First of all, fair point. I'm not trying to start arguments, I just think it's cruel to cause the fish extra pain. I'm not liberal, and I'm sorry if I seemed rude. I just don't like seeing animals suffer.

2 hours ago, gim said:

We don't have a bass problem in MN. But we have a northern pike problem. Wish more people would harvest those regularly.

One of the single greatest attributes to having Muskies in a watershed, they help keep Pike populations in check, which has been proven to help other species flourish and the average size of things like Perch to improve. Pike are obviously very likely to overpopulate a watershed conducive to reproduction, where as Muskies, even in the greatest environments never reproduce very well, a trait of keystone species.

In lakes that can sustain them, Muskies keep Pike in check and soft rayed fish like Suckers in check exceptionally well, which helps Pike properly keep Bass in check and Bass help keep Panfish in check, so on and so forth... Many never take into account the damage that Suckers can have on all species, they love fish eggs and to compete for food with other species and they reproduce exceptionally well.

There have been some watersheds here in Michigan where Walleye were introduced and what was once stellar Bluegill fisheries were ruined and have largely never recovered. Not all fisheries are the same obviously, why you see most states unwilling to introduce new species into any bodies of water any longer.

15 minutes ago, Flukeflicker said:

First of all, fair point. I'm not trying to start arguments, I just think it's cruel to cause the fish extra pain. I'm not liberal, and I'm sorry if I seemed rude. I just don't like seeing animals suffer.

No need to apologize.

If I had to guess, most bass fisherman of this era are turned off by that photo. It was a common sight decades ago.

Stringing up a bunch of lunker bass is only trying to feed that guy's ego.

Lastly, politics has NOTHING to do with this subject.

1 hour ago, Dwight Hottle said:

@Flukeflicker I can see your on your high horse this morning. What right do you have as a fisherman to stab a hook through a fishes mouth or jaw? Your liberalism is showing badly. And by the way if the limit in California is five bass he probably has the legal right to kill all five if he so chooses which he did not.

Dwight, I see your point, if it is legal he can do as he chooses. That picture is quite old (the sticker on his boat says 09) but who knows. I believe it was posted on here to possibly stir the pot. I do think we would all agree that for catch and release, a hook point is far less damaging then a clip on a stringer. Stringers were made to take your catch home. I think the sport as it involves tournaments is moving in the right direction. Things like penalties for dead fish, and the newer derbies that are catch, record, release are gaining popularity. I have seen many dead bass around after these huge tournaments. That is upsetting because it means that as a guy who just fishes for fun, I would not have a chance at catching those fish or their offspring. I also believe their needs to be a limit on the number of tournaments. Some lakes around here have 5 or more large tournaments per weekend. I do not find any of this political, we are just discussing a part of the sport.

7 minutes ago, rboat said:

on a stringer. Stringers were made to take your catch home.

Upon closer inspection, I believe they are metal j hooks. Not stringers. I see a stringer as a metal point that's either shoved through the lower lip, or sent through the gill flap, with an enclosed loop of some kind. In this specific case, the metal j hook does appear to be shoved through the lower jaws, but there's no enclosure on the opposite side.

This is why I always advocate for a clip on a scale instead of the traditional metal j hook. So much safer. Luckily those metal j hooks do seem to be a thing of the past for the most part. I cringe every time still see somoene posting a photo of a scale with a metal j hook though.

I also favor releasing the fish quickly if that is the intent. Most anglers simply take too long. The whole out of water process can and should be done in under 30 seconds. Being prepared to do that will greatly aid in the process.

I'm hiring three, strong men to do some clearing of my land this spring. This thread has led me to plan a fish meal or more for them. They're going to clear for three days and I'll go fishing alone or with them for an hour to catch some bass (hopefully) small enough to eat. 15-inchers are about the smallest in my pond, but hopefully I/we can catch a few and I'll clean and cook them for the guys in the woods along with potatoes. It'll be a shore lunch, which northwoods men of the upper Midwest know well and love. I'll feed them fish and taters the first day and if they want more of the same the second, I'll fish and prepare another meal, but if they prefer McDonald's, that's what they'll get. However, fish caught from clean, cool water is pretty delicious, so I'm hoping that they'll prefer that.

I have nothing against keeping and eating bass, I fed my family fish when I had kids. The whole family loved it. I caught 90% from a 12 acre lake that needed small fish to be taken out. I never kept anything over 2 pounds, Now days I still kept some ever now and then but never over 3 pounds, my reservoir has a over 14 inch rule.

9 hours ago, gim said:

We don't have a bass problem in MN. But we have a northern pike problem. Wish more people would harvest those regularly.

Agree, but watch out for those pitchfork bones.

The fella in the picture is Butch Brown. He is known for his insane big bass catches. I'm not saying it's a good thing to string up a bunch of big bass like that, but they most likely were released right after that photo. Here is a video of him catch and releasing a 65 pound 5 fish limit.

https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=525142227062835

On 1/29/2026 at 11:21 AM, Smirak said:

Every year, the state of Alabama posts a list of fish safe to eat from its waterways. Needless to say, I’m a BIG catch and release guy from those reports…

Saw this pic today & it seriously made me laugh..

On 1/29/2026 at 11:47 AM, TnRiver46 said:

Frogs are delicious

I use to gig them then we used a .22 short on them. Catch 15-50 sometimes. Pays to have burlap bags to stash them in. Of course that’s a long time ago. We also would feel for snappers.. not exactly my thing but my friends were into that. Peer pressure sorta thing. 🙂

Big bass taste good too, but there’s more meat. I’ve eaten 5-6 lb bass from 90 degree water in southern Alabama and they were equally as good as fish from Michigan and Minnesota. It’s all in your head. It seems romantic to say one is better than the other because the water is clear and cold but they are exactly the same (speaking from actual experience)

6 hours ago, Swamp Girl said:

However, fish caught from clean, cool water is pretty delicious, so I'm hoping that they'll prefer that.

12 minutes ago, TnRiver46 said:

It seems romantic to say one is better than the other because the water is clear and cold but they are exactly the same (speaking from actual experience)

I wasn't going for romantic. Consider that humans are full of microplastics because we live in plastic environments. Further consider that bass inhale water and that everything in that water ends up in their cells. So, would clean water matter? Would clean water affect taste? Well, drink clean, cool water and then drink warm, muddy water. Do they taste the same? I've lived for months drinking nothing but unfiltered, untreated, clean, cool lake water. It's DELISH and the fish who live in it are delicious too (speaking from actual experience). I've also eaten a few fish from muddy, warm water. Less delish, for sure.

The only place I’ve ever had to treat water with drops/tablets was Lake Superior when camping on an island, apparently looks can be deceiving. According to locals it’s full of parasites and bacteria, because of the extreme depths. All we have to do is filter our ankle deep muddy water full of tasty fish

I ate hundreds of bass before my pond produced multiple 7s, 8s, a 9.9, and my PB 13.44. Do as you wish, eating bass helps grow bigger bass if you're consistently catching alot of little bass.

Thanks for the pics, @GreenPig. You should post them from time to time. They're magnificent.

Yes to eating ALL fish. I catch and release most, but I'll keep a couple to fry up and wash them down with a few beers.

I hunt, I eat. I fish, I eat. It sure beats getting food from a can, box, or some other type of packaging.

P.S. Maybe it's just me, but I find it a little odd that anglers who hook fish in the face, gut, eyes, body etc. feel bad when it comes to eating them. Vegan fishing club? lol. People of my generation (I'm not even that old!) and background would never think twice about eating, well, to be honest, anything. I do, however, respect individual decisions, so to each their own.

Only bass I don't eat is largemouth and smallmouth. Whenever I go to visit my dad on lake cumberland. He likes crappie but I am expected to keep all spotetd bass and bring them home for the fish fry(which we get alot of with minnows for crappie). I usually don't keep anything unless a family member requests fish then I will go out and try to "Minner up some Crappie" as my old man puts it. Of all the fish I've had local I like White Perch. It takes alot of them to make a good meal but they are pretty tasty to me.

9 hours ago, TnRiver46 said:

Big bass taste good too, but there’s more meat. I’ve eaten 5-6 lb bass from 90 degree water in southern Alabama and they were equally as good as fish from Michigan and Minnesota. It’s all in your head. It seems romantic to say one is better than the other because the water is clear and cold but they are exactly the same (speaking from actual experience)

I can tell the difference in fish on a lake by lake basis even here in the cool waters of Michigan lol

There are about 3 lakes here in NW Michigan where the Walleye taste far better than any other lakes in the state and it's not even close. Their diet has everything to do with it... If you were to say eat one of these fish side by side with say a Saginaw Bay Walleye, the Saginaw fish would go in the garbage... Get out of Saginaw Bay a good distance though and Lake Huron Walleye taste better, more diversity to their diet... Lake Michigan Walleye are not very good, eat too many Alewife and Gobies...

Just like Great Lakes Salmon compared to Pacific Salmon, if you ate them side by side, you would toss the Great Lakes fish in the trash lol

Lake Trout caught in some of the inland lakes here in Michigan, typically taste far better than ones caught in Lake Michigan which basically just eat one thing, Alewife.

A Crappie caught here ice fishing will taste far better than one caught in the same lake in the Summer, part of this is consistency, the meat is mushy in the Summer and firm in the Winter, but getting them a few months before the spawn makes a big difference.

Spawning fish never taste as good as the same fish would, 6 months away from the spawn... Fish that have a very limited diet, never taste nearly as good as fish that don't. I am not a huge fan of eating fish, but I love Panfish and Walleye, I am definitely picky about where I catch fish for table fare, can genuinely tell a difference.

I would be willing to bet a Bass that eats nothing more than Shad most of its life wouldn't taste all that great, but never tried one.

I did not know it at the time, but I once kept a native Cisco I caught ice fishing a local lake, was one of the finest tasting fish I ever ate, I don't mind the ones caught in Lake Michigan, but this one was way way better, meat was ultra firm, etc... I later found out they are threatened/endangered... Wish I had released that one lol

With a blindfold and none of the info on where it came from, I’d venture you wouldn’t be able to pick the correct origins

How many of yall have eaten a largemouth bass from 90 degree water? Probably not many because you’ve already decided in your head that it’s icky. But it’s actually amazing . Tastes just like the ones I ate in Michigan cold clear water , maybe even better (no, the horror! Can’t be true even if it is).

My brother was having a bar b que and I brought the 72 fillets of small bass mentioned earlier, fried them outside on a coleman stove. They were devoured. Even my niece who doesnt like fish ate several pieces. Kind of peed my brother off because he had a bunch of burgers left noone was eating.

My dad isn’t even that old (early 70s) and he thinks it’s insane to let any fish go! 😂😂😂😂

He says that’s perfectly good meat you’re throwing away! (he isn’t wrong!)

I think the important thing is that we are mindful of the choice we make and that whatever we do, we do it with care.

@TnRiver46 the bass we end up keeping are 95% out of 90 degree water in NC - that’s when they die from a normal amount of stress like just a decently long fight. They are delicious.

1 hour ago, TnRiver46 said:

How many of yall have eaten a largemouth bass from 90 degree water? Probably not many because you’ve already decided in your head that it’s icky. But it’s actually amazing . Tastes just like the ones I ate in Michigan cold clear water , maybe even better (no, the horror! Can’t be true even if it is).

Russ, you opine with so much certainty, not just in this thread, but other threads, about fish tasting great regardless of where they were caught. My takeaway isn't that this is true, although you allege it is again and again. My takeaway if that YOU LOVE eating fish.

A simple Google search reveals that fish caught from muddy water have two chemical compounds in their flesh that we can taste:

"The earthy, musty, or muddy flavor is primarily caused by two compounds: geosmin and 2-methylisoborneol (MIB). 

• These compounds are produced by bacteria and blue-green algae (cyanobacteria) that thrive in nutrient-rich, stagnant, or warm water.

• Fish absorb these compounds through their gills, and they accumulate in the fish's bloodstream, skin, and fatty tissues."

Have you ever had someone love to eat something that you didn't? I sure have. All my life, I watched people drink coffee, beer, and wine with relish and all my life, my most recent attempt to enjoy any of these three tastes are as bitter and unpleasant as the first. I suspect I have more bitter-sensitive taste buds in my tongue so that despite my lifelong desire to partake of the rituals of coffee, beer, and wine, I just can't. My tongue simply doesn't process bitter drinks like most adult tongues. Give wine to a five-year-old and watch their reaction. That's how it tastes to me too.

So, when you assume that you and I and everyone else taste fish caught here and there exactly the same, well, common experiences should have all doubtful of this assertion.

9 hours ago, 4n2t0 said:

P.S. Maybe it's just me, but I find it a little odd that anglers who hook fish in the face, gut, eyes, body etc. feel bad when it comes to eating them. Vegan fishing club? lol.

I'm an omnivore, an animal evolved to eat meat and plants. I have true canines, I.e. meat-tearing teeth, like a dog or tiger. My point is that I simply have to smile at a mirror to be reminded that I'm a meat and plant eater.

However, I also have a history of watching people reduce the fishing in farm ponds to a bunch of runts because of their gluttony. I've seen farm ponds go from healthy ecosystems to 10" factories when all the big fish were kept.

Do I think we've gone too far from keeping everything to letting everything go? Yeah. There's a middle-ground that all who love to catch big bass should strive to reach.

2 hours ago, scaleface said:

I brought the 72 fillets of small bass

Ok, super bowl party, you're invited ... 😁