I was fishing a small trout pond on Sunday?
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Using a mepps 1/4 ounce trout pattern inline. I was tossing it under a bridge around reeds and whatnot. I assume that I hit a bass nest, cause I hooked a 7 pounder, 19 inches. She didn’t fight at all. She had a belly on her too, I assume she was prego. So, I carried her back, measured her then contemplated on whether or not I should keep her. I ended up tossing her back in.
Typically I wouldn’t keep a bass, but this one was out of some really clean water and it was a very healthy looking fish. Would you have kept it? Would you have eaten in? Have you eaten large mouth before? How is it?
I see them as a game fish and I always throw them back, but then again, when I catch them, they are caught in a pretty nasty river from which I would not eat anything.
Thoughts?
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I catch and release
Largemouth bass is fine to eat, regardless of how “dirty” the river appears to be unless there is some sort of toxic runoff that dirt is exactly that dirt. Some people throw everything back, but part of the fun is eating what you catch. I will say that they are a bony fish and should be either descaled or filleted before eating. However no matter which way you look at it they are a bony fish to eat. I would much rather eat a good trout or catfish, but they’re not bad eating at all.
I frequently catch bass when fishing my local trout pound for trout, the trout are a put and take and I keep all the trout I catch to the limit. All the bass I throw back, in part it’s the ponds regulation and the bass are not stocked. Where it’s legal to keep a bass I will because they are good eating to. Why pay for a fishing license if you can’t keep some fish for eating?
I live on bass and deer meat. I always keep enough bass from each trip to stockpile enough to last me during the hunting season when I don’t fish at all. And nature seemed to have designed the bass for filleting. You can fillet a small one and get more edible boneless fish from it then most other fish that you eat without filleting them. And I do not consider a bass to be a bony fish at all. You should start eating them.