Was watching some guy fly fishing in Belize on Fly Fishing the World. When asked why he released the fish, his reply was pretty classic to me. " For the same reason you dont eat the balls after a tennis match. Its the sport." :lol: Sounded good to me.
now that I must remember. Thanks for that spot on remark. 
And the golfer that hits a “hole in one” doesn’t feel obliged to eat the ball!
Bill
“The fish you release is your gift to another angler and remember it may have been someones similar gift to you”-- LEE WUFF :lol:
If positions were reversed. I wonder if the fish would throw us back?
Considering fishing a sport is a pure HERESY. This attitude puts you with the number who catch bass in tournaments. I bet Peter never released an edible fish.
Please don’t put me with them. :shock:
Fly fishing is becoming a way of life for me now. I’m actually moving a 1000 miles away so i’ll be in fly fishing country. It’s much more than a sport for me. I talk to the trout when I catch then like they’re friends. I could never hurt one. Well, except for a little hole in their lip. 
Billy’s funny, but remember that he IS a comedian.
Besides, who eats bonefish?
A wild brown from a high mountain stream, prepared by a gifted chef, THAT is one of the true delights of our humble existence.
The rest of you can eat all the stockers you want to.
Good Luck!
Buddy
Let me say that I don’t keep fresh water fish mainly because I don’t really like them all that much. I prefer my fish to come from the sea. Give me a nice swordfish steak!
With that said, I don’t have a problem with someone who wants to occasionally keep a fish or two for dinner. After all, fishing was (I guess) invented/created as a means of providing food for one’s family as the primary goal and probably sport was only second in mind. What I do have a problem with is the person who keeps EVERY fish so that he may impress others with his …skill? " Hi honey, look at my stringer full of fish" These people need to buy a camera and learn to use it.
C & R is but only a facet of the gem stone of flyfishing. There are many depending on how the lite strikes us each.
Well said, JC.
One man says, “I fish for the sport.”
Another man says, “I like to catch what I eat.”
Both men are right and proper. There is moral equivalency. Wanton waste and unsustainable consumption are the boogey men we should concern ourselves with. One is reprehensible and the other is usually the result of ignorance (not meant perjoratively).
To kill something to eat is one thing. To kill something just to show you can is quite another.
This would be reason #1 for me…
The Following is a very short part of the states Super fund hazardous materials cleanup list…
Parker Dam State Park Lake (Clearfield Co.), Entire lake, Largemouth bass, 2 meals/month, Hg
Penns Creek (Snyder and Union Co.), Confluence of Laurel Run to SR 0204 at New Berlin, Smallmouth bass, Rock bass, 2 meals/month, Hg
Pine Creek (Tioga Co.), Confluence of Painter Run to confluence of Fourmile Run near Colton Point State Park, Smallmouth bass, 2 meals/month, Hg
Raystown Branch Juniata River (Bedford and Huntingdon Co.), Confluence of Ravers Run (near Warriors Path State Park) to slackwater of Raystown Lake, Rock bass, 2 meals/month, Hg
Sinnemahoning Creek (Clinton and Cameron Co.), Confluence of Lower Jerry Run to mouth, Smallmouth bass, 2 meals/month, Hg
Sugar Creek (Bradford Co.), Confluence of Bailey Run to mouth, Smallmouth bass, 2 meals/month, Hg
Sunfish Pond (Bradford Co.), Entire pond, Largemouth bass, 2 meals/month, Yellow perch, Hg
Tioga River (Tioga Co.), Confluence of Crooked Creek to PA/NY border, Smallmouth bass, 1 meal/month, Hg
Towanda Creek (Bradford Co.), Confluence of Schrader Creek to mouth, Smallmouth bass, 2 meals/month, Hg
Trindle Spring Run (locally Silver Spring Run) (Cumberland Co.), Silver Spring Meeting House to mouth (approx. 1 mile), Rainbow trout, 1 meal/month, PCB
Tunkhannock Creek (Wyoming Co.), Confluence of South Branch to mouth, Smallmouth bass, 2 meals/month, Hg
Tuscarora Creek (Juniata Co.), SR 3008 bridge above Port Royal to mouth, Smallmouth bass, 2 meals/month, Hg
West Conewago Creek (York Co.), SR 0295 bridge to mouth, Smallmouth bass, 2 meals/month, Hg
White Deer Creek (Union Co.), I-80 bridge to mouth, Brown trout, 2 meals/month, Hg
Wyalusing Creek (Bradford Co.), SR 0706 bridge at Camptown to mouth, Smallmouth bass, 2 meals/month, Hg
Yellow Breeches Creek (Cumberland Co.), State Route 3017 bridge at Huntsdale to confluence of Cold Spring Run, White sucker, 1 meal/month, PCB
As I said…A Very short portion of the list…There are few that this list does not contain…everyone should take great care and cautions as to what they might eat and from what waters…Just My own opinion…
Well not to rock the boat to much, but i enjoy eating what I catch in certain fish i.e. Crappie, White Bass. Catfish, Blue Gills. Some fine eating fish. When I lived up north I ate fresh caught trout also. C&R is a nice gesture that I feel is a yuppie thang and I’m a good old boy who eats my catch.
My stand is that every body of water has to be treated differeently for the species of fish that live in them.
Most of the ponds that I fish need to have panfish taken out of them.
This colors my catch-and-release perspective.
Rick
Yuppie my ass. It’s the law on some streams.
I don’t happen to like fish. Give me beef.
Not being a fish eater, I was into C&R when it was still called “throwin’ 'em back”.
But my wife is one of those people who cannot understand the logic of C&R, so a mess of pan fish needs to come home every so often.
A brace of trout every once in a while also towards mid-season, before they start to simmmer in a summer river.
Maybe a bluefish for the grill.
Killing and cleaning fish is not my favorite thing to do but if it makes the boss happy…
There were far, far too many times when I caught and killed and wasted. I try not to do that anymore.
I know of a pond in Yellowstone that is full of the sweetest brook trout I have ever tasted—Quite a few meals of that sweet pink meat. The park workers want to keep it for their own fishing and wondered how I found it. :lol: BILL
If fish tasted like tennis balls I would never keep any either. As it is I keep fish or not depending on where I’m fishing and how hungry I am. I never have a freezer full of months old fish but If it won’t damage the fishery and I can eat them in a reasonable amount of time I will keep anything from one fish to the legal limit.