Fish for the table or catch and release?

[Alfiegee]

I've been a catch and release fisherman most of my life. If a fish is hooked through the gills or badly injured I have no problem taking it home for the table. Once in a while I will also take a nice trout, bass, walleye, pike or cat, but not often.
I fish at the dam in Caledonia regularly and some people there disgust me. This past Sunday a guy fishing near me caught a hammer-handle 1 lb pike, it went right on his stringer, I mean this fish has never even spawned. He even had the nerve to question me when I let one the same size go. I told him I would like to see pike here in the future. He also had a very small gar on his stringer. Over the past few years I have seen people keep 9 and 10 inch walleyes there too.
What is wrong with people? Are they that hungry?
Most of the fish I have kept in my life are specks and rainbows and they have a habit of taking spinners or worms hard. I release ones that are not hooked badly and I keep the bleeders.
What do you guys think?

Alfie.

 

[getin]

I've been a catch and release fisherman most of my life. If a fish is hooked through the gills or badly injured I have no problem taking it home for the table. Once in a while I will also take a nice trout, bass, walleye, pike or cat, but not often.
I fish at the dam in Caledonia regularly and some people there disgust me. This past Sunday a guy fishing near me caught a hammer-handle 1 lb pike, it went right on his stringer, I mean this fish has never even spawned. He even had the nerve to question me when I let one the same size go. I told him I would like to see pike here in the future. He also had a very small gar on his stringer. Over the past few years I have seen people keep 9 and 10 inch walleyes there too.
What is wrong with people? Are they that hungry?
Most of the fish I have kept in my life are specks and rainbows and they have a habit of taking spinners or worms hard. I release ones that are not hooked badly and I keep the bleeders.
What do you guys think?

Alfie.

I guess a lot of us share your view and approach as well. But two things, 1) as long as he is not violating the regulations you cannot argue with them, and (2) for a long time I thought it is the shore anglers that damage the fisheries. Having been on a few charters recently and spoken to the guides, now I relaize the damage they do is far worse. Basically most people who hire charters take the fish home becuase they have paid for it. One guide was telling me that his guests would take their limit, he the would get the clinets home for lunch, unload the fish and go for another round of catching the limits in the afternoon. Since then, I do not blame the shore "keepers" as much as I do those on the charters, since the former group cannot cover a lot of water and catch his limit in like 2 hours

 

[NADO]

whats crazy is the people on the longpoint forum, they will keep 6 huge walleye on a regular basis. One guy the other day took out 24 between the people in his boat. I keep fish on the rare occasion that I am prepared and fishing for something I like to eat (trout, salmon or perch). I'd keep walleye but I havent caught one from the lake yet, only residents. My big thing is if you are going to keep a fish keep one or two from a big lake, not one that is a resident of a river as they have much smaller populations.

 

[RedSkullz]

I keep a few fish throughout the season, but i release far more than i keep. In a normal year i'll keep
Two 4-6 pound male rainbows
Two 5-6 pound pike
Five/Six 2-5 pound walleye
60 crappie
60 perch
4 lakers
4 splake
Injured fish

I like to have a feed of fish a few times a year.

 

[Joel52]

If they have a license and stay within the limit and regs - no problem. Let the MNR survey and regulate this fish population. If there aren't enough producers in a given area, they'll impose tighter limits and slot sizes. As for what we do, we generally keep nice fish for consumption and throw the big and little guys back.

 

[NADO]

If they have a license and stay within the limit and regs - no problem. Let the MNR survey and regulate this fish population. If there aren't enough producers in a given area, they'll impose tighter limits and slot sizes. As for what we do, we generally keep nice fish for consumption and throw the big and little guys back.

its not really that simple tho, if everyone limited out everytime they went out like some people the limit for walleye would become 2 very quickly same for bass. since many anglers practice catch and release the limits remain higher.

 

[Joel52]

Exactly - the limit will drop to regulate the population. That's also why sportfishing tags are more expensive than the conservation tag. You'll always have people that don't obey the regs or "work" the system. Limits and slot sizes are the mechanisms used to curb those tendencies. It wasn't that long ago that people could keep trout from the Upper Credit. It's now a no kill zone with strict regs, and the abusers stand out because it has become basically fly fishing catch and release only - no live bait. The trout populations are returning to decent levels because of that ease on the pressure.

 

[getin]

It is exteremly hard to get good data on fish population so the regulations are usually behind. Even a new angle would immediately notice the difference between the urban water bodies and the remove ones so there is no question that even with regulations in place, the pupulation can drop. I don't know what is the best way to educate the anglers, specially those new to the sport/country but I have noticed that talking to people in a nice way would help, rather than swearing at them or getting mad at them.

 

[antoniojay]

Like I said before Alfie, it shocks me that people would even consider eating gar, not only do they taste terrible, they are known to be toxic during spawning seasons and they are just a pain in the ass to clean. The grand however is known for people not really respecting it, sad to say. My family owns a cabin and we often see people dumping tons of garbage near the fishing areas, and heavily over fishing the areas. We've found everything in the river, from tires, to furniture.

Another thing to really consider though, is the generalization done by the MNR. They do a great job of surveying lakes, but some lakes don't have an accurate read of how often they are fished, and proper lake surveys aren't done nearly enough. I understand that it is partially because of the lack of funding, but the end result is lakes that become so heavily over-fished that they just need to be blocked off so the natural populations could re-establish themselves.

Personally, I don't really keep that many fish. Once in a while I'll keep a nice bass, catfish or drum, but for the most part, I'd rather let the fish get bigger, its always fun to catch big fish, I agree with the fatal hooking incidents though, I'll keep them in those instances, unless they are pretty small, I'll throw them back. Theres always something that will make a meal of it.

 

[staffman]

I think that the people you see keeping small pike & gar generally are those who do not respect the fishery at all. If you were able to check, I think that you would find that these folks do not have a fishing licence of any kind.

 

[NADO]

Exactly - the limit will drop to regulate the population. That's also why sportfishing tags are more expensive than the conservation tag. You'll always have people that don't obey the regs or "work" the system. Limits and slot sizes are the mechanisms used to curb those tendencies. It wasn't that long ago that people could keep trout from the Upper Credit. It's now a no kill zone with strict regs, and the abusers stand out because it has become basically fly fishing catch and release only - no live bait. The trout populations are returning to decent levels because of that ease on the pressure.

So its okay that people ravaged the fish population and practically eliminated it because the area will eventually become a no kill zone?? Im not sure I follow the logic here, but in my mind it would be better if people kept 1 rainbow instead of 5 regardless of what the regulations say is acceptable. Maybe an angler will keep 5 rainbows in one outing and no more for the rest of the year, which is fine. But people who keep 3-5 one week and then three weeks later do it again are the problem, just look that the longpoint forum and you will see what i'm talking about.

Laws are often behind the times and personal judgement is often necessary, sometimes a law is unnecessary and needs to be broken, other times people need to impose more laws on themselves because the government is too far behind or the situation is more complicated than one simple law or regulation.

 

[Joel52]

I fish with a clear conscience. I usually do not take a limit - it has to be really nice walleye for me to do this, in the 15-16" range. Yup, I can eat 4 of those in one sitting...no problem. I buy a sportfishing license, that gives me legal right to do that.
Fisheries do recover, some are quicker than others. There is no excuse to take more than your limit. BTW - did you know that catch and possession limits include what's in your freezer at home?

 

[Alfiegee]

I fish with a clear conscience. I usually do not take a limit - it has to be really nice walleye for me to do this, in the 15-16" range. Yup, I can eat 4 of those in one sitting...no problem. I buy a sportfishing license, that gives me legal right to do that.
Fisheries do recover, some are quicker than others. There is no excuse to take more than your limit. BTW - did you know that catch and possession limits include what's in your freezer at home?

I did know that the catch and possession limits include what's in your freezer.
I too buy a sports fishing license every year, but the reason for this is that I fish specks at a few good streams a couple times each year and when you catch 20 or 30 fish each day even with barbless hooks you are bound to hook a few in the gills.
I enjoy a good feed of fish once in a while as much as anyone. My complaint is the guys who keep a 1 lb pike or a 9 inch walleye or a 3/4 lb bass. Someone else said they let the small ones and big ones go and keep a couple of nice ones. I have to agree with this philosophy. I know there will always be "bad fishermen" but it still bugs me.

Alfie.

 

[Joel52]

Someone else said they let the small ones and big ones go and keep a couple of nice ones. I have to agree with this philosophy.
Alfie.

That would have been me in post #5 <grin>

 

[Alfiegee]

That would have been me in post #5 <grin>

Oh. I guess I shouldn't have said "someone else." LOL.

 

[RedSkullz]

I did know that the catch and possession limits include what's in your freezer.
I too buy a sports fishing license every year, but the reason for this is that I fish specks at a few good streams a couple times each year and when you catch 20 or 30 fish each day even with barbless hooks you are bound to hook a few in the gills.
I enjoy a good feed of fish once in a while as much as anyone. My complaint is the guys who keep a 1 lb pike or a 9 inch walleye or a 3/4 lb bass. Someone else said they let the small ones and big ones go and keep a couple of nice ones. I have to agree with this philosophy. I know there will always be "bad fishermen" but it still bugs me.

Alfie.

Some lakes its good for the system to keep 1 lb pike or 3/4 lb bass. Some lakes have dense populations of small fish and the fish get very competitive. Ive been to a few lakes that are full of stunted fish. But generally these lakes are in the middle of nowhere and hardly nobody fishes them.

 

[salmotrutta]

Some lakes its good for the system to keep 1 lb pike or 3/4 lb bass. Some lakes have dense populations of small fish and the fish get very competitive. Ive been to a few lakes that are full of stunted fish. But generally these lakes are in the middle of nowhere and hardly nobody fishes them.

Yeah, I agree it depends on what area you're talking about.

I know many clean lakes that are chock full of 3/4 - 1lb bass. You're allowed to keep 5 or 6. Man they're good (and super easy to catch and fillet)!

But if someone is keeping bass out of a polluted river or lake that is located in a densely populated area, obviously this may hurt the bass population and you may be ingesting too many toxins.

 

[NADO]

ya when I used to keep bass I would only keep 3/4lb-1.5lb anything over 2 I found started to taste bad. Now I find that all bass taste bad lol.

 

[Joel52]

Lately, I've been shying away from bass, especially bigger ones. Once you filet the medium size and larger bass, you'll notice a darker line that runs the length right down the middle. As we now do with walleye, we've been removing that and tossing it. It carries a bit of an "off" and very strong "fishy" taste. If anyone's interested, with the medium to larger size walleye all that's needed is a notch near the tail end of the filet after skinning and it comes off like a zipper when you pull. With bass you'll need to cut.

 

[Neb]

Well I know that a lot of the people who keep everything are from different ethnic origins (I'm not even remotely trying to be racist here). They just have a different mentality about it all. Especially generations that were not born in Canada. You eat what you catch no matter the size. I've seen Chinese people take BUCKETS of small fish from the Grand River and other lakes around Kitchener-Waterloo-Cambridge area. It's sickening but how can you control something like that?