught it I would release it too but I don�t see a problem with someone keeping a bass. There put in the lake for catching and eating if there of legal size. I have customers that keep bass in the 14-18 inch range fairly often. They sometimes seem to take over our brush piles we put in for crappie. If my customers want to keep them then that�s fine. Normally on a big one though I can persuade them to release it.

At O.H.Ivie as well. IF its legal, so what. To each his own.

Correct Sir. Thank-you.

My choice is not LMB. There have been times, however we keep a few. Alot of this Catch-&-Release in the LMB,is warrented. With that said, alot of the LMB World, are atad, over the edge with Drama in this topic.\

I dont care for eating bass which gives me a good reason to go crappie fishing.

It really makes me smile that all of you " catch and release " guy's spend all that time and money on fishing just to go eat at Long John's and think that it's fish your eating Ha Ha Ground fish buttholes Ha Ha the whole time your eating that [censored] your hands smell like a fresh tasty BASS Ha Ha ...I have size limits to what i will keep and eat but yall should play golf or something ???? And to top it all off when you get home tell your happy little family you caught all these 9 lb BASS and brought home Long John's ....Here's your Sigh !!!! Then again us eater's need yall's money for re-stocking

Fish Eater, You're welcome.

Why is catch and release important? Because if every angler kept what they caught every time, up to the legal limit, the legal limits would have to be dropped to one or two bass a day.

There's no way any freshwater lake in Texas could hold up to that kind of removal rate. Today's limit of 5 is predicated on the fact that the majority of anglers are not going to keep 5 even if they do catch them.

I release 90%+ of the bass I catch so there's some left for tomorrow, and for my kids and grandkids. And on the days I want to fry fish, I can catch (and keep) enough and I don't feel a twinge of guilt. Nor do I begrudge any other angler his legal limit.

But make no mistake, if everyone kept their legal limit of 5 bass every time out, we'd either be looking at empty lakes or lower limits. I'm glad there are enough of us that seem to realize that. When was the last time you fished in a "keeper" bass tournament?

BTW, deep fried bass is one of my favorite fish- I just like the flavor.

I frown upon putting a knife to a trophy bass, but I even more respect a guys right to legally keep his catch should he like to put a knife to it.

Everyone has a right to keep fish that they catch. Its easy for me since i dont eat much fish so i can get away with keeping a few crappie for the wife since she loves to eat fish, and i hate to clean fish since growing up we kept everything for eating and i had to clean them so the fewer i keep the better. As far as the comments about fishing pressure i agree to an extent since small lakes and ponds cant keep up with a lot of fishing pressure but the large lakes can. I have seen small lakes that were great for fishing being ruined since people found out about them and kept everything they caught. I mean really how many fish can a person eat before they go bad. Of course fish that are kept for big get togethers is one thing but most familys are not going to regulary eat 50 crappie a week and to me fresh fish taste better then frozen fish but again i dont eat many fish.
Nothing can be done about people keeping fish but that is what they are stocked for is to eat.
Personally i let go 95 percent of my fish and those are crappie, but when i fish for other species 100 percent of those are released but mainly cause i hate to clean them but at times i may keep a few for a family member that doesnt get to fish as much as i do

CATCH AND RELEASE IN THE GREASE!!!!!

There should be a happy median. Every fish legally caught can be kept to eat but not every fish should be kept.