Before yall get bent out of shape and revoke my membership read carefully!!!!
If you don't clean and eat bass you must practice catch and release. Right? You must be a responsible fisherman that releases bass, especially big ones, so they can spread their geines and keep our fisheries strong. Right? You proably fish tournaments on a regular basis and prefish for those tournaments. Right?
If you answered yes to any of the above questions then answer this question. Who's responsibility is it to maintain their health while they are in your position? Yours. Would you agree with that? Yes, there is circumstances when a fish gets a deep hook or gill hooked and death can't be avioded. Spending all day in a livewell in the summer can be another cause of death for a lot of fish, especially during tournaments. Right? I'm sure all agree. Now let me ask all the tournament fisherman this: What do you do with your dead or dying fish?????
From my observations and experiences you walk back to the lake with your wiegh-in bag and dump your fish back in the lake and walk away. Meanwhile the dead or dying fish just float away to rot. Is this responsible or even LEGAL??? I have fished tournaments and all waivers I have seen state somewhere that all State and Federal Laws will be upheld. Right? If you look at he law it is illegal to waste or disgard a resorce on a public body of water. If I am fishing and catch a 5lb bass and just throw it up on the bank and walk away is it the same thing? Thats pretty much what you just did!!!! You would be pissed if you observed that wouldn't you????
I'll get off my rant now. This all started from a recent tournament I attended where there were several bass and more than a few over 5lbs that died or were dying that were just dumped back into the lake. I even had one of them that I could not bring back after standing in waiste deep water for 15 min trying. Yes, I took him and the other bass that were left dying or dead and put them in my cooler and cleaned them at home. They were quite tasty I might add. What are you going to do next time this happens to you???
Finally I know there are a lot of responsible fisherman out there that do their best to keep fish alive and clean the dead ones also. I also know there are fisherman that keep and clean bass. I don't have anything against that and it is your right as a fisherman. I'm talking about the tournament fisherman that dump their fish to ROT in the lake and don't give a darn. DO THE RIGHT THING!!!!

Take care and tight lines

Birds, turtles and raccoons love fish and are hungry too...

I say cornmeal & chachere's or butter, garlic & shallots!

If the fish are in bad shape & won't make it, they may as well make it to the dinner table.

Sometimes no matter how ya try ya lose one or two. And let's face it, ol' George Perry was just lookin to put dinner on the table for his family when that 22-4 got hooked...

Hmmmmm, the two trails that I fish takes the dead ones after and puts them in a bag or cooler. There are always people at the weigh ins that will take these fish home to be eaten. Shouldn't you be talking to the tournament director about this problem as well. I agree that some guys that fish tourneys are that way, but if the TD stepped in it would not be a problem.

If you continue to weigh in dead fish, you shouldn't be allowed to fish the tourny. I understand it happens, but if you dont give darn, you shouldn't be there. I consider bass my trophy fish and eat everything else. 1shot said it, bids, turtles and raccoons can have em

Just before I dropped out of the game TP&W was really wanting anglers to keep under slot fish out of Fork. I never did keep any but now if TP&W is still supporting that idea I'd keep a limit of under slot fish. Young bass are really good fillet and fried in Louisiana Fish Fry. I used to keep a limit on the Ouachita River at home because it was generally over populated and removing a few wouldn't hurt a thing.....I think it has a lot to do with the individual body of water your are fishing from as to whether it is ethical to take fish for the table....my two cents

Did you take home more than a limit ?

Read my posting!!! It is kinda goes with this. If we are not responsible then the animal rights and environmental groups will take our freedom to fish away. We need to work together or one day be fishing of the banks again.

Me lika Miso on my Blacka bassa

I would definitely keep them. I've never understood why people don't like eating bass. I grew up eating them and I still don't think there is anything wrong with them. I rarely keep them any more but that is only because I have been fortunate enough to catch enough trout and crappie to keep the freezer stocked. If I wanted some fresh fish I wouldn't think twice about throwing a few 1-2 lb bass in the ice box for dinner.

Concerning the tournaments and waste of fish, I belive that a responsible angler should take the fish that don't make it. Even if you don't like eating bass, I promise you that if you clean and bag the fillets that you could find someone to give them away to. We need to all keep in mind that we are the true stewards of our resources.

Unders definatly need to come out at fork. I have some private lakes and we don't even like bass three or 4 pounds and under going back in the lake. I think fouz said at Camelot bell nothing under five goes back in. The result is some very fat fish that make it past the cut. Don't forget bass are not just good they are great on the table.

Some may read this too carefully, and think your 5#'r, along with several other dead floaters and a couple other 5#'rs in the cooler, may be close to a double limit. Hope you had a partner:)

Frying up some tonight.

I love bass, but I practice catch and release, have since the late 80's.

Fished a tournament today and there were 3 dead fish, not mine all of mine lived, I've got compulsive livewell disorder lol.

No one wanted the fish, so instead of letting them go to waste I took them and filleted them.. They'll hit the grease in an hour or so.

I catch enough hybrid/whites while practice fishing that if i wanted to keep fish from time to time i do, so I keep those instead.

However, I am starting to come to the conclusion that keeping some 14-15" fish occasionally might be a good thing, on my home lake the large fish population is alot smaller than i remember it being back when everyone keep more bass all the time.

Is purposely frying up 3+lb fish a good idea, probably not, but i think removing some smaller fish would help.

Look at the majority of the crappie and white fisherman, those guys keep everything, and our lake is over run with them.

So for me , tonight..

Bass It's what's for dinner...

Really???..........

Eating dead Bass? Better than wasting them probably. By choice I prefer to bleed out Bass as well as other fish that I plan eating while they are still alive. Then its all about keeping the fish cold. After that its small chunks dipped into whipped egg, rolled in powderized Ritz Crackers, then fried in real Butter at low heat till golden brown. Dip: Ketchup - Thousand Island- Soy Sauce