Harvesting Fish

I have never kept a bass in my 31 years of fishing. My grandpa and dad both taught me to always catch and release. I'm really wanting a good answer as to why it is so frowned upon to keep and harvest bass. I am almost strictly a bass fisherman, but all I see is people catching and keeping limits of crappie and sand bass. I will always catch and release, strictly because that is what I was taught to do, but I am honestly just looking for some thoughts on why this thought seems to pertain to bass only. I guess what I'm getting at is how is it that sand bass and crappie are able to be kept and harvested in what seems to be very large volumes, but still remain, whereas it feels like everyone seems to think bass will disappear from a lake if harvested consistently. Thanks for any input!
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I’ve never seen anyone frown upon keeping Bass in general. Most are simply against keeping the larger females.

I will keep a few for a meal from time to time, but rarely keep a fish over 2-3 lbs and typically keep a few small fish when fishing lakes where catching 40-50 small fish a day is pretty common.

True. Thanks for the answer. I guess we have been around different people. I've had people my whole life talk down on keeping any bass at any time lol. I see you're in Snyder. I'm from Big Spring. Love lake Thomas!

The only people that I tend to see that are catch and release anglers are tournament guys. I hate the taste of fish, so I throw mine back, even crappie/catfish/drum, they get chunked back in.

But my family was completely opposite of yours, if it got caught, they kept it.

Crappie and sands basically never need to be stock released into lakes and some lake always have good numbers of harvest ones and are quicker to mature and spawn.....florida bass on the other hand are frequently stocked by tpwd to keep numbers up....fork and murvaul are difficult to harvest black bass as there is a slot limit...crappie are the best mildest tasting fish..sand bass fillets when clean have muscles fibers close to the skin that is very fishy tasting and needs to be cut off fillet...black bass on the other hand is my second favorite bc they are larger and do not contain that layer of fishy muscle just below the skin and are much easier to clean than catfish...although you can only keep 5 of them normally..so it's a trade off...and I also never keep black bass over about 3lbs or spawning bc I also love the sport...

Keeping the 1 to 1 1/2 pounders will benefit the fishery.

Larger fish are breeders and smaller ones are food for the big ones.

Finally. A 45 fish bag limit! What lake pray tell?

Nothing wrong with bass, they are a hell of alot better than sand bass.

Catch and release is something that started to get ingrained into the offspring of the guys back in the mid to late seventies when tournament fishing started to take hold, and I guess you could thank Ray Scott, and those early tournament icons, who found out they could make money off of the LMB fishery, all in the name of conservation.
That was a good thing I suppose, with the growth in popularity of competitive bass fishing, and as money being made by the boat, lure, and other equipment manufacturers skyrocketed.

Back when I started bass fishing back in the early seventies, tournaments were in their infancy,
around the late sixties and seventies.
15 bass stringers and 12" limit.

The club I belonged to, one of the very first would keep the fillets from our monthly tournaments and then have a big fish fry.

Nowadays, though legal, try walking up to a fish cleaning table with a couple of stringers of bass, and throw them onto the table and watch the dirty looks, and possibly smart arse remarks, and someone searching for a rope and looking for a big oak tree.

The issue is carrying capacity and predator-prey relationships. These concepts along, with the aggressive nature of largemouth bass make management techniques important for the health of the species. In general, you can manage a waterbody for different goals. If you want big fish you harvest a different way then if you want lots of fish. Harvesting fish is actually needed to maximize management goals. That is why the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department places specific harvest regulations on certain lakes. Harvesting largemouth bass within the legal limits will actually push the lakes closer to the desired goals.

Harvesting sub 2lb fish here and there doesn't hurt most fisheries in my opinion. If everyone started harvesting fish we'd probably have a problem though given there are 35 million bass anglers in this country. Fortunately most practice catch and release. My question is why anyone would want to eat a bass? Lots of much better tasting fish out there in my opinion. If I want to eat fish I chase the species that make better table fare.

It's been many, many years since I've filleted a bass, but honestly I grew up eating them 3-4 dinners per week as we were dirt poor- but knew how to catch bass pretty well. Of course the creel limit (It was 15 per when I was a kid) was much higher back then, but the bass of Lake Palestine provided thousands of meals for my family for no more than a few bucks in gas per trip.
We would fish for crappie a couple of times per year, but honestly could limit pretty easily back then on bass resulting in much more weight in fillets. My $.02

Actually bass are tasty much better than whites or hybrids.
Don’t see a problem with people eating a bass .
J D

I grew up eating bass. Tournament fishing started when I was in my teens, and even then most of the fish caught died as we didn't have the live wells and stuff to keep them alive much longer than after the weigh in. Fast forward to today and I don't keep LMB, but I will take out some white bass and crappie. Back in Georgia, I ate some Spots on occasion as they are more of a schooling fish than LM, but its as much for the hassle of cleaning them that I don't eat more.

Bass taste great and agree they are much better than whites.

I'd be willing to bet that is from a private tank. I'm going to have to do the same thing at mine next year. That is how you can grow big fish in a small pond. Take some of the mouths out of there.

They may cause Covid-19

It is good to take the smaller fish out of a population to a degree. Also if you want bass keep and eat all those spotted bass.

I grew up in the 70s-80s and mainly fished with my grandfather. He kept pretty much everything, but by the mid 80s he got to where he would release most bass over 5lbs or so. I used to have polaroids from the 70s with stringers full of 6-8 lb bass that ended up in the skillet.
Sunday before last I kept my 1st bass in probably 5 years. I released a 7 1/2lber, but kept 5 fish that were mostly 2-3lbs. I felt like I had to hide from the bass fishermen while I went to the cleaning table. We cooked some of them on the grill the next day and they were delicious.
I hate that it has gotten to where you feel ashamed to keep a few bass. I read online from guys that have never eaten bass saying they aren’t good to eat. That’s just BS. Bass are a fine eating fish.

I enjoy catching them as much as anyone else, but I can’t bring myself to believe that bass were put on this earth just to be playthings.

I catch and release everything that I catch. Wife won't eat fish that I catch because she feels sorry for them but has no problem eating fish from the store or restaurant. Crazy, I know. I have just gotten too lazy to clean any for myself. To me the biggest issue is the limit. If I am going to fish to eat then why would I target a species with a 5 fish limit when crappie and sand bass have such higher fish limits?

Because if you like bass fishing you just keep 5 next time you go. And if you are the only one going to eat them. 5 two lbers should be plenty.

I have no issue with people keeping their legal limit. However, the idea that you are helping a Major Texas lake by keeping some small largemouth bass really isn't accurate. Harvesting bass is often needed in ponds or really small lakes that have limited forage, but that scenario just almost never occurs in a major Texas lake. . If you don't believe me listen to a fishery biologist in the link attached. Ken Smith asked that exact question to Todd Driscoll. I'm not trying to shame anyone for keeping some to eat. Just don't do it based on a false premise.


Ken Smith Todd Driscoll Interview Part 3

my uncle and grandfather taught me about fishing ---- both of them grew up dirt poor , especially my grandfather ( he became a father at 17 during the great depression ) . He would keep anything /everything he could catch -- didn't matter the size or species . In fact , he was so poor , in his younger days , he and a couple of other guys would throw dynamite into the Mississippi River and scoop up catfish downstream and sell them at markets for cash .
He loved Walleye's ,catfish , crappie and bluegills to eat .
I keep a few bass , especially if I can get the right size in winter --- I think they taste better coming out of colder water .

From what I have read and I can't remember the numbers so I just going to make some up to get the point across, but Black Bass release about 5,000 eggs and only a few make to maturity to spawn again. Sand Bass release about 250,000 eggs and a lot make it to maturity. Crappie are likely in the same realm of Sand Bass.

Again the number's aren't correct, but Sand Bass are prolific breeders compared to Black Bass. It's like the difference of Deer harvest regulations vs feral hogs.

If harvesting bass is good for a lake, then Choke ought to be in the best shape ever next year! I have never seen as many bass being kept, as I have this year. And it’s not Cajuns or snow birds this time.

Fried bass fillets jalapeño hush puppies, crinkle cut fries and cold beer.
Makes for a fine meal.
J D

This had made me want to fry up some bass. Going to lake this weekend! Saturday and Sunday

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Fried bass fillets jalapeño hush puppies, crinkle cut fries and cold beer.
Makes for a fine meal.
J D
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And you have to coat everything in corn meal. Good stuff. Brings back a lot of memories.

Mr Roache I hope there were 8 people fishing with you to meet the 5 fish limit per person.

IMO, if that lake isn’t great in the next few years it will be due to another drought, not the fishermen. If it goes up 10 feet ( or at least doesn’t drop any more) it will be outstanding in a couple of years.

Black bass are delicious. Anything from the freshwater sunfish family is delicious. I very seldom keep a limit of anything. And even practice responsible harvest on bluegill and redear. (We don’t keep any perch smaller than 6 or bigger than 9.)

For LM I suggest season with Adam’s All Purpose Rub, sauté in butter with mixed vegetables. Then wrap in romaine lettuce with, rice, guacamole and pico de gallo.

Depends on the lake. Lakes like Toledo and Rayburn benefit zero from bass being removed. They can support every bass that swims. Unfortunately a tremendous amount of fish are getting removed and we aren't talking about 1-3lbers...

You are very correct about East Texas reservoirs in particular. I have fished across several Southern states and have never seen the likes of meat fisherman (for bass in particular) like I have seen on those two reservoirs in particular. It goes far beyond the occasional fisherman keeping a few smaller fish for a fish fry. I have rarely kept a bass as there are other fish that are better table-fare, but do not have any angst over someone keeping a few "eatin' size" fish. This goes far beyond that on those lakes in particular. Smaller bodies of water (especially private ones) do often benefit from removal of younger year class fish. That's not what's happening on S.R. and T.B. I'm sometimes amazed there are still fish to catch.

Largemouth and smallmouth (black basses), rock bass, bluegills, crappie...are all in the sunfish family(Centrachidae) and all have firm white flesh and all are delicious. Personal preference but I also prefer any of these and members of the perch(Percidae) family(walleye, yellow perch, sauger...) to catfish, sandbass, stripers.....any day. Guessing “MrRoache” was fishing private waters based on the stringers, fish in the bed of a pickup...... for those that are taking it upon themselves be the judge and jury.

This is the type of answer I was really looking for. It seems like no matter how many sand bass and crappie are harvested, even more are in the lake the next year.

I never clean fish when fishing on the boat, but fishing at the tank in AR, we clean almost every catch. Just bought a new Rapala Ion cordless fillet knife. Can't wait to use it. Fish is good!

If it's legal to keep, I keep it and eat it, rest assured, if it was bad for the population, it'd be illegal.

And you have to coat everything in corn meal. Good stuff. Brings back a lot of memories.
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Me and my fishing buddy never keep largemouth or smallmouth unless they get gut hooked or for some reason look like they wont survive. Sandbass are very good eating IF you remove the red meat. I've eaten both plenty of times and I don't believe you would know the difference if properly prepared.

People don’t keep bass because they are trying to let them grow bigger. If you are fishing a tournament and you have kept 5 fish out of one hole, those fish aren’t going to be there the next time you need to fill out a limit for money. Bass are excellent table fare. I ate fresh bass 4 days last week. Don’t let anyone fool you into thinking they aren’t top notch eating. I will take them over any fish but crappie.

I don't like largemouth. We use to eat them when I was growing up and I always felt like I was choking them down. White bass and small yellow cats were my favorite. Today I just eat a few saltwater species. When i fish the bayous we catch slot reds regularly and will usually keep one or if I catch a founder. I suppose if a bass died in my live well then I would throw it on ice after gutting it. But it hasnt happened.