Posted by jack49 on 2002 PM:
What's wrong with
eating the fish you catch. I fish alot and i catch my fair share of bass and walleye, all you ever hear about is catch and release. When did it become wrong to enjoy eating your catch? I release about 95% of the fish i catch and only keep fish when i know i will be able to cok them that day or the next, so am i a bad guy or what. Every fishing show i see them gently put the fish back in the lake, what's wrong with saying this one's for the fish fry tonight. What about the shore lunches they used to show on all the fishing shows they looked great now you never see one why? (ONLY TRIED IT AFEW TIMES MYSELF TASTED GREAT BUT ALOT OF WORK) Would love to hear others thoughts on this and any new receipes you might have.
Posted by Gregg on 2002 AM:
Nothing is wrong with it
You are well within your
rights. I think bass are the moct C&R the walleye, perch, and crappie are
keep more I hear they taste better! Personal I'd rather catch them then eat'em
but that's me.
But if it's gut hooked and won't survive don't waste it eat it.
Nothing wrong with 1 for the dinner table.
__________________
Gregg
Posted by donw40 on 2002 AM:
nothing wrong with it at
all, but;
i do think you should be conservation minded about it. if you go to lake erie
and take 3 - 13" fish, you have done nothing to alter anything. if you go
to a 80 acre lake and keep 4 fish over 14" and do this a few times (3-4)
you will in all likelyhood damage the lunker population of that lake.
when i was younger i fished often on certain lakes. The person i fished w/, a
father of my friend, and the friend and i would go out and keep everything we
could. i watched the downfall of a very good (but small) bass lake. i started
practicing C & R then.
i also (out of ignorace) helped damage the population of another 100 acre lake
later in life as the lessons of the first had faded. i've not caught multiple
lunkers from that lake in a single outing in years now.
i don't say these things out of pride, but rather so you can KNOW, our fishing
DOES affect the population of fish in the body of water. that can also be a
benefit to the water if we return the better fish, and keep the fish of an
overly predominate year class. unfortunately, this is the smaller fish, and no
one seems to want to keep smaller fish.
i read somewhere the population of bass in a lake is approximately halved every
year class. so if there is even a 100 - 5 yr old fish, that runs to 3 - 10 yr
old fish.
so.. eat, enjoy, but also think and conserve.
dw
Posted by jack49 on 2002 AM:
beyond politacaly correct
next you'll say u caused the dead sea oh mighty fisherman.
Posted by dodgeguy on 2002 AM:
jack,i also eat an
occasional fish.there is nothing wrong with it.i release 99% of the ones i
catch.it is true that you have to take into account the body of water you are
getting them from.muscoot reservoir is loaded with bass in the 13 to 14 inch
range.you rarely catch anything but that size.that lake needs to have some fish
eaten out of it.years ago they took lots of trophy sized bass out and now you
are left with small fish.as long as we are conservation minded there is nothing
wong with eating a fish.
__________________
chrysler master technician and avid fisherman
Posted by theole34 on 2002 AM:
quote:
beyond politacaly correct
quote:
next you'll say u caused the dead sea oh mighty fisherman.
wow, you get a down to earth response from an honest guy and that is how you
respond. you do what you feel is right, and this guy decided he was wrong in
what he had done. he changed his methods to suit the situation. he also
answered your question quite well.
try a little restraint with your insults...
robbie
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We're talking about "Spring" fishing...... right?
Posted by donw40 on 2002 AM:
theole34
thanks.
i wasn't ev3en going to respond to it, but i'm glad someone else did on my
behalf. If someone thinks they can't destroy the lunker fishing in a small lake
in a single season, well there are two possible reasons for one to think that.
1) They don't believe the concept of the population halving each year class.
2) I won't bother here, i hate flame wars, two wrongs don't make a right.
dw
Posted by mr jig on 2002 PM:
Each water body is a law unto itself.
Don w40.
Your's was a responsible and thoughtful post.
Last few times out i have kept 5- 13 to 15 inch lm for fish fry's along with
crappie,white and yellow perch.
The lake i am fishing will only benefit from the cropping of some smaller bass
to promote the growth of those remaining.
These fish are delicious and renewable and i WILL eat a few.
At the same time i have released numerous 3-5 lb bass + a 6+ in the same lake.
These fish are not readily duplicated.
dick.
Posted by theole34 on 2002 PM:
the areas that i fish are
not good for keeping fish. we have really strict advisories on how many meals
should be consumed. if i lived in an area where eating the fish would be ok.. i
would be after a few crappie, perch and walleye for tasty family meals. i am
not too keen on eating a bass. i guess it is the sport, and conservation aspect
that stops me. i have read many articles about what sizes should be kept and
size class ratios that tend to drive towards a slot size for keepers.
i too belv that you could destroy a small pond/ lake by keeping too many fish. too
much of anything is a bad thing. a few fish put to good use, and taken within
the right numbers makes sense to me also. i guess that the hard part is knowing
when you have gone too far.
lake famine (for lack of...) is a great example. would it benefit to remove a
certain amount of 12- 15" bass. maybe the stunted guys would fare better??
robbie
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We're talking about "Spring" fishing...... right?
Posted by bobn on 2002 PM:
had a place in chenango county, about 60 acres--it was located in the corner of broome, chenango and delaware ctys-a small picturesque pond in delaware was very close by-it was in a state park preserve-if you looked at this place for the first time you would swear it was the bassiest place you had ever seen-stumps-dead trees weeds and open water no deeper than 4/8 feet deep-just beautiful-the only problem was it was just plain "FISHED OUT"-the only fish left were sunnies-this was about a 2 to 3 acre pond that the local people had fished the crap out of-there were camp fires and garbage littering the shore on the side opposite the state land-back then i guess no one ever heard of c&r and just didn't care-even today you can tell who the meat fishermen are-their buckets are full of anything that will bite-they are not sportsmen in my opinion-thank goodness for the educated anglers of today-perhaps there is hope for this little pond in the middle of nowhere-the point i am trying to make is that this little local resource was so over taxed that it was literally destroyed-bobn
Posted by dodgeguy on 2002 PM:
mr jig,muscoot is much
like the lake that you said you kept your fish from.the bigger ones need to go
back and some of the smaller ones need to be taken.it is true that every lake
is different.around here there is a contest run by jack stewart where you have
to kill the fish to bring it to be weighed away from where it was caught.guys
bring in 5lb. largemouths in an effort to win 300$ and a free mount.first of
all a 5 pounder is'nt worth mounting and should be given a chance to spawn and
hit 8 lbs.what happened at muscoot is that all the bigger fish were taken and
now it's a population of dinks in the lake.to me this is a disgrace.i don't
begrudge anyone who mounts a fish,but it should be a real trophy if at all.i
also eat only fish under 3.5 lbs when i do keep one.everything else goes back.
__________________
chrysler master technician and avid fisherman
Posted by FrankBee on 2002 PM:
Eating
Is there any other reason
to catch walleye but for dinner? I can't think of any.
Bass, of course, is a completely different story...
Frank
__________________
KING
Posted by Marty on 2002 PM:
Should the state do more?
I don't know that it's
practical to depend on fishermen to conserve our bass resources. Probably most
of the people who visit this forum are responsible anglers who are concerned
with maintaining the fishery, but there are an awful lot of meat hogs out there
who couldn't care less.
Having lived here all of my many years, I have no first-hand knowledge of what
other states do. But from reading a number of forums, I gather that many states
do much more than NY when it comes to managing bass fisheries and seem to have
more of a bass fishing "mindset" than we do.
I know zero about fisheries management, but I would like to see things like
slot limits, some waters designated as C&R only, and things of that nature.
It costs money, but I can still wish for those things.
Thirty-three years ago, when I bought my first fishing license and read the
regulations, it looked like trout was the only fish the state really cared
about and I don't know that I feel a whole lot differently now.
Posted by theole34 on 2002 PM:
quote:
Thirty-three years ago, when I bought my first fishing license and read the regulations, it looked like trout was the only fish the state really cared about and I don't know that I feel a whole lot differently now.
i concur - rsl
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We're talking about "Spring" fishing...... right?
Posted by donw40 on 2002 AM:
to all
jack49 - thanks for
starting a good thread
mr. jig - this is often how i fish on larger bodies of water. i agree fully.
dodgeguy - i agree on muscoot also. i think the jack sewart contest is harming
the area's fishing. like has been said other places, go ahead and mount an 8#
if you so desire, it won't live that much longer. but fisherman all keeping
every 5 pounder they get is not helping the fishery.
marty- your right on all counts, and it stinks. the nys dec stated, the bass population
of nys is self sustaining as long as the anglers are carefull. meanwhile use my
money to dump foreign fish in a body of water they can't survive in, just about
mandating a put and take fishery.
i don't agree with the dec. but i do still give them extra on the income tax. they'll
come around. :-)
dw
Posted by TVal on 2002 PM:
Slot
limits
Connecticut has recently addressed this
problem by designating several lakes as Bass management lakes, and instituting
slot limits. Basically saying keep and or eat, all the 12 to 15" fish you
want, but leave the big guys ( or gals ) to live another day. Hopefully this
practice over time will reduce the stunted populations of bass in many lakes. Since
I'm strictly a C&R fisherman, unless I catch the occational trout, that my
wife will eat, not sure if I should participate in the management plan by
keeping the small fish. Any feedback.
Tim
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Posted by donw40 on 2002 PM:
in the slot
if the fish population
are actually stunting, and not just the big ones being depleted (2 very
different things), if they are stunting, yes, find a neighbor or someone who
honestly WILL use the fish and keep them.
(2 bad i'm not your neighbor, i'd take 'em in this case. :-( )
I have an excellent recipe for bass should you decide to try them.
if you work in an enviorment that has a refrigerator, consider someone at work
also.
if the fish population are not stunting, but rather just all the good fish
being depleted, then continue your C & R techniques, for someone else will
be sure to take out enough.
dw
ps - the reason i emphasize WILL use is many people will be afraid of offending
you, take the fish, and throw them out either the same day or next time they
defrost the refrigerator.
:-(
Posted by Marty on 2002 PM:
Re: Slot limits
quote:
Originally
posted by TVal
Since I'm strictly a C&R fisherman, unless I catch the occational trout,
that my wife will eat, not sure if I should participate in the management plan
by keeping the small fish. Any feedback.
Tim
I'm also strictly a C&R guy. I don't want to mess around with taking fish
home, cleaning them and preparing them. Also, I could not bring myself to throw
a fish onto the bank, so I would be of no help in culling smaller fish from the
lake.
Posted by donw40 on 2002 PM:
Marty
By all means no one is
supposed to be throwing the fish on the bank. Something which would probably be
a violation in itself even if in the slot limit. Enough people keep fish for
slot limits to work, as long as the "fish & potatoe" guys will
listen to the limits.
and i really doubt most lakes that don't have large fish are 'stunting'. i just
think the lakes has been overharvested in most cases. any body of water bigger
than say 50 acres i can't imagine stunting easily unless it is a very sterile
lake. so i don't think really the idea of slot limits 'need' for everyone to be
harvesting to work. i can not think of any lake i have fished on where i would
think the population was actually stunting and HAD to be thinned out.
I also think Marty was RIGHT ON with some waters being C & R only. That
wouldn't cost the DEC anything, except the ink in the syllabus and a couple
signs.
TTFN - i've probably responded on this thread to many times already, it just
seems like in bass fishing there is this i should keep and kill everything
mentality that is at war with this worship the almighty bass, never to be
harmed type mentality.
(except for stabbing in the jaw and towing through the water as it struggles
for its life. i notice we all think thats fine. lol )
i'll shut up now and leave this thread alone. (beforer i get flamed and shot)
;-)
dw
Posted by dodgeguy on 2002 PM:
in-fisherman had a show
on this problem where they have tried to get fisherman to take some of the
smaller bass but it fails because of this total catch and release mentality
that exists today.people just kept throwing them back anyway.they stated that
the reason the fish were stunted is because all the big fish were removed and
the little ones were thrown back.this caused an overpopulation of little fish
and they would never get big because of genetics and lack of food for that many
fish.apparently,if you have less fish but bigger fish it took less forage to
sustain them then tons of little bass.the fishermanin the state would not keep
and eat the smaller ones so the fishery remains stunted.this is why every body
of water should be looked at differently.even one lake can also change over
time and may need help in some form or another.
__________________
chrysler master technician and avid fisherman
Posted by Marty on 2002 PM:
Re: Marty
quote:
Originally
posted by donw40
By all means no one is supposed to be throwing the fish on the bank. Something
which would probably be a violation in itself even if in the slot limit.
I don't know if throwing a fish on the bank is a violation or not. My
interpretation of the regs has been that you can do anything you want with a
fish that is legal to keep. If my interpretation is wrong, please let me know.
I read once that some of the New England
trout fanatics used to throw garbage fish like smallmouth on the bank.
"Inch for inch and pound for pound, the gamest fish that swims", and
they throw it away like garbage.
Ouch!
Posted by Travis on 2002 PM:
Coming into this a little
late but....
Jack, I for one CAN tell you that it is possible to keep fish and see the
negative impact from the efforts. Hod do I know ? I did it. Something that I am
not especially proud of but done and I can't reverse my actions. I was young(10-16),
my parents had a place on a small body of water, I was the envy of every
fisherman in the campground....I loved it. When in my late teens and until
20ish I would cringe as folks I knew would ask "why don't we go to so and
so you have caught a ton of fish from there" I would cringe because now
the fishing sucked. From school out to late September I lived on the water
there...figuratively and in reality. Not until 4- 5ish years ago did I see that place return to its former glory
or darn near. Guess what. It's not very far from you. Mighty fishermen or not,
I ain't 1/2 bad....back in those days I was bad.
Frank: your comments concerning walleye I take a bit of exception to. Not
because I care to get into a which fish is better or any of that mumbo jumbo
but rather there are die hard walleye guys that feel the same toward bass. Each
fall I catch walleyes in the 10 range and when lucky enough even bigger, I take
great pride in it because when I was a kid I didn't know how to catch them(the
birth of my drilled raps). Take my word for it, the BIG eyes' aren't good
eating....
Marty, well said. I will put it this way. Although still on the young(ish) side
the only times I have ever been stopped to have my license checked were while
fishing the Willowmeoc, Beaverkill and the West branch of the Deleware and some
of those times were while night fishing and I was wading mid river....the state
likes their trout. Their stocking efforts have NEARLY killed brook trout
populations (of the big ones) in my area. But I digress
There is without a doubt nothing wrong with keeping fish in a sportsmen like manner(thanks
Charlie). Keeping what you only intend to prepare and knowingly are aware of
its affects on the water they are coming from. Runt bass, crappies,yellow
perch, bullheads, chain picks yeah I eat them.
T
Posted by Broadbill on 2002 PM:
Theres nothing at all
wrong with eating your catch. After all thats supposed to be the whole idea.
Too many of us have got all caught up with this C/R deal. The problem lies in
the fact that most people only want to keep their biggest catch. If it dosen't
fit in a frying pan its too big to keep.
I read once that in order to keep a body of water healthy, for every pound of
Bass taken 10 pounds of Sunfish should be kept. In the Flyfishing club that I
belong to they went as far as to create a rule that nothing smaller than a four
weight could be used for fear of stressing the trout. And this is rule is only
for Connetquot fish, a place where they are bred and there is a fifteen dollar
fee to fish. I feel this is absolutely ridiculous.
There are many many people who would be happy to have your catch. I hunt
waterfowl and while there are many species that I find unsavory, I have many
local friends and families just waiting for some cleaned divers or brant.
Being able to hunt and fish is only part of being a sportsman. Unless you can
clean your kill and prepare it for the table, you might as well take up golf.
Broadbill
Posted by Travis on 2002 PM:
BB, no flies on a dropper
either I would assume. Can you use a plastic rod or do they have to be bamboo 
Trav
Posted by Broadbill on 2002 PM:
Travis,
Single fly, no dropper, barbless hooks, no egg patterns, no lead weighted
flies.
Just relax & enjoy,
Broadbill
Posted by Broadbill on 2002 PM:
Oh and I forgot, you have
to have a canvas creel, no plastic bags allowed. They don't want anyone to
actually SEE a dead fish.
Meanwhile the seagulls and raccoons are lining up to feast on all the
"released fish".
Broadbill
Posted by FrankBee on 2002 PM:
Well said, Broadbill,
very well said.
In my opinion, in this age of factory farms and gene splicing, most things that
bring a person a little closer to the source of his own food are good.
Frank
__________________
KING
Posted by Travis on 2002 PM:
Broadbill was just
razzing a bit. I heard of this fishery in which you speak of a few months back
in detail. I began conversing a bit with a gentleman at the states yearly TU
meeting over the dinner table, this year it was in Roscoe and he was an avid
seeker of the regulations that you speak of there....he was from L.I. and for
the life of me I can't remember the mans name. Light bulb went off a bit when I
heard you mention it.
Trav
Posted by Broadbill on 2002 PM:
Trav,
To be honest I love the place. I realize that its not "real" but I'm
not that good a flyfisherman and it allows me to be very successful. I'm able
to catch Brookies, Browns, and Rainbows without moving my feet. Not to mention
the viewing of BIG bucks, full strut TOMS roaming around, and rafts of
Canvasback on the ponds. I was just using it to make a mentality point.
BB
Posted by gemini70 on 2002 PM:
Re: beyond politacaly correct
quote:
Originally
posted by jack49
next you'll say u caused the dead sea oh mighty fisherman.
Geez...this is the wrong site to try and flame a member. Think before you write
my friend. And next time try using a dictionary before spelling politically!
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