I wonder how many times some of those big fish have been caught and released. I would think big cats, Jewfish, and others don't move far from home. I was in the NWT last year and our guide told us where a 40+" pike hung out. We went to its homestead and sure enough there she was. We dropped lures and flies, literally bouncing off her nose in 4 feet of water. Directly above. Guide then told us she had been caught 3 time this year already and was getting wary.

What is a Jewfish?

Goliath grouper. They tend to be territorial and like cover such as shipwrecks and caves. They can be enormous. Know a guy who speared one at technical dive depths . In hindsight, it was akin to shooting a dairy cow at the summit of Everest . His words.

Thank you Aaron. That's my six year olds favorite fish, the one he dreams of catching. We've watched dozens if not over a hundred videos online, and I'd never heard that name for them.

Apparently you guys aren't old enough. Jewfish and Old Squaws were the first to go woke!

I'm familiar with Old Squaw, as well as some colorful terms that folks use for channel cat. You're probably right though, between my age and distance from saltwater.

I'm curmudgeon enough to remember those names!

tthey were called jewfish cause the stold al the they could get off the lines till the term was not politically correct,, the name was changed to goliath grouper.

A fishing guide I know, told me that some Blue catfish were tagged in the Mississippi River, near southern Missouri. A few years later, he said that one was caught near Kansas City, which is a long haul for a catfish to swim up stream!
I cannot say for sure if this is fact, but is did peak my interest!

I wonder how folks when given the chance to shoot a monster buck or a fork horn, will take the fork horn and leave the monster. Turning loose big fish is the same thing to me. Course if I get a good shot at the fork horn first its going in the freezer. Same with a 3-4 pound flat head.

Catfish take alot longer to reach peak size than a deer does. The world record fleathead out of kansas was 123 pounds and 22 years old if i recall. Not old by any means but still way older than any deer.

My Cousins Hubby is Musky Guide in N.WI. I aked him this summer about this very thing. Fish staying in the same area. He feels they pretty much do. They move during the weather, winter, summer and so on but they may live in the same bay all their lives.
Lake fish I'd wager move less, river fish move more, and fish that live in both lake/sea and river, like salmon and trout, well they will travel hundreds or even thousands of miles.

I've caught Steelhead that have come up from Lake Michigan and sit in the same small pool several days in a row. But they don't stay there for more than a couple of days.
Always moving on looking for food, spawning and dropping back to pools to rest before going back into the Great Lakes.

I will take a nice dry doe over any buck anytime.

I always take pics of the big flatties and turn them back.
The big'uns are the females. Ya gotta have the big alive to keep laying eggs.
Take the smaller males home to eat.
Flatties grow slower than blues do.

The blues on the other hand don't get a break. Just like a yote, kill'em all

They dont even have to be 5 pounds to be full of eggs. I believe otters are the bane here.

I've caught hundreds of large Trout, never kept a one.

All the fishing was river fishing, so alot of walking (miles) and wadding, too much of a hassle lugging a bunch of heavy trout around.
Limit was 5, some days you'd hit that in an hour, if your keeping fish your done for the day.
Some days you'd catch over twice the limit. Much more fun staying in the river catching fish than sitting at home cleaning fish.
That also is one of the reasons I like catch and release fishing over hunting, I'm done when I want to be, not when I hit a limit.
Also nothing as unappetizing as a fish that's been dragged around for for half a day.


Of all the other people I fished with or saw fishing lake run Trout the only ones that kept the fish were Russians from Chicago and very rare guy that would fish with bait.
When snagging was legal everything was kept by the people who would snag fish. Best thing the state did was eliminate legal snagging.

We did sometimes keep Whitefish that we'd catch when fishing for Atlantic Salmon (this was from a Boat) in The Great Lakes.
It was always a guessing game, is this the only one that we'll catch today, if so toss it back, if your catching one every now and then we'd start keeping them.

Whitefish are one of the best freshwater fish for eating IMO.

I used to walk down to the river just before sunrise. Catch a trout or three and have them for breakfast.

Depends on where you are. Some mature faster than others.

Took a buddy and his youngest out tonight biggest was a 9lb channel smallest was 7oz and the only one i caught lol. We kept the first three as they wanted a meal for the family. Any big fish go back, always. I see no point keeping a trophy, I have the pictures.

Trout for breakfast is underrated. Especially straight out of the river.

…. On blues I keep everything under 20 …. Over 20 it seems like the fat gets in the meat and you can’t trim it out