Catch and Release

[allingeneral]

I don't know how many of you feel about catch and release, but since I like to catch catfish and I like to eat catfish, my general rule of thumb is to put anything over 5 pounds back into the water so that it can grow to trophy size some day and someone else can have the pleasure of catching him (or her) again. However, anything smaller than 5 pounds may very well find itself on my dinner table! The smaller catfish are much tastier anyway since the larger fish tend to taste "Fishy" or "Gamey", the older they get.

Also, larger fish tend to lay more eggs, and will help to preserve the fish population over the years since very few of the eggs laid will ever make it to trophy size. So, let that big mama trophy Bass or Catfish survive to spawn another year!

So, the next time you catch a nice fish...do us all a favor and take a couple of pictures to take back and show the boys and then let that trophy slide back into the water to fight another day.

This is the end of my Public Service Announcement for today

[boudreauxsbaits.com]

I love catch and release. I am with you on the catfish. I do however fish for white bass, crappie, rainbow trout and will keep them for dinner. I also saltwater fish and will keep some specks, reds, makeral, and some sharks but for the most part will c&r.

[Rich Lindgren]

Actually keeping the smaller fish of any kind can be good for the fishery. Its called selective harvest. Every body of water has a certain carry capacity for fish and other aquatic life. That capacity is usually measured in lbs of fish per acre. So a lake maybe be able to hold 100lbs of bass per acre, so it can either hold 100 fish at an average size of 1lb or 50 fish at 2lbs each. So by harvesting young bass, catfish and others you are freeing up capacity for the other fish to grow larger

[fishwithdc]

Great point... while many people have taken to catch and release and it is a cital part of te survival of many fisheries the simple fact is that in order to improve the chances of trophy size fish you need to thin the populations... simple fact... the more forage and the less fish to eat it means less more food for fewer... which equals bigger fish...

So by all means... don't feel bad about taking home a few fish for the frying pan every now and then... they are mighty tasty and you are helping insure trophy size fish for the future...

[CrappieKeith]

Keeping those big crappies and gills will also hurt the fishery.
I've seen several get fished out. Of coarse these lakes are 300 acres or smaller.
CPR is the only way we can assure that the big fish are there.
With all of the new products out there helping us catch more and more fish the pressure is becoming a thing those fish can not withstand.
I understand keeping your limit is your right ,but the question is....is it ethical?
Eat the small fish please.

[RACN35]

99.9 of my fish are TAG and release ! I will let you know when I catch a "little" fish~