hughb
New Member
Posts: 7
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Post by hughb on Apr 27, 2024 15:55:31 GMT -5
You only catch them once
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Post by Crkr 23 on Apr 28, 2024 12:03:24 GMT -5
Yep, that's the general idea. I catch them, I eat them and other than that I see no other reason to bother them.
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Post by richm on Apr 29, 2024 7:46:10 GMT -5
No offence- do you really need to keep all those fish? sheepshead are just like black crappie/specs. They take the pressure off more sporting fish and taste just fine. Can't hardly catch em outside the spawn. At least i can't. Be nice to know where they go in the summer. Same for a couple other fish species. Anyway - these guys went out twice and caught 100 grunts and sheepheads (i counted em 70 on the long table and then 30 without counting the mackerel). 9 guys in photos with a photographer for each picture - let's just say 10 folks caught 100 fish, 10 fish each over 2 trips or 5 fish per trip. Does that help it feel better - if one guy had a picture with 5 fish it wouldn't seem like raping the ocean would it?
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Post by richm on Apr 29, 2024 7:48:14 GMT -5
These aren't largemouth bass - you don't run offshore to do C&R bottom fishing.
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Post by Crkr 23 on Apr 29, 2024 8:33:28 GMT -5
Thanks Richm, I'm glad some people get it. I've seen a lot of the BS with C&R in bass fishing. They hold bass tournaments in the warmer months and fish can't stand the stress of being held in undersized livewells that are pumping warm water that holds minimal oxygen. Then after stressing the fish, they are dumped into warm stagnant canals. They might be alive, barely, but how many survive. It was my job for over 30 yrs to keep fish alive, if I didn't I didn't get paid so I have a little clue on what it takes to keep'em alive. I remember the club tournaments held on Orange Lake in the summer over the weekend. About Tuesday of the following week the banks of the ramp canal would be littered with dead bass, sickening. I realize things have changed a little, at least they are required to haul the fish to be released out into the main lake. I'm sure that helps but in my opinion the fish have already been stressed from handling and inadequate live wells. My rant is over, I'll continue to catch'em and eat'em. If you believe in catch and release then by all means continue to do so. Just keep in mind that C&R can have a dark side. If nothing else the C&R angler probably catches and handles, keyword handles more fish and that in it self leads to fish mortality.
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Post by whitebacon on Apr 29, 2024 8:46:03 GMT -5
No offence- do you really need to keep all those fish? sheepshead are just like black crappie/specs. They take the pressure off more sporting fish and taste just fine. Can't hardly catch em outside the spawn. At least i can't. Be nice to know where they go in the summer. Same for a couple other fish species. Anyway - these guys went out twice and caught 100 grunts and sheepheads (i counted em 70 on the long table and then 30 without counting the mackerel). 9 guys in photos with a photographer for each picture - let's just say 10 folks caught 100 fish, 10 fish each over 2 trips or 5 fish per trip. Does that help it feel better - if one guy had a picture with 5 fish it wouldn't seem like raping the ocean would it? Sorry to break in. We used to catch sheepshead in the winter, almost always in the winter. On all the island docks. Many of them 8-10 lbs. Hard to clean, but pretty white meat. As good a meal as any snook or snapper IMO, if not better. They seemed to disappear after the water warmed up in spring. I think they went offshore.
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Post by richm on Apr 29, 2024 9:00:49 GMT -5
Sorry to break in. We used to catch sheepshead in the winter, almost always in the winter. On all the island docks. Many of them 8-10 lbs. Hard to clean, but pretty white meat. As good a meal as any snook or snapper IMO, if not better. They seemed to disappear after the water warmed up in spring. I think they went offshore. Yessir! - they'll tear you up cleaning them in you aren't careful. We rarely target them but did try once this year - wife got 2 my sister 1 and think BiL lost one. They definitely go somewhere and probably stay in that comfort zone. It seems to be a chumming game on the east coast, haven't caught any ont he nearshore rocks but might if we used shrimp or crabs more.
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Post by richm on Apr 29, 2024 11:13:04 GMT -5
Thanks Richm, I'm glad some people get it. I've seen a lot of the BS with C&R in bass fishing. They hold bass tournaments in the warmer months and fish can't stand the stress of being held in undersized livewells that are pumping warm water that holds minimal oxygen. Then after stressing the fish, they are dumped into warm stagnant canals. They might be alive, barely, but how many survive. It was my job for over 30 yrs to keep fish alive, if I didn't I didn't get paid so I have a little clue on what it takes to keep'em alive. I remember the club tournaments held on Orange Lake in the summer over the weekend. About Tuesday of the following week the banks of the ramp canal would be littered with dead bass, sickening. I realize things have changed a little, at least they are required to haul the fish to be released out into the main lake. I'm sure that helps but in my opinion the fish have already been stressed from handling and inadequate live wells. My rant is over, I'll continue to catch'em and eat'em. If you believe in catch and release then by all means continue to do so. Just keep in mind that C&R can have a dark side. If nothing else the C&R angler probably catches and handles, keyword handles more fish and that in it self leads to fish mortality. I've caught plenty of bass that had been caught and released. If the fish are caught, unhooked and released, shouldn't be an issue. Toting them around in a livewell is diff. Have recognized some saltwater fish as being successfully C&R - stuff with leaders hanging outta their mouths, etc. In MINWR there was a 29-inch 9.5# trout we caught twice - same spot, diff lures. Nice fish - then we had the drought and his pond dried up. The more folks fishing and mistreating the fish, the more mortality. Simple math. That's what they are using on the east coast to try and close the ARS fishing. Crazy but true. I do think the hero photos are cool. It is just a shame that some folks get triggered and think that just cause someone kept a boatload once or twice, it is gonna hurt the population any more than that person wiping the slime off a trout or red or snook and killing it days or weeks later.
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Post by tampaspicer on Apr 29, 2024 13:35:08 GMT -5
I don't really bass fish in the summer especially in small bodies of water. If I do it's on a bigger lake early morning or at night. I've seen bass go belly up 10 minutes after release a few times during the heat in ponds. Summer and winter can be very stressful times of year for fish without being hooked and snatched out of the water.
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