The definitions of Sports Fishing may differ from one person to another. To me Sportsfishing is seeking out that personal best, trophy and always catch and careful release. Charters off shore or inland seas like our Great Lakes. Even smaller inland lakes that hold trophy Muskellunge for example. Cut Throat Trout and Kings in British Columbia or Blue Fin Tuna in the Eastern Maritime Provinces, Grailing in the Arctic. That's Sportsfishing and it ain't cheap. We meat hunt here on Lake Erie for Walleye, sometimes big and sometimes small like a 5 pounder. Yellow Perch, the limit here on Erie in Ontario is 50 per fisher person. I have to include my wife, she's good at it plus she can clean them.
I have no idea what you mean by bottom feeders and Sportsfishing going downhill. Carp and Cats I guess. There are folks here that will eat anything that comes out of the water here in Ontario, anything sometimes including mature fish. To each their own, we call them the white bucket brigade, if it's legal it's legal and I will stop it at that.
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dingbat yes I agree, hook onto a 25 pound Cat in my nearby river or a 30 pound Pit Bull like Carp and that big Largie or Smallie is like catching bait. And I am going to include it in my Sportsfishing definition because it's a challenge like in sports and it's fun as hell. I have eaten a 2 pound what we call a Yellow Mudcat from the Grand River here but only in spring. They sure are good fried in cornmeal. They want 15 bucks a pound in the grocery stores nearby.
