Why do out-of-staters fillet bass?

[Roddy]

BYRON VELVICK was complaining about how many big fish had been filleted on Lake Amistad by visitors in the last year and how it's really effected the fishing there. It's made me think about very spring I see the carcass of big bass at the fish cleaning stations and it seems the people dressing them are always from a northern state. I understand the are within their rights to keep a legal fish but it turns my stomach to see a knife stuck in a 5 or 6lber. There were 2 5lbers dressed by a couple of guys from IN at Missing Hills Resort Sat afternoon. I wonder how they'd like it if I came and did that at their home lake. At least they could just eat the smaller ones.

Oh well my rant is over, I'm just irked that I spent my time catching Crappie so I'd have some fish to eat instead of bass fishing. I guess I could just eat bass too.

I hope I didn't offend anyone that doesn't fillet big bass , but if you do I hope I offended you.

P.S. I saw a guy from MO start to keep a 12" bass sat. I told the guy who had just put one in his live-well sat that the size limit was 15" on bass and I would call the game warden. He fished it out and let it go then.






Modified by Roddy at 4:00 PM 4/21/2008

[Slow Rollin]

Roddy,

I agree with you on the 5 and 6 lbers. But I see nothing wrong with keeping a few of the smaller bass now and then to eat, sure crappie would be better to keep but if your like me you don't spend alot of time fishing for them. I would prefer crappie and bluegill myself.

[Roddy]

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Slow Rollin &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Roddy,

I agree with you on the 5 and 6 lbers. But I see nothing wrong with keeping a few of the smaller bass now and then to eat, </TD></TR></TABLE>

Keeping legal fish is your right. I think selective harvest is the key. These guys are bass fisherman, you'd think they have to know the value of a 5lber, They should keep some buck bass.

I wasn't picking on people from IN either, those two guys just happened to be from there.

[Ranger482V]

Ya, that keeping small 12" bass really pisses me off. You should have just called the game warden and followed him around until the warden showed up. Teach him a lesson. I haven't ate a bass since I was about 7. About 15 years ago. I'll be down there the first week of May. Trust me the bass are safe, but the crappie and bluegill may not be.

[john n]

Born and raised in Kentucky, boat has Indiana license, but I still don't like to keep bass. Too many big Red Ear available.

Man, if I could just come up with a good way to fix those drum, I would never be without fresh fish !! I'll supply them to the Rally if somebody dares to fix em !!

John N

[Roddy]

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by john n &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

Man, if I could just come up with a good way to fix those drum, I would never be without fresh fish !! I'll supply them to the Rally if somebody dares to fix em !!

John N</TD></TR></TABLE>
I'll fix it if you'll eat it. I do think you'll have it all to yourself though.

[Alliston64]

John...I've never eaten one of those nasty things, but heres a recipe someone told me about.

"I read an aticle decades ago called 'Poor Man's Shrimp'. We use to catch drum in the river where I grew up, so I gave it a shot. You filet the drum and take off any dark meat on the back of the filet that was next to the skin. Then cut the filets into 2 inch cubes. Bring a pot of water with a little salt to a boil, dump the cubes in, put the lid on, and shut off the burner. Just like you would with shrimp. Once they are par boiled, dump them on ice to cool. Then enjoy with cocktail sauce. When I fisrt did this at my parents house, my Dad (a conservation officer) thought I was crazy. However, an hour or so later, no more drum left. I'm just telling you, you're missing out by throwing those big boys back and no one will bust your chops about havesting them."

[201pro]

That 12 incher wasn't a spot was it? If so, it would have been legal to keep...

[Roddy]

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by 201pro &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">That 12 incher wasn't a spot was it? If so, it would have been legal to keep... </TD></TR></TABLE>
No, it wasn't a spot. He can keep them any length. I was pulling around him and saw the fish pretty close. He was sitting on a point that stays covered with 10 -14" largemouth bass. I wonder how many more were already in his livewell.

He netted the fish.

[JWP]

I caught three 6 pound drum last year in about 15 minutes and kept two. The first one I released, but the second one and I became attached by a treble in his mouth, the deck carpet and my finger. I had to yank the treble out of my finger after he got some free flops on me so I put his tail in the livewell and the next one for good measure. I then went to another bank and kept fishing. I made a seafood chowder the next day with drum chunks, shrimp, and clams with lots of onions, potatoes, butter, milk, black and red pepper and garlic. It was excellent. The drum has a firm flesh so it doesn't pan fry well, but it works great in soups. They are first cousins to the saltwater redfish, which are served "blackened" down south and in many seafood restaurants.

[ep72]

Yep, aint nuthin wrong with eating a few buck bass, but it tears me up to see a 5lb+ bass hangin from a stringer or cut up.

[Dave Stewart]

It may be thier right..it may be legal..but it is not ethical if you are a true sportsman...period. There are plenty of eating fish that are far more prolific and better to eat than LM and SM bass. There is more than enough pressure on the bass now days without taking them out of the lake...as far as selective harvest..as far as public lakes where there are a lot of tournaments going...there is plenty of them that are being thinned out by the tournaments. Last year I watched a guide (mostly panfish and not too smart either) in his boat with 2 clients and a follow boat with 3 more guys taking big fish off the beds in one of my favorite spring areas and putting them in their live wells. Friend of mine told me he saw them filleting them out at the dock that afternoon.

Not the first time I have seen a guide doing that...panfish mostly guide of course. I turn down a lot of trips every season from folks that want to take some bass home with them...not in my boat.

If my post offends anyone...I really don't care...

[Adam H.]

[billius]

I would wager that there are a lot of people from Ky who clean bass that they catch. Probably a lot more locals do that then you think. The three or four times I've been to Ky Lake, I've seen Ky folks cleaning bass. A year ago this month while at the launch ramp at Ken Lake, I saw two guys from Ky cleaning fish on their tailgate in the parking lot! I agree that it's legal to keep them, but I also agree with Dave and others, that if you are a sportsman, you throw the big girls back!

[Adam H.]

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by billius &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I would wager that there are a lot of people from Ky who clean bass that they catch.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Oh Yeah... I bet alot of people in Alabama clean the bass they catch.

[billius]

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Adam H. &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

Oh Yeah... I bet alot of people in Alabama clean the bass they catch. </TD></TR></TABLE>

Yep they sure do! I've seen that going on down here too, although I've not seen any big bass being cleaned. On most lakes I don't even think there's a size limit on bass and the limit is 10! But then...Alabama is also the only state, I think, that allows gill netters!! I've found out since I've moved down here that it's a beautiful state with a lot of great people, but their DNR seems to be out to lunch in a lot of ways.

[Adam H.]

I hate seeing some joker with a stringer full of bass.

[Lykins Tr21]

agreed, we need to manage our resources, look at QDMA for deer for example...love doe meat

[worm1]

I hate to see bass of any size on the cleaning table, you'll never see me cleaning bass period. I saw a guy at the Moors last week cleaning 2 around 5 lbs each along with 2 limits of crappie and the fallowing day he had 3 bass 1 was at least 6 lbs along with at least 30 crappie. I said to him the second day "It's ashame that such quality fish are going in the skillet" his reply "And their gonna be goooooooodddddd". Kinda made me sick For the record he was from IN with a very northern accent.

[ep72]

You know, I honestly think in general, northern multi species fisherman are ignorant to the fact just how valuable 5lb+ brood bass are to a good fishery. They see a bunch of meat and thats it.

Its too bad big bass like crappie matts.