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Catch and Eat v Catch and Release
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I've only ever enjoyed two parts of fishing...catching and eating
I don't like baiting, removing hooks, cleaning, cooking, or any other step in between
I like releasing fish because I feel like in releasing a fish I am showing some respect/thanks to mother nature for letting me enjoy the fish but on the other hand I have no problem keeping/eating some species of fish
I really can't decide how I feel as I like eating fish, but only fish that other people catch
Am I hypocritical for being a catch and release fisherman but eating fish other people catch?
All opinions welcome.
Posts: 17360
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Certain species ill release, and others I have no problem with eating. Mainly I just release bass and musky. But walleye, crappie, perch, sometimes northern I have no problem with keeping and eating.
Depending on the lake and the size of the population and size of the individuals, keeping the smaller fish actually helps it out too though.
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The only body of water around here that I would keep fish from is Quabbin and even then the only species I'd keep is trout or perch.
Warm water fish are gross. Parasites and mercury and chemicals and all that shit = ugh. No thanks.
I must say it does make my blood boil when the bucketeers I see bank fishing just keep them all indiscriminately. It's just such an ignorant practice. The same people usually leave a ton of trash behind too.
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I mostly catch and release everything but sometimes I will keep to eat.
With Huck, mercury scares the shit out of me and it's everywhere nowadays.
I keep and eat about 3 trout a year from smaller cleaner streams. When I'm at the beach I will keep and eat small bluefish from shore as there are boatloads of em.
I love the joy of watching a healthy release of a nice trout, paying back mother nature, leaving something for the next guy kind of thing.
On the other hand catching, cleaning, and cooking your own meal(especially over a campfire) has a very rewarding feeling to bringing the whole adventure full circle. Very much like hunting a deer and filling the freezer.
I think it's kind of a silly game to go through all the trouble of the sport and never enjoy the fruits in the end.
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