Fishing inland lakes-- do you keep or catch & release?

[mike64]

This is similar to another post I have in the fishing forum, but I made the title of that one too region-specific, so I want to widen the net some, so to speak .

I'm not much of a fisherman, just started last season, but I enjoy it. I got a limited license (everything but trout and salmon) because the inland lakes I usually fish don't have a lot of trout and no salmon. Mostly bass, walleye, some perch, bluegill.

Mostly all I've caught is bass and a few bluegill. I've always caught & released so far, but every once in a while I'd like to bring home dinner, especially if I get a nice big fish or 2. Are bass any good for eating? I've heard walleye are pretty good eating fish, and perch of course are good eating.

So what do you guys who fish inland lakes typically do with your catch? Do you mostly release, or do you keep 'em and grill 'em up? does it depend on the fish?

 

[FLATHEAD]

Re: Fishing inland lakes-- do you keep or catch & release?

I catch and release all my fish. Of the fish mentioned Walleye would be the only ones that are worth while table fare. People will say bass are good and striped bass are good eating, But Largemouth and Smallmouth bass are not very good for eating. You would be better off buying a nice fillet at a store. The lakes you are fishing probably have catfish, they too can be good eating fish.

Their are a couple lakes in my area that were real good for fishing and held quality fish. Then the bucket guys showed up. These bucket guys consist of people that can not speak English and show up by the dozens and keep every living thing in the lake. One inch to how ever big they can catch. They are there every day rain or shine. After a few years of this the fishery goes downhill and they move on to exploit another lake. The size and creel limits in our state were not set up with this keep all you can mentality. We need to change a few laws here.

Sorry for the rant. To answer your question I am a catch and release guy.

 

[mike64]

Re: Fishing inland lakes-- do you keep or catch & release?

FLATHEAD-- yeah, there's always someone who spoils it for everybody else. reminds me of a lake I'd swim & snorkel back in the 80's, with a friend. It was down the road from his dad's cabin, a pretty little spring fed lake. Got deep quick after a small beach area.

About 10-15' down we found hundreds of crawdads scuttling around the bottom. We borrowed a butterfly net from his nephew and caught a couple dozen, boiled 'em up. Tasty! Like little lobsters. We only did this once or twice a summer, and only a couple dozen at a time.

Well, over the few summers we did that, they got more and more scarce. Turns out one time my friend was up there he saw a guy with scuba gear & full wetsuit dragging a giant sack of crawdads out of the lake. Mystery of the disappearing crawdads solved

 

[gonefishie]

Re: Fishing inland lakes-- do you keep or catch & release?

About 10-15' down we found hundreds of crawdads scuttling around the bottom.

I'd bet the smallmouth in that lake were fat. Bass are very yucky, don't let anyone tell you otherwise. I catch and release only. If it ain't farm raised, I ain't eating it. I will make an exception if it's from some remote, pristine lake away from civilization.

 

[JB]

Re: Fishing inland lakes-- do you keep or catch & release?

Bass are decent eating, but not the best. I always release bass because they get so much pressure where I fish.

Bluegills are very good, but not as good as walleye (no fresh water fish is as good as walleye). Perch and Crappie are a treat, too.

I keep enough walleye for a meal (usually strict minimums and limits) and I keep all bluegills, crappie and perch big enough to be worth fileting. They reproduce so fast that they need predation and fishermen to keep them from overpopulating some lakes.

I keep channel cat over about 15" from my own waters but release them anywhere else. Very good eating, but a different style dish than walleye.

On those rare occasions when I fished for coho and chinook I kept what was legal. Really hard to beat smoked wild salmon.

I release all esox. They are great fun to catch, but. . . .well, a chore to eat.

 

[Bass Man Bruce]

Re: Fishing inland lakes-- do you keep or catch & release?

I too keep all the perch and bluegill that are big enough to fillet, they are great table fair in my book.
In the lakes I fish bass are plentifull so I keep any legal bass smaller than around 2#, bigger than that they go back to breed. I have several recipes for bass that I think are excellent and have never been let down.
Walleye? If legal I always invite them to dinner!
I also love Pike. I gladly put up with the bones!

 

[Bass Tracker TX17]

Re: Fishing inland lakes-- do you keep or catch & release?

I catch and release my fish also.
Save the fun for some young fisherman and keep the fish reproducing.

 

[DJ]

Re: Fishing inland lakes-- do you keep or catch & release?

Bass are decent eating, but not the best. I always release bass because they get so much pressure where I fish.

Bluegills are very good, but not as good as walleye (no fresh water fish is as good as walleye). Perch and Crappie are a treat, too.

I keep enough walleye for a meal (usually strict minimums and limits) and I keep all bluegills, crappie and perch big enough to be worth fileting. They reproduce so fast that they need predation and fishermen to keep them from overpopulating some lakes.

I keep channel cat over about 15" from my own waters but release them anywhere else. Very good eating, but a different style dish than walleye.

On those rare occasions when I fished for coho and chinook I kept what was legal. Really hard to beat smoked wild salmon.

I release all esox. They are great fun to catch, but. . . .well, a chore to eat.

Agreed. Let me also repeat that some fish do need thinning otherwise the population becomes stunted.

 

[mike64]

Re: Fishing inland lakes-- do you keep or catch & release?

Thanks for all the replies, guys. If I catch a good sized walleye or a couple perch I may bring them home and get the bbq going. But right now that's all academic-- I went fishing yesterday and...zip. The fish around here are in no danger from me apparently

 

[mainexile]

Re: Fishing inland lakes-- do you keep or catch & release?

All I fish for up here are trout and landlocked salmon. I'll keep the first one of each every year just to "have a taste" to remind me of my childhood fishing expeditions. But after that, I'm strictly catch and release...unless I hook a chain pickerel while going for salmon. Those lake sharks go in the boat and then into the garden.

 

[tashasdaddy]

Re: Fishing inland lakes-- do you keep or catch & release?

i love bream, crappie, fishing, but i fish for anything that will bite at the time. only take home what i can eat.

 

[wildmaninal]

Re: Fishing inland lakes-- do you keep or catch & release?

As long as the fish meets keeper size we keep them but not all of the time. Bass, bream, crappie, and Catfish.

 

[CATransplant]

Re: Fishing inland lakes-- do you keep or catch & release?

I'm 99% catch and release. The 1% is when I have a kid in the boat and he or she wants to keep fish.

My wife doesn't like to eat fish. I do, but I don't get bent out of shape if fish isn't on my table. I can order it when I'm at a restaurant.

Normally, I don't even have any way to keep fish on my boat. No live well, no stringer, no nothing. It's fun to catch 'em, and almost as much fun to have a good look and them and let them swim off.

The fish don't seem to mind all that much. I caught the same crappie three times (it had a distinctive piece out of its tail) one day. Of course, crappie are incredibly stupid anyhow.

 

[aspeck]

Re: Fishing inland lakes-- do you keep or catch & release?

I'm about 90% catch and release ... only keep when we are hungry for fish and usually only keep walleye, bluegill, perch, rock bass, crappie, or catfish. I am not opposed to keeping other fish, but I am opposed to the time and effort it takes to clean fish!

 

[Mn Warrior]

Re: Fishing inland lakes-- do you keep or catch & release?

I try to limit our catch but keep enough for two meals when I take my kids fishing if I can. The next time out we may not catch anything worth keeping. People will tell you bass are not good eating...they are if the water you are fishing in is cool and clear. Walleyes and crapies are fun to catch and great to eat, I have never had to throw away one peice of fish in our house. You should have no problem finding fresh/clean water to catch a nice dinner in Michigan.

 

[redfury]

Re: Fishing inland lakes-- do you keep or catch & release?

I agree. Bass are good out of nice rocky, clear lakes. Murky lakes and most fish just don't taste nearly as well. If I have the time, I'll boneless fillet Northern Pike because I really do love that fish. I keep 2 or 3 a year for eating. Panfish is good eating, but you need a lot of them to get a decent meal if you are filleting, and are messier to clean if you cut off the head and scale them...meh, if I'm in the mood they are great.

As far as learning how to clean a fish, Bass are by far the easiest to fillet when it comes to the normal fish that come out of MN waters. I'm thinking about targeting Crappies this weekend because I've got a hankerin' for them

Most of the time though, I release. I just can't see stocking up the fridge, forgetting what I have and getting caught with an over limit. I want my kids and my grand kids to have better fishing than I got growing up. Ever see old black and whites from the 1900's of the catches some of these guys got back in the day? Wow...fun stuff, and caught on archaic gear...fish had never seen it before so it worked!

 

[rndn]

Re: Fishing inland lakes-- do you keep or catch & release?

I catch and release all my fish. Of the fish mentioned Walleye would be the only ones that are worth while table fare. People will say bass are good and striped bass are good eating, But Largemouth and Smallmouth bass are not very good for eating. You would be better off buying a nice fillet at a store. The lakes you are fishing probably have catfish, they too can be good eating fish.

Their are a couple lakes in my area that were real good for fishing and held quality fish. Then the bucket guys showed up. These bucket guys consist of people that can not speak English and show up by the dozens and keep every living thing in the lake. One inch to how ever big they can catch. They are there every day rain or shine. After a few years of this the fishery goes downhill and they move on to exploit another lake. The size and creel limits in our state were not set up with this keep all you can mentality. We need to change a few laws here.

Sorry for the rant. To answer your question I am a catch and release guy.

Bass, both largemouth and smallmouth make excellent table fare. My family has enjoyed fishing for years and always keeps enough for a meal or two. I'm sure the bass police will have a fit with this post, but the fact of the matter is they taste great. Even the famous Ray Scott kept all his bass for tablefare until they started the catch and release movement.

 

[mike64]

Re: Fishing inland lakes-- do you keep or catch & release?

Interesting what a wide difference of opinion there is about whether or not bass is good eating. For those who don't like bass, what don't you like about it-- the taste, or the texture? Or both? I've heard bass flesh has a soft 'mealy' texture. What other type of more common eating fish does bass taste most like, is there any comparison?

As for the conservation argument, I'm all for that, and I imagine I'll always be 90% catch and release. But I don't see any problem keeping the occasional catch. I want my kids to see that the meat and fish they eat for dinner doesn't magically appear nice and clean and trimmed up, in clear plastic wrap.

 

[Mn Warrior]

Re: Fishing inland lakes-- do you keep or catch & release?

MIKE64, I have cooked large and smallmouth bass from a few of the lakes I like to fish, my friends who won't eat BASS think it's walleye if I cut it right. What they don't know won't hurt them...lol.

 

[rndn]

Re: Fishing inland lakes-- do you keep or catch & release?

In my opinion, the people who say bass are not good to eat are just saying that so people will catch and release. Bass, both small and large are my wife's favorite fish to eat and she is very picky when it comes to eating any fish.