Has the catch and release mentality gone too far?

[1tigger]

I very rarely keep anything I catch unless I know it has no chance of survival With one exception ... myself my boy's and two of the guy's I icefish with keep all legal pike within our creel limits to feed a couple of local families . They aren't dirt poor but their incomes are very limited and they always use what we bring them with an abundance of appreciation .
Mounts are a different story .... TO EACH HIS/HER OWN !

[bear]

If you catch it legal then do whatever you want with it. Who cares what the other side says. bear

[scansy]

Thats a very good lesson, and one way of teaching it. Nothing makes me madder to see fish kept and then wasted. If you kill it you should at least have enough respect to use it to the fullest. Same thing goes for guys who shoot deer and only eat the T-loins and back straps, and toss the rest! Very wasteful and IMHO disrespectful!

I agree.  If you kill it, you must use it if at all possible.  I've even eaten a deer that I saw road killed right in front of my eyes.  Front end was mangled, but the hind quarters were untouched and quite tasty.

I was frustrated this summer after a powerful storm went through the area.  We lost power for almost 3 days.  We lost a lot of stuff in the freezer, including a little bit of venison and some walleye fillets.    I tried to buy dry ice, but the demand was high because there were a lot of people without power.  The local townships had bought it all up and distributed as they see fit.  Apparently, I didn't fit.

[1tigger]

Thats a very good lesson, and one way of teaching it. Nothing makes me madder to see fish kept and then wasted. If you kill it you should at least have enough respect to use it to the fullest. Same thing goes for guys who shoot deer and only eat the T-loins and back straps, and toss the rest! Very wasteful and IMHO disrespectful!

People that waste like that are exactly why organizations like P.E.T.A. are as strong as they are and then they have the nerve to bit*h when P.E.T.A goes on one of their rampages .
IMO people that unnecessarily waste like that should be charged .

If they don't want certain parts of a harvested animal it need's to be donated so someone can benefit from it !

[scansy]

PETA ain't so hight and mighty either.  Most of the animals they "rescue" by taking in are put to death anyway.  PETA is one of those groups who likes to tell others what to do - even if they don't follow their own advice.

[Kyle]

If you catch it legal then do whatever you want with it. Who cares what the other side says. bear

I think thats a dumb thing to say, if you took home every fish you could legally catch you would have WAY  too much meat and most of it would get wasted.  Also are you saying people should be bringing home their limit of fish everyday just to fertilize their garden?

IMO I think the catch and release has gone too far, I flyfish alot and some of the forums post on people actually b*tch at you when you keep 1 or 2 for a meal. 

If you think its fine to keep your limit every time you go out-let me ask you a question...

What do you think would happen to population of fish if everybody kept their limit?

[meadowpikeman]

on the long weekend between all of uour group we could have legally kept at least 125lbs plus of pike, i think thats kind of excessive even though it would have been legal. we kept 4 fish maybe a combined weight of 15 lbs or so lots for what we needed.

[BlindSquirrel]

What do you think would happen to population of fish if everybody kept their limit?

The environmental protection authority for that region would change the creel limits to maintain a viable population.

[molsonport]

kyle, not only has the c/r mentality gone to far, being p/c has gone to farrrrrrrrrrrrrrr also. you do not know what people are doing with the fish/game how much they eat or give away. if you do not want to keep the fish or the game don't ,but do not push your s$$t on others.

[JerryofWNY]

I think thats a dumb thing to say, if you took home every fish you could legally catch you would have WAY  too much meat and most of it would get wasted.  Also are you saying people should be bringing home their limit of fish everyday just to fertilize their garden?

I won't insult you by saying "That's a dumb thing to say." But, how can you imply that Bear is saying it's OK to catch your limit of fish everyday and fertilize the garden with them?

It's nobody's business what I legally do with my legal catch is all he said.  The law in this state says you can't sell game fish, it does not say you can't fertilize your garden with them. If it is more important to have big juicy tomatoes in my garden than a meal of walleye, and I decide to fertilize with a legal day's catch in the early spring it's nobody's business but mine. You might think I'm nuts, but I could care less.

It has gotten to the point that even those who keep part of their catch have to say in their reports that the ones they didn't keep were "released to fight another day." It's like they have to justify to those catch and releasers their keeping a few. I have done the same in the past and I wonder why.

[BlindSquirrel]

Exactly, I have said this before.  It is a sad state when one fisherman must justify his catch to another fisherman. 

[archbishop]

iu think like all sports, outdoors sports are becoming sissyfied, we partly have TV to blame, these guys on TV do catch and release 90% of the time, so thats what youth and newbies see, C&R and they also say things to appease the general public that goes over some outdoorsmans heads, or we just dont think about at the time, but it hits the activists right in the ears, and they are happy for the time being and the networks can air their shows without too much hassle from people like PETA in my opinion, it just gives the general public the idea that if your not practicing C&R especially with the all mighty bass your a unethicle person/outdoorsman, ethics is just your view on how things should be done, all we can do is raise our children the right way and allow other to do there own thing as long as its legal, and i think threads like this are great, if there is someone out there that thinks one way, and reads through one of these threads and says, hmmm, maybe they are right, i will or wont keep any limits of such and such fish, it give people alot of perpectives on alot of good issues, i know personally i have changed my views on a few subjects because a fisherman on here posted there view, and knowing most of your personalities, i can make a decision of, this guy is just blowing smoke, or hey, this guy knows his stuff and he makes some good points, maybe i will take this into consideration next time this situation arises to me

no matter your take on subjects like this, thanks to everyone on here for having opinions

[1tigger]

iu think like all sports, outdoors sports are becoming sissyfied, we partly have TV to blame, these guys on TV do catch and release 90% of the time, so thats what youth and newbies see, C&R and they also say things to appease the general public that goes over some outdoorsmans heads, or we just dont think about at the time, but it hits the activists right in the ears, and they are happy for the time being and the networks can air their shows without too much hassle from people like PETA in my opinion, it just gives the general public the idea that if your not practicing C&R especially with the all mighty bass your a unethicle person/outdoorsman, ethics is just your view on how things should be done, all we can do is raise our children the right way and allow other to do there own thing as long as its legal, and i think threads like this are great, if there is someone out there that thinks one way, and reads through one of these threads and says, hmmm, maybe they are right, i will or wont keep any limits of such and such fish, it give people alot of perpectives on alot of good issues, i know personally i have changed my views on a few subjects because a fisherman on here posted there view, and knowing most of your personalities, i can make a decision of, this guy is just blowing smoke, or hey, this guy knows his stuff and he makes some good points, maybe i will take this into consideration next time this situation arises to me

no matter your take on subjects like this, thanks to everyone on here for having opinions

VERY  WELL  SAID ARCH !!   

[Desperado]

and I will keep eater sized 24"-30" pike if I get one in the winter. 

All bass and muskies will go back because I'm not going to eat them.

WC
If you would eat a 30" pike, why would you not eat a 42" musky? (42" being legal where WC lives)
I'm not trying to pick on you, it's just that I've never understood this.
A 10" perch is comparable to it's slightly bigger cousin a 15" walleye; and they taste almost identical.
It seems to me that the exact same logic holds true to a 30" Northern and his slightly bigger cousin a 40" Musky.(40" is legal where I live)

By the way I also grew up with ethics of "Kill it only if you're gonna eat it" and I lived by that ethic since I was 6 years old. 
As a result I've eaten; rabbits, racoons, rattlesnakes, bear, elk, bison, moose, trout, perch, pike, walleye, crappie, sunnies, catfish. (the bison and moose were my fathers, all others were harvested by me)

[troutman]

 65 percent of your walleye and pan fisherman are a bunch of meat fisherman. They all claim to be very good sportsman’s. When one of these guys catch a nice breeder size walleye they don’t have the guts to release it. It ends up in the cooler. Then you have the others that can’t release anything.