I fish Fork almost every weekend. Most catches are slot. But, the next several legal fish caught will be kept to eat. I've never eaten bass and would like to try them. However, more people do need to keep the legal fish to help this and other lakes. That was the intention of TPWD in making the slot limits on lakes, to grow larger fish and weed out the smaller and more aggressive baitfish eaters. Strict catch and release is not good.
Nice catch by the way!

I didn't keep him. The stringer in my arm is misleading. He was legal to keep, and I considered it, but he was such a good looking fish that I wanted him to participate in the spawn.

lol... had to edit my post since that pretty fish was actually put back, but it basically went like this:

if I am gonna eat one, it is coming out of a deep clear-water lake like Belton... not a mudhole, or powerplant lake. (and any bass I eat is also going to be gut hooked so bad that I have to turn it inside out to get my hook back... otherwise, it is gonna swim away with a smile on its face). I have caught too many that had leaches and parasites in their mouths for me to want to risk ingesting whatever micro-organisms they are carrying (biology class will ruin you!! lol)

Those whites and sand bass you were goin after are another story all together... those suckers are free game...

Hey. Largemouth Surprise: nice fish! Didn't read in your post where you asked what other people thought you ought to do with it. There is always someone to rain on your parade. The bright side is at least you got them side tracked posting their opinions here so they stopped picking on little crippled children...for a couple minutes anyway. :-) Wow! Sometimes these post go south quick! Congratulations on a nice bass!

Good catch!

That one is right on the topside of what I would keep for the fryer.

bass is better than white bass any day of the week! I woulda ate him instead of the white bass!

I'm confused. So you wouldn't eat largemouth out of a creek but you would eat sandies? Maybe I misunderstood. Also, white bass and sand bass are the same fish, just a heads up.

lol... this yankee is still trying to figure out what the heck a brim is, and why people are calling bluegills perch... I couldn't tell ya the difference between a white bass, a sand bass, a hybrid, or a striper to tell ya the truth (pretty sure the stripers are the ones that get big?? lol)... all I know is I don't bother fishin for anything other than the green ones

This is getting really interesting! I eat largemouth if I've caught within legal limit. Into the fryer!

Don't feel bad. I grew up in West Texas and never heard the word 'sand bass' til I moved up here to Dallas. All of the crappie names will confuse the heck out of you too. . .lol. Sac-a-lait? Wth? Lol. Whats was really fun was trying to identify large white bass and small hybrids before I knew how to do it. . .I'm pretty sure most of the fish I thought were white bass when I was younger were actually small hybrids now that I know. And the perch that are actually not even related to perch . . all I knew ANY small panfish as was perch growing up. That took some researching and a little biology class too.

But that's what makes it fun!

LOL I'm with you timwins. Never heard sand bass out in Big Spring or San Angelo. It was always white bass before I got to Fort Worth.

I sided with catch and release due to the time of the year. what do bass do this time of year? SPAWN. spawning fish means a better population of bass. MANY guys don't even like to put bass in their live wells to see their biggest five at the end of the day or compete in tournaments because they don't want to take the fish out of the spawning area. If you choose to keep legal bass then so be it but i disagree with keeping spawning or pre-spawning fish.