Bass are yummy

Heard a guy in Midlothian had put several bass from 6-9 pounds in the pond behind his house during the last year or so. A Fisheries Biologist told me that the hundreds of shad and small fish that use to be there are all gone because a small (maybe 1/2- 1 acre) pond was not big enough to provide enough food for that guys big bass. I can understand taking a few small fish when they are abundant but I haven't taken a LMB out of a pond since I was 14...

Many people saw me catch a bass over ten at a pond in January. Everyone came running over with cameras. I carefully took the hook out and placed her back (full of eggs). All I heard was;
"I would have cooked that big hawg"
"How could you release that fish"
"Man, are you crazy?"

My simple answer was, "I'll catch her again someday! And after she lays those eggs, my Grand Kids can catch fish here some day while I sit in a CHAIR AND WATCH!" :-)

Nuff said I guess!

i dont keep my bass. i did as a kid but now that i have really became more of a bass fisherman i think i grew a respect for the fish. sand bass on the other hand... DELICIOUS!

Man, I was just thinking about some fried bass today. Now for those opposed to keeping and eating bass because it hurts the population, think about it...How often do you actually catch 5? How often are even one of those five a trophy fish? C'mon lets be real, the fish don't bite every day.t the population much at all.

Taking of small fish talk made me think a bit of the 'What happened to fork after 1992' thread.

Bass, Florida Largemouth 2012 683,531 Fingerling
Bass, Florida Largemouth 2011 685,049 Fingerling
Bass, Florida Largemouth 2010 513,224 Fingerling
Bass, Florida Largemouth 2009 682,702 Fingerling
Bass, Florida Largemouth 2008 501,220 Fingerling
Bass, Florida Largemouth 2007 501,174 Fingerling
Bass, Florida Largemouth 2006 501,313 Fingerling
Bass, Florida Largemouth 2005 705,986 Fingerling
Bass, Florida Largemouth 2004 515,041 Fingerling
Bass, Florida Largemouth 2003 732,049 Fingerling
Bass, Florida Largemouth 2002 692,258 Fingerling
Bass, Florida Largemouth 2001 218,240 Fingerling
Bass, Florida Largemouth 2000 510,737 Fingerling
Bass, Florida Largemouth 1999 710,761 Fingerling
Bass, Florida Largemouth 1998 694,211 Fingerling
Bass, Florida Largemouth 1997 698,037 Fingerling
Bass, Florida Largemouth 1996 697,731 Fingerling
Bass, Florida Largemouth 1995 692,281 Fingerling

Maybe?

I mostly fish a small private lake. We have to harvest some fish or they overpopulate and stay small. This is the time of year when I'm bringing home bass every trip. It's easy to identify the males, I'm trying to take out as many as I can.

Bass are delicious. I like to Shake n Bake 'em.

10 inch best are good eating...

I am not against keeping bass, I was just curious as to why people were keeping them. Now I know a little more about population control (like I'm going to make any difference in Amistad) I will keep some every so often. I love eating fish and it always seems to taste better when you catch and cook your own, although its probably a mental thing.

Me too. ^^^^^

If I'm fun fishing and catch a limit of 14 to 16 inchers I will keep them. Bass are even better than crappie in my opinion.

How do you determine if a bass is male or female? Other than size of course??

I don't keep bass. Crappie are better tasting to me. I don't mind people keeping some bass as long as they follow the laws for each lake. I do not like to see big bass getting put in grease but people have that right. The big got big for a reason.
My son likes catfish and whatabuger fish ( lol).

Question brings to mind news items I saw a year or few ago about anti sport fishing laws in Europe. Forget which countries, think maybe Germany was one. Any fish you catch you must keep (with the understanding you'll be eating them). No more catch & release. There are organizations working hard for the same kinds of laws here, a big first step to banning fishing altogether.

The smaller ones are good eating if you use the boneless skinless fillet cleaning method. Once they get real big (over 20 inches) I think the risk of heavy metals on a real old fish is not worth it. Mount him or throw it back.

TPWD needs to change the limits on LM bass. scrawl the size limit back to 12 inches, increase the max number to 10 and only allow one over 20 inches.

Please post that question as a new topic. Would love the read the responses.