A local conservation officer retired here. I keep seeing him on Facebook with full limits of bass, pike, etc. Like, lots of limits...he no doubt is legal and knows the rules. I release far more than I keep...what about you?

My question is, when sport fishing do you limit out every time you can, or does the spirit of conservation limit you to just keeping a few every so often?

open water,enough for a meal and not that often cause i much prefer ice caught fish and stock up in winter.

Release most fresh water fish. Keep a lot of saltwater fish to eat. Dont catch many however.

That has been my practise pcr. I keep a couple every so often. Lee wulf once said that a sport fish is too valuable to only be caught once. I often look at a monster bass, and despite being legal to keep, I feel like it being alive is worth more to me than eating it, despite it being legal to do so. Injured fish are eaten of course, as are the odd one that happens to be the right size.

I don't like cleaning too many at one time so I limit myself.

I fish to fill my freezer an then let them go

I enjoy releasing full limits.

I release small trout and big bass. I keep most bluegill,perch,catfish,crappie and smaller bass. Those are the ones I like to eat and I keep one or two larger trout for a he same reason.

We enjoy eating fresh fish Hutchy, but i dont like freezing them. We r South of you on the Bay, and the fishing aint like it used to be. I agree its important to throw back too. Seems like the pike are coming back with the higher water of recent years.

same here. if I have plenty I either don't fish, give them to somebody who asked me for some or release them. we eat fish pretty regular. around here over fishing isn't a problem. populations are stable. bass and crappie in farm ponds need to be thinned out pretty heavy.

Depends on what I'm fishing for:

bass release all
crappie keep all if big enough
trout from a lake 2 lbs up release
a creek keep enough to eat dinner

I keep all them I want to if legal, but catch way more than I want to keep... I don't care for people judging me by it though.

Good topic!
My favorite fish is big trout. Where I fish, you may keep one fish over 20"...everything else must be released. As a result, the fishing is great, and all the fish are big. I've never kept one in about 7 years of fishing there.
I do keep crappie and perch and bluegill caught thru the ice, but only really good sized ones.
When fishing alone, I often throw everything back. When my Son is along, we keep and clean as he really likes to eat ice fish.

Adc, I certainly wasn't judging. We are trappers after all and I know I certainly don't catch and release!

Just was curious the perspectives on it.

D2009, we have an incredible walleye fishery here. Takes about three minutes to limit out certain times of year. Bass are doing great, and lots and lots of small pike are back. I think the high water is helping.

I met a buddy of mine the other day coming out of a pond with a limit of largemouth. The limit inland is 5, and on the bay it's 3...and I thought of rethinking my fishing strategy. Like the conservation officer, why not keep a limit if it's legal? I want to leave a good fishery for my kids, but surely I can't have a huge impact. I have seen boatloads of "new Canadians" of varying ethnicities keeping every fish they hook. At least I will abide by limit laws and slot sizes!

Awesome!

Our lake trout slot size is one fish under 24". And we have a ton of huge Lakers here

I release about 90% of what I catch. I'll keep some spring walleye, good sized yellow perch if I catch enough for a large meal and just about any crappie over ten inches. I don't fish for trout and release all bass.

Yup......I enjoy catching more than eating them. Especially with my Grandkids!

I get to fish so seldom any more that I usually keep what I catch. I haven't wet a line this year yet. Back when I was fishing often, plus taking in scores of fresh fish to mount, I had fish meat up the proverbial ying, not to mention yang. I was known to release perfectly edible fish in those days. Not so much nowadays.....when I do go. I shamelessly beg them off my All Purpose Boy too.

Can't say I ever took a limit, at least of all legal species at any one time. I will regularly release all Blue Cats, as they need to be pretty big to breed.

If it's a fish I like to eat, and is big enough to be worth cleaning, you bet I do.