Hatchery trout are meant to be kept. I usually keep enough for one meal. With few exceptions, I release wild trout. There is nothing better than fresh brook trout cooked on the shore of a mountain lake.
Jay
I usually catch and release and always C&R when it is a law. But I do keep…maybe…4 trout average/year (I have a year-round season). I like to let the fish live to be caught another day. Other fish, like salmon, I almost always keep if law permits. I think I get an average of 6 salmon/year.
-Fly_Fisher_12
[This message has been edited by Fly_Fisher_12 (edited 05 February 2005).]
Mostly release, but when it’s both legal appropriate, and I’m motivated to eat some fish, I’ll retain a meal’s worth (only), and suffer absolutely no feeling of guilt. Oh yeah, the reason it’s easy to retain only a meal’s worth, is because that would be two 10-11 inchers.
Taxon
[url=http://FlyfishingEntomology.com:07ccc]FlyfishingEntomology.com[/url:07ccc]
I haven’t kept a fish in a few years and that was only because I had taken some kids from a youth group camping/fishing and their parents wanted a meal. I don’t have a problem with those that LEGALLY keep fish. It’s just I don’t like to.
Mike
There is no greater fan of flyfishing than the worm.
Patrick McManus
Always heard fish was “brain food.” I need to keep all I catch.
If it leagal and the fishery can support it, I’ll keep at or below the limit.
“If there are no dogs in Heaven, then when I die I want to go where they
went.” -Will Rogers
I’m in the majority, RW. Will keep some on occasion, especially Specks. I’m also with JC on the subject. It is a blood sport. Some of the fish I catch (this is rare but it does happen) have taken the fly so deep and it has done so much damage that if I returned them, they would be dead anyway. But I do believe that if C&R is done properly (and barring the above type of event), that there are “less” fish kills 
.
Robert B. McCorquodale
Sebring, FL
“Flip a fly”
No trout fishing for me in south Louisiana. But to answer the question in general, I no longer keep bass since Hurricane Andrew lowered the population drastically. I do keep bluegill and sac-au-lait (crappie.) The bass population is rebounding well, and I may make a rare exception to the norm now and then in the future.
[url=http://www.native-waters.com:4837e]http://www.native-waters.com[/url:4837e]
Catch and release trout - eat bluegill and black perch. If all the trout I caught during one trip were all 2 pound fish or better I might take a couple home for the wife and I to have for supper. When we want fish to eat, I will go for the bluegill and perch and eat them the same day or the next.
Warren
I haven’t kept a fish for food since I started fly fishing again three or four years ago. That’s just my choice; I like to release my fish. I don’t see anything wrong with keeping fish for food particularly stocked fish. I have actually gotten dirty looks or negative comments from fisherman for releasing nice fish. 8T
You had better learn to be a happy camper. You only get one try at this campground and it’s a real short camping season.
on occasion-but never a steelhead??
bob faorite past-times winter steelie fishing-fall bow-hunting-would write more but with my typing i would be here for wks.??
Eat a fair number or trout from Put and Take fisheries. Release almost every trout in any other situation although I legally have taken a few stockers from other fisheries.
Dot Man — you got to get one of those gloves made of chain mail that protects your hand. After stabbing myself a couple of years ago, I will not clean a fish without it.
Chuck Hitt
I mostly catch & release…
but dont get me wrong… I love a good trout dinner… But I think what I do is sometimes wrong… but it just on how you look at it…
for instance… I will take a (1) 20-22in trout home… stuff with crushed cornchips, red onions, and lemon juice (grilled)… with a side of bacon potatoes (secret recipe)… and grilled corn on the cob… this meal he feed 5 people…
(we eat this meal about 3-4 times a year)…
keep some, wife and I like trout once in a while, also keep a cuople for wifes boss, she is a nun from the Philipines and loves FRESH fish, notice fresh.
Most of the places I fish here have bag and/or slot limits, but unless I am in the mood for a fish dinner or Sister Lucia has asked for some, it is c&r unless I have one that has been hooked too deep or won’t revive.
My poll,keep occasionally.
Wyo-blizzard
I haven’t released a fish yet! LOL
In all seriousness, I do eat some of the fish I catch. I feel that I, and everybody else with a license, deserves to. I do try to only keep what will be eaten right away, and I can’t stand it when they go to waste. If we’re gonna keep 'em, we should use them.
Jeff
Hi Folks, RW again
So far, as near as I can decipher, the posts are running 48 to 6 in favor of occasionaly keeping. Interesting. It is almost right in line with the percentages in the American Angler poll.
No wonder the Neilson Ratings can determine what TV shows are the most popular with a random nationwide sampling of only 500 people.
Later, RW
“We fish for pleasure; I for mine, you for yours.” -James Leisenring on fishing the wet fly-
I have yet to enjoy a better meal than a couple Brookies fried in mushroom and onion. -Yaf
To me its a matter of education. I dont object to taking fish. I have also lived in Fla. where i’ve seen so called bass fisherman catch Bass and at the end of the day throw them on the bank and leave them to rot. I would not want to be in a world where I am told I cant keep any fish. At the same time one must realize if you keep them all sooner or later there wont be any.
I vote to use your head.
Hi RW:
Bergman here, I feel it’s fine to keep a trout or two to eat and enjoy. I basically follow your thoughts and feelings on this. I plan once a year that I go out and keep two trout that are over 15 inches for Annie and I to eat. Like you I practice catch and Release and too enjoy a Fresh Brookie or Rainbow for dinner. What makes me feel bad are the people who catch a trout and take it home with intensions of eating it. By this I mean they bring it home to show off a trophy, clean and freeze it. Their wife really did not want to eat it or have plans to eat it and it sits in the freezer for months and eventually gets thrown out. This to me is what is wrong. Trout are ment to be eaten preferably in the same day in a skillet with butter and a little lemon over a camp fire. I always give thanks when I have a meal like this and always remember why it’s important to take care of our streams and wildlife. These are gifts to be enjoyed and appreciated. Conservation to me is you can’t always be a taker and you have to give something back in return. It’s a fine balance of living with nature and being a good sportsman. Just my two cents worth.
Andy The Bergman Brasko
Smernsky- Years ago when people were allowed to keep fish in Yellowstone Park it was nothing to see limits in garbage cans. And at that time the limit was 10 fish and the license was free. People would catch them and being city people and not fishermen they didn’t know how to take care of them so they threw them in the garbage. The bears use to like it but the people that lived around here sure didn’t. That is the main reason that they shut down keeping fishing in the park. It sure was a shame. But what can you do. Ron
“on occasion-but never a steelhead??”
It’s interesting that many here in the pacific nothwest, consider it a duty to keep hatchery steelhead. It’s so they don’t breed with wild steelhead and dilute the native genes.
Jay