I generally practice catch and release but I was wondering what everyone else does as far as pre-spawn is concerned?
“If it was easy anybody could do it”
Timothy S. Furey Sr.
100 % catch and release unless they’re hooked so badly that they don’t respond to revival attempts.
Depends on the pond I am fishing. MOst of the ponds need to have fish taken out so I keep them.
Rick
I am near 100% C&R, but if I’m fishing a new pond full of stunted gills, I will keep a mess of 5-6" fish during prespawn or spawn. In 1 small pond, we saw a 2" change(from 5" average to 7") in 2 seasons. We did have to talk the owner into having folks release all bass & any gills 7" or larger.
Mike
I personally don’t let spawning factor into whether or not I choose to take fish.
It doesn’t make logical sense to me. I can take a fish that I catch in December, but I shouldn’t take that same fish in March, because it’s about to spawn…If I take it in December, it’s not going to lay eggs either.
That being said, I never take any more fish than I (and my wife) can eat in a reasonable time (like the next few days). Normally, I limit myself to 2-4 average sized fish. I never take large fish, however.
Bass yes, panfish no.
[url=http://www.native-waters.com:e5f51]http://www.native-waters.com[/url:e5f51]
We sure do think along the same lines as FullMonte.
We do take ocean salmon and albacore for our “meat fish” though…the ones we target without C&R foremost in mind. We can them to preserve them. Freezers are detrimental to quality fillets. 
Often we have to freeze a bit of halibut, as they too, are bigger than a meal. Never is much more than a meal of a desired course ever retained otherwise. And it will be the medium specimens of the species.
…lee s.
I keep a few now and then. Never any “giants” of any species. I put the big ones back to stay in the gene pool. Whether I keep fish depends on how energetic I am. If you haven’t figured it out yet, if you keep them you have to clean the stinking things. It also depends on whether I think the fishery can stand a few fish removed. In my younger days I kept everything. That was the way of the world back then until some genius figured out that if you put them back you can catch them again.
I tend to keep all Panfish since the pond I fish is samll (about 1 acre) and is overloaded with BG. I keep all I catch, as long as it is enough for a meal for my family of 5. If I only catch a few, they get lucky and go back for another day. I release all LMB, but that is do to none that I have caught so far have been legal size.
BEST way to keep fish fresh, till your next meal, IS to release them. Also makes for a handy excuse.
On many pond i fish the population is stunted because of it being over stocked in this case then yes. On normal healthy ponds and lakes i only harvest what i can eat. It good for the population to remove fish. What i dont do is when fishing for bluegill that are on nest is catch fish until i cant anymore and then go home with buckets of fish.(I know one family that will do that with a worm and bobber). Generally i only keep bluegill and crappie. I hardly ever keep lm bass and i never keep stream smallies.
-Zac
The way to a flyfisherman’s heart is through his fly
Let me revise my earlier post just a bit. I’m typically 100% catch & release for bass but I do have two ponds I manage where I keep the bass if they’re under 1 1/2 lbs. in an attempt to remedy stunting problems. I try not to ever return any crappie back to the water regardless of size.
The reason I asked is I caught about half a dozen nice crappie on Saturday and a few bluegill and I released all of them. Thinking back I should have kept them because the lake is over stocked. Hmm, I think I’ll have to go back after them tomorrow after work!
Although I don’t think my wife could bring herself to eat something with “crap” in the name.
“If it was easy anybody could do it”
Timothy S. Furey Sr.
Call them what we call them down here, then: Sac-au-lait, in the French, “sack of milk.”
[url=http://www.native-waters.com:f1bee]http://www.native-waters.com[/url:f1bee]
Once she tries the crappie, she won’t want anything else. Both the crappie and BG are good eating fish.
Miller, bluegill and crappie are great tasting, but it’s really hard for me not to keep a channel cat which I catch more often than I thought I ever would on a fly rod. They to me are the best tasting warm water fish.
Hi F-troop,
I have great faith in our Department of
Natural Resouces quantity and size limits.
In addition, any fish that I consider a
quality example of the species goes back in
the water unharmed. Also, the ones that
leave a grin on my chin have earned their
freedom.G In addition, any fish ripe
with roe goes quickly back into the water.
Warm regards, Jim
Smallmouth - never! I will keep enough panfish for a meal for wife and me early in the year. I normally fish from a Hobie Float Cat so there isn’t really any way to keep them unless it’s cool. I don’t freeze fish - the fish market has those. I can always go out and catch some more fresh fish if I want.
Donald
I rarely keep fish mainly because I am too lazy to clean them. But, I do like panfish and will keep bluegills and crappies to eat a few times during the year. I will keep a few pike every now and then too, but not often.
I can only speak from personal experience in fishing some of the same farm ponds for 20+ years. I cannot tell any difference in the size or quantity of fish in the pond whether they are kept or released. One pond I fish is about 5 acres, another is 7 acres. With the average female Bluegill laying something on the order of 8,000 eggs each, it doesn’t take a heck of a lot of them to keep a pond in all the replenishment stock they need. In fact, I’m becoming more of an advocate of keeping more fish out of these ponds than fewer. I have noticed in years when the ponds seem to be more heavily fished, ( I share fishing rights on these two ponds with at least two families of meat fishermen) the following years the fish seem to be bigger and more fiesty.
Like I said, I’m no fish biologist, but I can’t see, in my experience, that keeping about as much fish as a family can eat, out of a pond of 5-7 acres, has had any undesirable effect on the fishery. Of course we aren’t talking just going out and raping the water of all the fish that can be caught, but catching several meals of Bluegill from a healthy pond each year doesn’t seem to cause a problem. I think a readily reproducing species like the Bluegill is a whole different kettle of fish from a stocked and non-reproducing fish like most trout we encounter.
Just a couple of cents worth of useless opinion from a Bluegill lover. Fried in peanut oil, please.
These are the idle thoughts that posses a man’s mind when he’s not able to fish.