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.

I didn't mean you, but there are people who do. I put a picture like this on and you'll see them from time to time...




BUT, all released,,,,



Still get judged for not rod and reeling them. lol You just can't please everyone.

~ADC~

I catch fish year round, so there's no reason to freeze a bunch.

Fresh, never frozen fish is the best!

When my wife and I go to Lac Seul we experience 100 walleye days sometimes, does not happen every day. We keep a couple take home guys and shore lunch, let 95 guys back into the water. Same with northern pike, whitefish and whatever else we might hook into. Never had a need to keep over my limit, a guy can only eat so many fish.

Zim

I like to eat fish but I usually never bring home limits. Maybe a couple of meals worth. I am the only one in the house that enjoys fish. I don't like to freeze them.

....if I wanted the fish to be swimming in the water instead of in my grease I wouldn’t bother catching them at all lol

It's hard for me to kill any trout I catch. Once in a great while one will take a fly all the way into it's gills. If that happens, and the fish bleeds heavily, I will creel it.

I keep the good eaters pretty often-perch, walleye channel cats...

Same here. I feel very badly if a trout deep-throats a hook...Jane Fonda style.

I keep em in the spring when the water is cold,May and early June.I don't like eating fish from warm water,so I don't fish in summer,except for a few cold water stream brookies if I am doing nuisance beaver work.October is a great time to fish here,and the fish are good eating then,but I am busy on the trapline that time of year.

We eat fish 2-3 times a week in my house with a family of 4 and usually other relatives over for dinner most of the time as well. Usually a big fish fry for 15 people or so every weekend. If the law says I can keep em they go in the box

PA trout are nothing but farm-raised put and takes. Don't know why anybody would want to mess with them. Maybe to make fish oil...

Lug, you don't know where to fish.

I keep very few usually 4 steelhead a year that I smoke for the holidays.I may keep 6 salmon a year and I catch a lot of steelhead and salmon.On trip last year we brought 23 steelhead to the boat it was an epic day for four of us fishing and we kept one14 lb male.

I don't fish for put and takes.

Thanks for the thoughtful replies. If it is legal, no one should judge anyone else. I may actually start keeping more fish.

Thanks for the replies! Keep em comin

Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day. Teach a man to fish and he will sit in your boat making up lies and drink all your beer.

Zim

Catch and release 95% of the time....but a Salmon and a Good size Brookie always make it to the pan.

Quite a few streams with native and wild trout if a guy can catch them.
I fish a few put and take streams, but when there's a heavy hatch going on, I enjoy catching and releasing lots of fish, especially the streams and rivers that have lots of hold-overs swimming around.

Some motivation... lol

Dang ADC! That looks awesome! I gotta get the propane fryer set up at the cabin now!

Yeah same here,

They say though that prolific fish like crappie and such you should keep them to the limit of legal? Not a biologist at all but seem to remember a discussion about this especially in ponds?

I love fish as a meal and fish a lot, freezing them is not on my agenda? If you do more power to you! All about eating, lol

I fish blue crabs a lot too, just had crab cakes and scallops for super. Crab and scallops and such I will freeze but it doesn't last long! Wife knows it is in there and it is the first to go!

J

Now you got me wanting catfish! Looks like a fresh water run is on order -

Those big cast iron skillets are great for this! Lots of surface area so you can do more fish per batch while keeping the pieces separated (battered things are notorious for sticking together, and to a basket) and the cast iron stays hot so your grease stays up to temp better. So, be sure if you're going to use one you get a cooker that will accommodate one. I have see some with a ring higher around the top for your turkey/boiling pot to fit down in that your skillet wouldn't fit in. The ones with the flatter top close to the burner are perfect.

Yea, mine will likely need to be modified. It has the stupid ring. But I also can take off the burner and use it for waxed dirt with my mixer haha. My fryer pan is like a high sided pot with basket.

What do you do with your oil? My fish fries can be weeks apart, or months in shoulder seasons waiting for ice, or a season to open. In winter its ok, I just leave a pan on top, but in summer the oil gets all fousty. Plus I hate going out and seeing dead mice in it..haha. Whats your process to not go through a crap ton of oil?

Keep most legal Walleye and Yellow Perch. Mostly eat fresh and give extra to family and friends.

Unless I'm going to be using it again like the next day, I pour it into a bucket for coon scent. lol Basically I just go through a crap ton of oil. Peanut oil is like $12 a gallon at WalMart now. Usually when I cook fish with these big cookers its for a crowd so the oil is pretty well used. I just use a small fry-daddy if I fry for just our family.

Big fish and those full of eggs I usually let go. Always keep a few to eat too!

Depends. If I'm just killing time with the wife and kids (usually bream) then I toss most back. However if I'm loading the freezer with catfish then it all gets kept.

ah, I got ya.

I just do small ones. Peanut oil is a no go with Stephs allergies. I just use canola.

I wish we had good catfish here. We just got those silly little bullhead.

I toss back every trout, salmon and smallmouth bass I catch.
I don't fish for panfish, walleye, northern or largemouth.
When I do catch any of them they go back too.

The last time I kept some fish was on an Atlantic Salmon fishing trip about 4-5 years ago. We kept every whitefish we caught.
Released the Salmon tho.

I know that alot of the steelhead/rainbow trout I catch I often can catch the same one several days in a row in the same spot.
It is much more fun to catch them than eat them.

Like Lee Wulff said, sport fish are too valuable to just catch once.

for whatever reason salmon species don't have the same feeling for me. I have no issue keeping lakers and salmon. Not sure why

Another thought on keeping fish.

I remember when in the '70's the limit on Panfish was 50/day.

Now its 15/day and only 5 of one specie on alot of lakes.

whats changed?

I get fishing about once or twice a year.Will keep a walleye if I catch any.
Rally and I ran into a large concentration of red horse a couple years ago--a large number went home with me for trap line bait.
Tom

I only keep that I eat that day. If I wanted frozen fish, I could get it at the grocery store. I only eat fresh fish. Wont even touch them in a restaurant. But I can fish out of my living room while posting BS on here so its easy for me.

If I want to eat it, and it's legal size I keep it. Or if it is special enough to go on the wall I keep it

But I chose to keep them based on size and species

In michigan we also have a possession limit, it includes what's in your freezer technically
But it's mostly enforced on people that are caught a couple times over their daily limit

Mostly we keep just pan fish, but if we are planning a fish fry we may target small mouth bass and pike so there is some variety for the guests

When in fish for largemouth bass it's for the fun of the fight. And if I catch one that beats my biggest bass it goes on the wall All others go to grow

But that's my choice and I do not expect others to do as I do. Same with hunting. If it's legal it's a decision for each to make for themselves

Hutchy,if you want to keep your oil,strain it thru cheesecloth and store in your freezer for longer term.
I also store my seasoned flour in the freezer after sifting.

I turn most loose out of laziness, not from any conservation stance. The legal limits are set by scientists after shocking and counting fish and based on sound principles of species-habitat balance. If the species is in danger the season or limit would be reduced, so like coyotes harvest what you will. At the end of a day of hard fishing I usually don't have energy to butcher and cook.

I don't put fish in the freezer because of stupid possession limits; forget one package (or forget to mark the package with name and date)of fillets and you are a wildlife violator. Throw out the last years leftovers and you are guilty of wanton waste. If I keep any of any color I expect them to be consumed promptly.

Don’t keep any fish in the summer time. Spring time Walleye throw back the questionable ones and only keep the for sure size limits. Winter time is when I keep the majority of my fish through the ice. Only keep crappy 13” +. Big hills, Big perch unless I feel it’s a female filled with eggs then she goes back in the drink regardless of size. Every channel cat I catch get kept. Channels are probably one of my favorite fish through the ice besides walleye and perch.

Well I live an hour from Erie and the Walleye this year are nuts. So yes I try hard for my limit every time out and lately it hasn't been very hard. My buddies boy went out last Friday and had his 6 in 25 minutes. What really irks me around here are the Amish, they are literally fishing out lakes. A small or pontoon boat with 6 people fishing will start in the morning and fish all day and basically keep everything caught, large, small, good eating or not. It really sickens me.

same here on the ice Bass.and they will even wait to use one of your holes and they aint shy.

Personally, i am a little disappointed with myself if I don't bring home my limit........................

Pretty sure I put back more legal fish in most years than I keep.. Only took 1 time years ago getting chastised for keeping bass, by some 10 year old with his dad in a sparkly bass boat.. Boat landing experience like that one. Make me what to cut a legal bass up the belly throw on the bank next to him..Love how some of them die hard catch and release bass guys, keep every legal walleye they catch while bass fishing.

I believe to each his own if your with in the law just go and fish.


Mac

Mostly I keep a meal of Bluegills ...bass and northerns go back.

I fish memorial day weekend and labor day weekend while i'm camping pretty hard usually. Coincidentally there is usually a bass fishing tournament then. Makes sense. Man they lose their minds when they see a boat not in the tournament catching fish and putting them in the livewell.

Yea, the tourney guys need to screw off. Goes back to the law. Its legal, and despite you not wanting to keep any, how dare you chastise me for it?

most of them kill more than the meat fisherman they just don't wanna admit it and loose their fuzzy feeling.that being said,thank god i don't have to eat bass.

bass are prolific breeders. make a good fillet sandwich also. if your legal, if your not just killing for fun only, killing for food, money, or to protect livestock or other property, I say tell anyone that has a problem with it to stick their head in the lake and scream till they feel better.

i'm one of those people that you don't wanna let know something bothers ya.kinda like to take it and run with it.

i release 99% of what i catch.
most of my fishing is for relaxing on the water and sport, not food.

when i do keep fish, in freshwater, its only what I'm going to eat over the next few days.
saltwater I'll keep more in the freezer for later

keep in mind they say 10 percent of the people catch 90 percent of the fish.

They don't call them pan fish because they have a handle.

It amazes me when people try to tell others what to do. There are times when I go fishing and dont intend to keep a single fish. Most of the time I go fishing for something to eat. I want to get 2 meals minimum of crappie(at a place with no limit) or bluegill. Granted it depends on if Im in the mood to clean fish or how many Im in the mood to clean.

Fillet and Release is my motto...

Catch and release into the live well is what I practice if I want to eat them (today or ?) , I keep the ones I like up to the limit. Most bass are released because I don't care for them. Trout are fun to catch but poor table fare imo. Cold water crappie, walleye, blues & flats are the best for me. And I don't know who Lee Wulff is but next time someone sees him please tell him I appreciate him training the fish to bite a hook. Easiser to fill the freezer.

I converted my entire boat into a fish fryer. If a fish comes in my boat, it's cooked before I can make a decision. Lol.

Trout and bass will always make it back to the water, unless I hook them bad. Crappie and blue come home if they're of decent size. As for cats, they all make it home, as long as they're legal. Wife might kill me if I didn't lol.

Sometimes.

I keep fish like a democrat I'm going to keep all fish legal to keep …...but think you all should all catch and release and worry that too much catch and release may inadvertently hurt populations . then to many boats pollute the water sooooo .I'm the only one smart enough to decide what fish can be fished for so you all need to just stay off public water ill take care of it for you .

When I was a pup, my dad and I would keep all the bullheads and bluegills, and clean them. He loved fish, I do not like the fishy taste and I really hated cleaning them. I never keep fish, always give to whoever I am fishing with, or put back in the water however I do enjoy fishing. My son, who loves eating fish as much as dad did, just found out last year that it's legal to keep fish here! He was not too happy with me after finding out that catch and release all these years, were my rules, not the states! I told him I would teach him how to clean fish, and after all these years it came right back to me. Not how to do it, how much I hate it!

I do not keep a limit just because I can. I will keep some, but not usually a full limit. We got fish in the freezer and every couple years find ourselves throwing some out because its really old. I love to eat fish, but get tired of cleaning them all the time and sometimes just dont have the time or energy to clean them, and just dont need the fish at the time either. It actually makes me feel good to throw back a 10lb wiper. They keep getting bigger lol. Crappie are a different story because when we catch them, we usually cook them that night, and they are some tastey little fish.

Blue Gill, one of my favorite eating fish, have no limit- would you keep a hundred or two?

I wouldn't. I kept fifty perch once. Not cleaning that many again.

I'd sooner fillet 50 perch than skin 50 beaver.Filleting fish has got to be the easiest operation with a knife.

Oh, it is simple. I was young and got bored of it after twenty

Just enough for a mess or two through the summer. Come fall, i will keep limits to freeze.

They have a bass tournament on CJ Brown Reservoir on Thursdays, twice recently the space between the docks, where they dump the bass back, after weighing them, was full of dead and nearly dead bass, probably 20 plus, both times I wish they would keep them, if they are not going to keep them in a livable state. Fish mortality is pretty high on caught fish, in hot weather. It looks bad to dump dead and dieing fish at a well used public dock. Behavior like that is what got catch and release banned in Germany.

Keith

Not much patience for fishin , less patience for cleaning

We eat them so I guess yes, legal limits make their way to the frying pan. Renewable resource, same as coon, rats and so on. I mostly fish reservoirs for walleye, saugeye, perch so more often than not, I come home well under the limit despite my best efforts.

If you hate cleaning them and don’t use a electric fillet knife try one. Me and my buddy can clean 30 plus walleye in less than an hour with us both going and that includes cleanup. Now when we get over 100 perch I pay to have that done, here by Lake Erie it is about $30-$40 for that and split between 2-3 guys well worth if after a day on the lake

I fry in a deep fryer and use peanut oil. After the oil cools I pour it through one of those paint strainers. The takes out all of the left over breading that falls off during frying. Then I pour it back in the jugs it came out of and put it in the freezer. Next time I want to fry fish I get the oil out the day before I'm going to cook so it can thaw.

I don't believe in catch and release. If the limit on sunfish is 20 each and the wife and I are fishing. We will catch 15 to 20 total and quit. Mainly for two reasons; that's plenty for me to clean at one time and I feel if we keep fishing and throw some back, some may eventually die.

I believe that fish are obviously a renewable resource, but I also fish because I enjoy it. It's nothing to go out and catch 10 pike in a morning, or thirty bass in a day, or more. I am definitely going to keep more now. After all, they most certainly are a renewable resource.

I keep and clean them all, but I don't get to fish as much as id like. I also rarely limit out.

Wow, an honest fisherman! I thought we all limited out at will and the mere whisper of our names made fish tremble!

Thanks for the replies everyone!

Who has ever caught a limit of carp?

We be talking about fish.............

Carp here are called coarse fish and I am unsure of the limits on them. Same as gar pike and bowfin. Anyone from Ontario know if there are limits on coarse fish? I didn't believe there were any