When he is done catching all teh big bass he will wonder why and since he is not into it for fun he will move onto other recreation's and get tired of small bass .After about 2 yrs the pond will have big bass waiting as long as another slop fisherman dont come around .I have seen asians keep anything they catch and even eat raw fish,minnows around here in Maryland>all we can do is keep fishing and hope that more ppl do what we do it is fun to release a big fish while some arsehole is standing there with his tongue out....

Like with anything, there is always going to be a "knucklehead".

But as I said before and will say it again, Rely on yourself to "DO THE RIGHT THING".

Fourbizzle,

Take this guy up on his offer and "educate" him on the importance of big bass. Educate him on catch and release and its importance genetically on the rest of the population. Lakes and reservoirs are "closed" systems. This means genes from outside the population of an individual system are not going to be incorporated into the stock. Look at the example of Texas Parks and Wildlife and their Share Lunker Program. They understand the importance that these big fish provide (genetically). Determine if he really has a vendetta against trophy bass. If so, there may be legal action. Give him examples like Fish Chris (which I'm sure he's aware of) and fish that he has caught and released to catch again.

FishChris,

You are correct about hurting yourself if you removed these fish. But, it was your choice as a resposible angler and proponent for the sport of bass fishing. Some people dont have these standards or they have alternative reasons for keeping these fish. For this, we may never know why?

Nothing is going to stop that guy from doing what he is doing, short of somebody violating his rights.  What he's doing is no different from the pickup truck full of illegal immigrants siene-netting a lake or pond and keeping every single fish of every type and size that they net - an all too common sight in NoVa (Goose Creek Resevoir and areas around Algonquin Park have been ruined by fishing of this type).  It is abhorrent.  Somebody should snap his rods, slash his float tube and dump his tackle box in the lake.

I've seen that happen at Algonkian Park. The worst that I've seen it was at a place called Lake Accotink. I've seen tons of people keeping any and everything they catch there, stuffing their catches into all sorts of containers, including gatorade bottles, yes, they were stuffing a half dozen sunfish in gatorade bottles. I know they are just sunfish, but come on, what's the point in doing that?

I WILL NOT FISH WITH THAT A_HOLE.

I wouldn't be able to stand it if something he learned from me led to another dead fish.

Well hey now, I don't hardly fish with my best friends, so I certainly can't see myself fishing with that guy either..... But I would like to talk with him, and see if I could educate him in a friendly manner.

I would have to assume he likes, and is proud of catching, big bass..... Or else, why would he be taking photos to show off on the internet. I'd just like to show this guy photo proof of some C/R's, and re-C/R's, and to explain to him how few 15's their are in some of these little ponds.

If a pond has five 15 lb bass, and you remove one of them, your odds of catching a 15 lb bass will go down by 20% ....... As if catching a 15 lb bass were not tough enough to begin with !

Sure, one could argue that the 10 to 14's will eventually grow to be 15's..... but when your dealing with such low numbers of fish to begin with, it only takes a couple less knowledgeable (or just flat out, uncaring) anglers, to completely eliminate "everyones chances" at sticking a huge bass, himself included !

Peace,

Fishj

Just pitiful... :'(

That slug is not a "bass fisherman" and he is not a sportsman.

I agree 100%!!!

hrm...well....considering the guy is wearing a nice championship ring, and judging by the looks of that trucks tail lights it looks pretty new, he appears to be nicely dressed enough, I figure he could probably buy fish.  So now, I dont know how good a fishermen you fellas are, but my bass generally pound for pound is pretty d**n expensive once ya figure all the tackle gas etc etc, and I catch several dds a year....so as a food source  try hot dogs.  Hell pound for pound steak is probably cheaper.  So lets not go the whole feeding the family route.

Another question I would have is slot laws. when lakes start to show signs of population issues dont they usually impose slots.... wouldnt that show the importance of leaving large fish intact?  (this is a question and not intended to be sarcasm)

Fourbiz ^5 I dont think I could fish with him either.....

That makes me ill. I hooked a bluegill in the eye with a pop-r the other day and watched him swim in slow lazy circles until he died, I felt terrible. Same goes for the few other fish I gut hooked, gill hooked and belly hooked. I hate hurting things like that in the pursuit of pleasure.

Prog

Hey 4biz, why don't you direct this guy to BassResource.com and this thread?  I'd like to see what he thinks about all this!  

(Just trying to stir the pot a little more  ;D ;D ;D ;D)

I always C&R myself, I dont even like eating fish.  I dont like to see other people keeping large fish either. That said, whatever else the guy is he catches some impressive fish.

If a man catches a bass and keeps it and does it legally...That is his right. While I would argue against him doing that and not eating or giving the fish to someone to eat.

Just for the record I C&R all of my bass. I have done it for years. But I will fight for anyone's rights to keep their fish provided their intentions are within the law and they are going to eat it or give it to some one that will.

I apologize for my first post on this matter. After reading it and other following posts I must agree that I came off brash and in reality I made my point very badly. I'm sorry but this thread touched a nerve with me and I got personal with friends that I haven't met yet. Please accept my apology.

Tom

Well here's what MAKES ME MAD! >

Yes, it does bother me that he kept several trophy fish, but it's the way some people actually "kill" them.  If your going to harvest the fish, take him out of the water..then Bop, hit him on the head with a rock or something, don't just let him flop around in a bag and "drown" to death.  Our serial killers get better deaths than that.

"Makes me Sick" is a good title for this thread.

It makes me sick that a bunch of self righteous pogues pass judgement on a fisherman that probably knows more about bass fishing than many here will ever know. Furthermore, if he caught them legally he was within his rights, and he paid for those rights with a license, to keep them.

Some of Y'all have no freakin' clue about "fishing" do you? Fishing started out as a means of catching FOOD. Not Sport. Do you think that an Indian in 1760 that enticed a trout using a piece of cat gut gut as a line with a wooden handmade hook with a grub on it caught a fish and said "Hey, that was cool....let me preserve the earth and release this piece of meat that could feed my family so I can sportingly catch another for fun while my wife pounds corn into cakes so that we can eat while I while my days away catching these fun things.....?"

No, I don't think so.

If a man catches a bass and keeps it and does it legally...That is his right and you have no say in the matter.

If you want to catch bass and release them that is your right.

But who are any of you to judge or dictate what a man does when he is fishing as long as he does it legally and he stays within the guidelines of the law.

If a man catches a fish, kills it and then takes it home to his driveway and takes a picture who are you to judge that?

Just for the record I C&R all of my bass. I have done it for years. But I will fight any one of you that begrudges a man his right to keep a fish even if it's for a photo op and a place in the freezer.

Step down off your podiums people. The attitudes of the posts that I have read here in this thread are elitist.

Oh, By the way, If I have offended you I truly meant to.

Hey Tom Bass... is that you in those pics?  

Not one of you asked what baits he was using to catch the big ones......Shame, Shame Shame

No Gotta Love It. That ain't me. I'm prettier than that....I have a face. ;D

I CAN'T BELIEVE NO ONE MENTIONED THE MOST IMPORTANT THING ABOUT BIG BASS

I once read an article in Field&Stream that discussed very large bass. It compared them to people that grow 7ft tall and huge, and how rare this is in nature. Biologically the bass that grow this size are just as rare as humans this size. The vast majority of bass will not reach the 10lb+ size. THE MOST IMPORTANT THING TO KNOW is that big bass (just like big people), carry a domanant trait to thier offspring. This means the huge bass' offspring are likely to grow huge like thier parents. Simillar to how tall people have tall kids. If this guy continues to wipe out the big bass population in the lake, it will be much harder to catch one this size in the future. This guy needs to know this and maybe he will stop.

It's just so ignorant, I can't believe it.

GolfCoursePondMan

So tom, to summarize:

We can't voice our opinions on what we find highly immoral, yet you can.

If we don't like it, you'll fight us.

Way to go big dog!

Just for the record I C&R all of my bass. I have done it for years. But I will fight any one of you that begrudges a man his right to keep a fish even if it's for a photo op and a place in the freezer.

Step down off your podiums people. The attitudes of the posts that I have read here in this thread are elitist.

Oh, By the way, If I have offended you I truly meant to.

Yo TomB.  

What's with the grandstanding and the deliberate intent to offend?  You will "fight any one of you that begrudges a man his right to keep a fish"??????????????????............................Please.   :-?

4biz was ranting fer sure, but you've been around here long enough to see and hear similar attitudes about killing trophy bass.  

You disagree, that's cool but let's keep this debate within something resembling reason.

I seriously doubt  that the guy needs  these fish to eat.  He keeps them for the same reason a kid wants to keep his catch.   Namely so he can show it off.

I agree that "talking" to him would probably be fruitless, he would no doubt get defensive, but directing him to forums dedicated to C&R might help him to mature as an angler.

peace.

avid

Dude, if I see someone keep some bass and they are going to eat them, I say have at it. That does not bother me at all. If someone catches the fish of his or hers life time and wants to skin mount it, I say go for it, but, the pictures you have posted with that guy and those big dead fish turn my stomach. I would put those pics in plain view in every local marina, publication and convey what that guy did to every swinging di** I knew. That dude is a bottom feeder in my eyes. :-?

I   think everybody that fishes whises for that big fish. I know I have caught and KILLED a couple. But did my doing so hurt the fish populations as bad as bed fishing?

I am also stuckbetween a rock and a hard place. I am a taxidermist mostly fish. I do a bunch of skin mounts everyyear.  Yes the people could have a fiberglass replica but to them its not the same.

To others  plastic is fine. But with plastic you have a copy of a fish hundreds of others have, same fish just finished different and painted different.

We all know pictures lack and no matter how carefully you handle a live fish you will have mortalities.

I also fish for trout and during the spawn in an unnamed river I caught eight nice browns that died, I tried to revive them but even with the best I could do they died. Hell these fish never left the river bank but did fight hard on light tackle. So they died, so I kept them. Someday maybe I can get time to finish my own stuff. I willnot fish for spawning trout anymore to many died.

Same for bedding bass you  are killing next years crop when you fish beds.

One thing certain you cannot legislate morality and to kill a big bass is up to each persons guilt or no guilt. The person keepin a lot of big fish all the time probably will still keep the fish no matter what the law says.

When I was younger I would catch and keep anything that bites my lure, I still might keep a trophy of sometype these days, maybe not big or maybe if I am lucky big.

Trophy bass or trophy deer? What is the real difference?

Maybe next time I will be a catch and release deer hunter! NOT!!!

Guys on another board think I am bad for keeping limits of stocked trout,  always rainbows except the spawners and I will not fish them anymore. Hell trout are released just for that and yes we eat a lot of trout, hey they are good when cooked in a deep fryer!!!!

To kill or not to kill that is the question.

Ozarkie

Man that got me hot!

but I'll just say I respect your opinion and disregard your insults. I don't feel I need to go to church this weekend since I've heard enough preaching.

There are plenty of people with just as big attitudes here so I'm opting out before mine shows.

OK......Thinking Happy thoughts.......Ahhh...Better!

Well I have a question  

What would George Perry have done with those bass?

And  What did George Perry do with his bass?

George Perry was not a modern fisherman,, George Perry caught that fish during the depression, George Perry was poor, George Perry's family was hungry, George Perry is irrelevant.

Thats a good question. If you look at the bottom of the link it shows he kept them and being in the 30's I don't think they were using C&R. What would you do? I'm sure the thinking was a lot different then and I'd probably keep them.

http://www.mrlurebox.com/GeorgePerryBass.htm

Well I have a question

What would George Perry have done with those bass?

And What did George Perry do with his bass?

What bass ;D ;D ;D