What's your opinion on a person keeping legal bass and other sport fish from a state/public lake?

[bowhunter75richard]

The only reason I can possibly think of as to the other dingbats feelings, that they were pissed off not catching the fish themselves and knowing that the fish was no longer in the lake to be caught. Sounds as though it is a case of stinginous on their part for being left out of the hoopla ! Doesn't it make you smile when you know you pissed off some damn idiot, I love it. You did the right thing, now I expect to see you post a big smilling photo in hopes they will somehow see it. Congrats JM. I am smilling for you !

[bowhunter75richard]

You did absolutely nothing wrong. Anyone who wants to keep a legal fish should do so, and not feel bad about it. In my opinion, the people who are religious about only practicing catch-and-release are nuts. I understand the rationale behind releasing the big fish, but some folks take it way too far. The way I see it, your only mistake was in trying to reason with those guys. I'd have just ignored them and walked away.

Congratulations on your bass, BTW! I'm no good at all at guessing fish weights (unless we're talking carp, lol), but I'd put it at 11lbs. You gonna have it mounted?

Be careful JM, HFT is now a prize winning taxidermist and will be pumping all the userers for their business! LOL

[bowhunter75richard]

It looks like a seven pound bass to me?
Most fishermen take measurements and release their fish.
I caught a nice Wahoo in Kona, Hawaii. The boat captain took photos and measurements. He also faxed my fish info to my taxidermist. We did not release my Wahoo because they are excellent to eat.

For those wishing to have a fish mounted, but not kill it, that is a very simple matter. All that is needed is to take the length and girth measurments, release the fish, give the measurments to your taxidermist and he can order a reproduction fish blank, paint it correctly and presto, your fish is hanging on the wall and it is near impossible for anyone to know the difference.