Killing bass?

Just for the record, this has to be one of the best threads I have ever seen
on this ng. Hats off to Dick for getting this one going. Thanks to
everyone who contributed a bit to my further education on the most
significant sport fish in the country.

John

On May 30, 2:55 pm, Olebiker wrote:
A friend directed me to a local fishing web site. One of the
discussion pages was about freshwater fishing. I was amazed to see
pictures of guys holding up stringers of dead bass like it was still
1954.

I don't think I have killed a bass on purpose in over 20 years and I
don't think I know anyone who still keeps bass. Do any of you folks
eat bass?

Dick Durbin

In the 50's until 1970 I fished heavily and most fishermen kept all
edible fish. Everyone I knew that fished kept multiple freezers at
home to keep a year-long supply of fish. Many canned fish in Mason
jars. I remember many days in the 60's cleaning 50 or more bass every
day we camped at the lake. Back in the 50's bass were still not
targeted, there being lots of much easier caught fish. But once my
home lake reached its prime bass were too pentiful to ignore.

Never once have I actually heard anyone say store-bought fish was as
good as fresh fish. Occasionally I buy fish from a fish market, but
just can't enjoy eating frozen cod, frozen tilipia, catfish, the sorts
of stuff at Wal Mart. I've tossed out way more of that than got eaten.
Except for the catfish most if not all are tasteless, depending on
seasoning. I couldn't even guess how many folks I've fed fresh bass
to, all raving over the flavor. Size has never mattered since I can
cut away the yellow fat. But I do prefer 2-4# bass.

As for taking large brood stock, if it's legal and I'm low on bass
fillets, I take them. Hundreds of locals do the same and have since
farther back than I lived. Most of the big spawning bass are never
seen or caught since they don't typically go into really shallow
water. They are smarter than that. People get excited over a 7#
spawning bass when behind them there are 10#ers past the first sharp
drop-off. Enough fishermen have tried to catch all there is, but
failed. Fish surveys prove the population has not suffered, but in
fact bass are far more plentiful now than when the lake was built.
Bass are a managed animal, managed through harvest. I understand why
northern lakes need some C&R and restricted seasons, due to the slower
growth and extreme fishing pressure. That isn't a problem in the South
and West. I also know many of the historically C&R lakes are now
filling with trained bass that avoid artificial baits. The fish an
angler released for another angler to catch some day isn't likely to
ever even see another artificial bait. That didn't do those fisheries
a bit of good. The bass will diminish there.

I retired this year from the Corps of Engineers. My career was
Wildlife Management Forester. I worked forests, wetlands, and
fisheries, coordinating the effects of one on the others, in
descending order from forests down to wetlands down to rivers. There
remains an increasingly very strong science factor argument for
sustained harvest where biologists find the only cost-effective
management of fish is through regulated harvest or degrees of C&R.
Waiting for nature to extract aged fish is a waste of natural
resources and usually very damaging to a fishery. Our bass are native
to rivers, now mostly confined to reservoirs, way out of their native
element. In rivers they survived harvest by many generations of very
hungry humans, but the river environment protected them. They made it
from the very first day there was a bass. But in the beginnings bass
were not very plentiful. They are now because man manages them for
high numbers often too high for natural forage to sustain them.
Lacking adequate thinning of their numbers, nature provides offsetting
diseases like LMBV. Who wants to leave our bass, artificially
increased in numbers, to management by disease?

As for the Bible, there isn't one line that prohibits eating fish
except the scaleless types like catfish. That was a Jewish thing
anyway, never meant for Gentiles. All through the Old Testament people
killed and ate fish and warm blooded animals. Jesus directed Peter's
fishing crew which side of the boat to drop the net, resulting in a
tremendous catch. I assure anyone that wasn't a C&R event. Jesus
multiplied a boy's fish to feed thousands. Jesus also caught fish and
cooked them on the shore of Lake Galilee after he resurrected. There
is no widely respected moral code concerning eating of flesh, except
among those following recently created spurious religions. I don't see
a logical reason for holding an "ethical" aversion to eating any
species of fish. Common sense would help one turn down a poisonous
variety. So if a person just doesn't want to eat bass, that's fine. I
also respect folks hating broccoli, strawberry ice cream, and
chocolate.

Jim