I only keep my bass if they have been hooked deep and bleeding every where and they are going to die. When do yall keep bass?

When they die. If they are bleeding bad I will pour some coke or mountain dew in their mouth. This will stop the bleeding and I put them in the live well for a while then turn them lose if they survive.

when I haven't had good fish in a while, we're consistantly catching good fish,and I feel like cleaning them... those three criteria together usually means not very often

    I personally never keep a bass, they taste nasty to me.  If somebody is with me and they like the way bass taste I will give it to them only if I know that my bass is going to die after I have throw it back.

Yes, I frequently take bass home for table fare, but never remove trophy fish.

It's my opinion, that removing smaller bass can only enhance the ecosystem.

If I believed otherwise, I would release every runt.

BTW: I've never eaten any fish in any restaurant (including swordfish & grouper)

that were any more flavorful than fresh Florida bass!

Roger

Yes, I frequently take bass home for table fare, but never remove trophy fish.

It's my opinion, that removing smaller bass can only enhance the ecosystem.

If I believed otherwise, I would release every runt.

BTW: I've never eaten any fish in any restaurant (including swordfish & grouper)

that were any more flavorful than fresh Florida bass!

Roger

I am with ya there Rolo. I will sometimes keep one or two for a good meal. However, trophies, never.

whenever they go belly up

I do the same as Rolo. I dont keep them very often but when I do they are the small keeper sized fish. I usualy let all of them go but there are a few lakes I fish that have a ton of small fish. So I do my part and harvest a few of them

I never keep bass. Bass don't have much taste IMO, and every winter I catch enough crappie to last year round. Whether the bass dies or not, I will not keep it. If one does die I believe a catfish or another fish or even a bird will be able to make a meal out of it at least. I still hate to see a bass not make it  :-[

i personally never keep bass...not even if they are gonna die...why??...one i really don't like bass and it would actually be more of a waste if i eat it...why??...because nothing in nature is ever wasted...if said bass is released & dies...it will feed something else...turtles, birds, raccoons, mink and whatever else...that just may need it more than I...

thats my story & i'm stickin to it

p.s edit i just noticed you said bout the same thing Albasser...

x2...or 3

I never keep them. Even if they're bleeding, dying, or dead, they go right back into the lake. Something will eat 'em.

When I'm hungry.

Ive kept one or two over the years, only because they were gill hooked or deep hooked and bleeding to death.  Just dont care for the flavor.

I keep'em whenever I feel like eating bass, which hasn't been in about 2 decades.  

I'm already looking forward to having a winter fish fry this year.  A co-worker and I were talking tonight about catching a mess of Okeechobee speck when it gets cold out.  I'm sure a bass or two might fall into the bucket as well.

anything over 12'' or anything under 15''. Now this is only if im hungry 4 bass.

I keep a few small ones for table fare. Not bad fried up with hushpuppies! How does the Coke or Mtn. Dew stop the bleeding, never heard that one?

I enjoy eating fish, but not as much as I enjoy catching them lol.  I throw my fish back almost always, with the exception of being camping or on vacation and keeping a few for dinner.  Here on my home lakes, I have never kept one.

Deep hooking and accidentally killing it I will. I've only had to take one fish home with me this year.It made a little nice lunch meal.  

Approximately never.

When I'm fishing alone or with just my partner on my boat, we release all fish unless badly hooked. If we are camping overnight on the shore, instead of staying on the boat, we keep some for dinner and breakfast. Also when we have a group fishing/camping trip, we keep everything for a dinner/breakfast fish fry. We fish for bass, stripers, crappie, and channel/flathead cats on all our trips.

I like to eat bass................and perch, and crappies, and bluesgills, and any other fish. When they are cut up into "nugget" sized chunks, battered and deep fried they all taste the same to me...............delicious. But to you original question, I keep a few limits of smaller bass (12"-14") each year. Largemouth only though, just can't bring myself to keep smallies.

Never kept a bass for myself, but have kept several for my gf's parents.  I have kept plenty of crappie, catfish and bluegill.

Never,  like the others have said, if it dies i leave it for another predator to eat.  

Never. If I want to eat fish, I'll go after some walleye, crappie or bluegill. THey all make much better (IMHO) table fare than black bass.

Tom

Well, if it's going to die, I will keep the bass and find someone that

wants to clean and cook the fish. However, at "The Secret Pond"

we keep and kill every little bass we catch. If someone wants them,

they get a limit. Otherwise, on the bank for the scavengers. The pond

is lost and I haven't fished it this year. Too much catch & release.

Our goverment did a survey into the bass population.  The report said to eat the smaller fish so the population could stay stable with the larger bass doing the most of the breeding.

Once a year I will bring home 3 smaller bass for my kittens to eat.  I take in abandon kittens that i find in the woods while fishing.  Some have been near death but i saved them.  They love that first meal of canned tuna.  That tells them they will be ok.  I have them in pairs or more.  One will always cry at first but the others like tell it to shut up were being fed.  I have 5 left do to the yotes taking them.  I need to fish for yotes soon. ;D