Eating Largemouth Bass

[treyisthename]

Just curious of people's take on eating largemouth bass. Lately on fishbrain and youtube I have seen so many hate comments on videos/posts of people keeping and eating bass they catch. There just seems to be a common theme of "bass are a sport fish and should be catch and release only" Now I personally stock freezer with trout, salmon, and mackerel when I can and not bass because bass aren't visually appetizing to me and seem to come from dirtier waters...but I don't see why someone who calls themselves a fisherman give hate to someone to eats bass, especially if that is the main fish in their area.

P.S. I've also noticed the same mentality with some steelhead fisherman

 

[Brnsvllyjohn]

I almost never keep largemouth bass. They are not the dominant bass in the lakes I fish. I keep a few spots occasionally but I don't try to fill the freezer. I might keep 3-4 fish every 4-5 trips when the water temps are below 65 degrees. I have found that once the water gets around 70 I don't think the bass are as good to eat. If I catch a largemouth that isn't going to survive then I will keep it. The rest get released. If all I had in the local lakes and they were plentiful I would probably keep a few. I try to only keep bass that are around 14 inches long. Anything big goes back. I think the smaller ones taste better and I don't need huge filets. I almost never keep my legal limit of 5 fish.

As far as ethics go as long as the resource can handle the pressure keeping a few fish to eat is perfectly OK. I guarantee you that tournament guys who haul fish around all day in a live well kill more bass than a guy who eats a few now and then. They may not be dead when they weigh them in but a week later a lot more are dead than they will admit to.

 

[treyisthename]

I almost never keep largemouth bass. They are not the dominant bass in the lakes I fish. I keep a few spots occasionally but I don't try to fill the freezer. I might keep 3-4 fish every 4-5 trips when the water temps are below 65 degrees. I have found that once the water gets around 70 I don't think the bass are as good to eat. If I catch a largemouth that isn't going to survive then I will keep it. The rest get released. If all I had in the local lakes and they were plentiful I would probably keep a few. I try to only keep bass that are around 14 inches long. Anything big goes back. I think the smaller ones taste better and I don't need huge filets. I almost never keep my legal limit of 5 fish.

As far as ethics go as long as the resource can handle the pressure keeping a few fish to eat is perfectly OK. I guarantee you that tournament guys who haul fish around all day in a live well kill more bass than a guy who eats a few now and then. They may not be dead when they weigh them in but a week later a lot more are dead than they will admit to.

I was on an app called fishbrain where people post their catches, and seen a few death threats on people who posted that they are keeping a few....just crazy. Where I grew up in North Carolina it seemed like everyone who fished would occasionally eat bass and it wasn't a big deal....then again I've gotten a hate comment for eating a stocked rainbow trout that can't survive more than 3 months in the pond it was put in.

 

[Smithb9841]

I Have basically the same views as brnsvllyjohn but I probably keep a few More spots than he does. I try to throw largemouth back because the likes I fish the spotted bass are dominant and take over the lakes.

also what he said about tournament fisherman survival rates are very true. You can go look at studies of those survival rates as well and those are a lot of the guys that will
Bash guys that keep a few here or there

 

[D8hntr]

The way I see it is to each his own. I don't keep LMB but who am I to tell someone else not to? They bought their fishing license and are free to keep their limits....I see the bashing on fishing pages too. It's ridiculous.

 

[Grandroyal]

i have not ate one in 20 years but I am blessed with monterey bay in my backyard. We eat salmon rockfish lingcod halibut crab and many others. Local lakes have them but feels more like a sportfish now to me. But that being said if I lived around only fresh water areas I would have lmb fish and chips for sure. Till the game refs change people shouldn’t be sending hate over a legal resource. To each his own. Some people may say I pull to many salmon per year, but it’s all done with legal take so I don’t care what they say. Good luck and tight lines. PS from what I remember they are a nice white meat that goes well with beer and friends.

 

[Planetcat]

Frankly I’m shocked that fishermen will hate on other fishermen for eating the bass they catch. I don’t really bass fish very often, but if I wanted to eat them, it is my God given right to eat a daily legal limit every day if I want to.

 

[THE ROMAN ARCHER]

I don't think Neanderthals were sport fishing or doing catch and release.....lol
U have to wear social media protection amour now days that's all...lol
Anglers getting death threats for eating farm raised fish that were raised with intent to b eaten...wtf! their idiots and I guarantee those same haters are buying that supposedly fresh farm raised trout from the store seafood deli, Yuck!
R u kidding Rainbow Trout is one my favorite fish to eat.
Look at all my past post here slaying trout at Quarry Lake, I ate countless trout and limits, my freezer was always full and I gave alot of my freinds many trout... the good ole days in Cali.
And years ago I was a sucky bass fisherman for some reason but look at me now!
It was when I moved to Florida 7 yrs ago and have some premium bass ponds where I live is where I honed my skills hooking trophy pond Monster bass.
I was hooking so many bass I didn't want to stop fishing and bring them home to eat so that's when I started doing catch and release and sport fishing for my pond bass. I could eat them if I want I just choose not too, but if it means survival get the barbi going!...lol
Other then that I enjoy Striper when it comes to eating a bass and I also eat Salmon and Flounder every week along with shrimp, scallops, crab, damn I eat alot of seafood I guess I am going to hell...lol
My advice is stay off those bragging fish apps and share all your fishing adventures and fish recipes with us here on Jesse's Hunting & Fishing where we try to keep all those IDIOT HATER ANTIS that DONT KNOW CHIT off this web site.
Well enough chit chat, now I am hungry for seafood....lol.. tra
Heres a 16 lb Rainbow planter, I got salmon size steaks out of one of the best bows I ever ate, and a few more...

 

[ChrisAMX]

I used to eat Bass when I was a youngster, however, I haven't fished for them in years. I wonder if the people doing the shaming and threatening are real fishermen, or maybe antis who have infiltrated a site?

 

[jedventure]

They are pretty tasty, i only keep deep hooked bleeders that i don't think will make it. That is very rare but it does happen. And i don't give two shits what you do.

 

[D8hntr]

They are pretty tasty, i only keep deep hooked bleeders that i don't think will make it. That is very rare but it does happen. And i don't give two shits what you do.

Right? That's one of the main problems today. People are worried about what everyone else is doing instead of worrying about their own shit.

 

[P304X4]

Here in MO I never trusted what could be caught in the rivers as being 100% edible so I only fished the lakes. Mostly went for blue gill or red ear (or the occasional cat fish) but if I happened to hook a lmb I'd keep it also. They're all good eatin'. The only time I considered not keeping a bass was when they were on the beds.....got to keep the stock replenished.

 

[Bigolwiggler]

I eat meat, fish and in the warm months veggies from the garden. I tried catch and release in the garden once , it didn't work very well either.
BOW

 

[Sawfish]

When the weather warms in the summer months some claim that LMB acquire an off taste, This is generally due to algae or plant blooms in the water, and is easily removed by soaking refrigerated fillets oversight in a pan of water to which a tablespoon of vinegar has been added.