to keep the fish or not?

[chanda]

I have not been fortunate enough in 5 trips to CF to hook any type of fish worth keeping for consumption. But I have been amazed reading posts where FM's are releasing even Bass!
Generally, on the rivers and one is fly fishing it is considered to be common etiquette to release your trout so it will be bigger and smarter and someone else will have fun catching him next time around. However reservoir fish, is not the same sport as fly fishing and FM's keep the fish unless they know they can get bigger fish next time around. For example 18 inch trout in Pepacton is routinely released because one can hook much larger brown there.
So I am just curious..those who release..are you.
1. worried that there aren't enough fish
2. don't eat fish and for you it is just a sport
3. you want other FM's to enjoy hooking that fish another day
frankly, I am not releasing any fish if it is in legal size limits. but some of these posts make me re-think...am I doing the right thing by all of you by keeping the fish. Not that I am loading my truck with them, I have yet to get a decent fish on CF.
From reports, I tend to believe, fish are hard to hook in CF weather trout, bass or whatever.

[new2titicus]

Chanda,

You raise a very good question and I am sure one which will ignite a heated debate.

I think there are a number of factors to consider, the most important being:

1. Rules and Regs.
2. Best Judgment
3. Ethics

Im sure some of the more senior members can back their opinions with facts.

[lionpshark]

Chanda good questions
these are my answers to you three questions and my opinion as well
1-No I am not worried about the amount of fish
2-Yes I fish for Sport but sometimes Its rewarding to eat your own catch, So yes I eat some of the fish
3-Yes I would like other FM Members and or other Anglers or future kid Anglers to catch that fish another day

It is your NY state right to keep the fish if its in Season and within the "Rules and Regs" of NYS and as long as you have the correct permits and paperwork then go ahead and keep whats rightfully yours. Some other Anglers such as myself don't always keep fish for different reasons. I keep the fish that I like to eat and my family can eat in a single night because its fresh, doesn't take up space in my fridge and I just cant eat fish 7 days a week." Mercury Poison"
 
Ethics vary within different religions but I believe that in all Ethics if there is wasted death and there was no food consumption of the fish then it should be for a reason, Like over population of invasive fish species or fish eradication is necessary for the good of the Res. Ethic's is a very touchy subject for some people

I could also be wrong. This is just my personal opinion!

Good luck to all

[Nick]

i don't keep them because if you hook a big 18 inch trout, its probably the biggest one of the stream that is trying to spawn and get more fish in the river. people can just buy trout from the store instead of keeping the biggest one of the lake for yourself.

[Pointer]

I personally release all the fish I catch for multiple reasons. I think it's best to release them so they can grow to be larger fish and also because I don't like to eat fish. I fish totally for sport. The only time I ever keep a fish is if it's wounded and does not seem like it will live, in that case I give it to a friend who enjoys eating them. I don't have a problem with someone keeping an occasional fish to eat but I feel the regulations are much to liberal. I think rules should be changed to make the size limit considerably larger and the bag limit should be reduced.

Chris

[KenH]

Chanda,
Many Bass guys have been releasing bass since Professional Bass Tournaments became
popular in the 80s. 

[backinaction]

 I agree !!  Bag limit should be reduced !!    I'm all for catch and release!  To many people pulling anything they get, Maybe they will learn when nothing is left! 

[johnjav]

I release every single fish i catch no matter how big it is.  I just take a quick picture of it and maybe a measurement and let it go.  I enjoy letting the fish live and go on, i find that rewarding enough.

[Trout Stalker]

I keep what i or someone else wants to eat and throw back the rest. If the fish is legal size and in season, there is nothing wrong with keeping them as long as they don't go to waste. C&R is a great practice as long as the fish is not injured. Either practice is perfectly fine.

I too agree that some size limits and creel limits should be tweaked at certain places. Sylvan for instance has no size limit on trout with a 5 fish creel limit. Rediculous!

[oilgorg]

I think a certain amount of predation can be beneficial especially since the reservoirs are man made and some of the fish were introduced.  So a certain amount of culling is probably necessary especially the lakers, that is if you want to see those hatchery brown make maturity.  Anyway I like to keep a few trout now and then and I catch so many smallies that I think I'm going to take a couple home this year and see what they taste like.  I've been throwing them back for years, gently of course lol.

[chanda]

I am glad to see these opinions and I realized something..all of you are right and it is really an individual decision. It would be wrong for me to try to enforce my belief on another person.
One thing for sure, if you hook a fish, and I know this from experience, 50% of them are hooked deep in the gut or in the fins and there is no way, they will survive if you try to remove the hook! your best bet is to cut off the line. Throwing fish back, would not make me happy unless, I know it will live to spawn...
another thing, reservoir trouts don't spawn, they don't have upstream rivers where they lay egg and sperms. That is why, DEP has to stock them.
last week I hooked a trout, 9 inches and obviously was a stocked trout but was looked deep and was already bleeding. Even though I cut off the line and released him within 15 seconds, he was topped over in the water and hopefully was a meal to an eagle or another bird.
I have been fly fishing for 7 years and  line fishing for 2 years. i am not such a good fisherman and still learning and forming opinions. I had a phenomenal season last year and I kept all the trout I caught. My personal feeling, I will still keep all the trout however, I know lots friends and family, who would love to have a fresh fish once in a while and I rather share with them than freezing them.
I think, ethics for keeping fish on a stream vs reservoir should be different. There is a lot of pressure on the streams specially streams in Catskills, such as Beaverkill or West Branch. One of fishing hole, sometimes I see 20-30 anglers everyday and how many trouts you think there could be in that one hole? anyway majority of the fish caught there, is between 9" to 12" and it makes sense to release them as most time fish is caught with a small hook in the mouth and it will live to be larger for hopefully few other anglers to have fun catching the fish as it gets smarter from previous experiences.
No such thing in reservoir..fish hooked on a jig or a bait, is generally hooked deep. It is anyones guess, how many % actually survive even when released.
And lastly..some of you will hate me now...I actually realized that I don't care the taste for the trout when compared with bass, crappies, stripers or flounders!
But let me give you the good news..my friend Don, when I told him so, the next time we met, he brought me smoked fish, it was a trout and I love it! My smoker got delivered to me yesterday and I can't wait to start smoking my trouts. Guys if you have not smoked a trout..it is delicious!

[Gordon]

I think it is an individual decision. I keep a few fish for eating or giving to friends, but most go back to the water. And most of the ones I keep are stockies taken from streams near me where due to dams and warmer summer water they would never survive through August anyway. I am more hesitant to keep fish from streams or resevoirs where they have the ability to holdover and grow larger. As long as you enjoy eating fish and not just throwing them in the freezer to dry out, I see nothing wrong with that.

[Biz-R-OWorld]

as long as whatever you keep is legal, i dont care what people keep or dont keep.

[Montrose]

We have to keep in mind...If you fish, you're a predator, regardless of whether you keep or release, you are preying on the fish.

Sometimes the fish die, whether you keep or release.  If you release a fish for personal reasons, fine, but don't be fooled into thinking you are not killing fish from time to time the same as a catch and keep guy.  The stress of the fight, bends, removal of slime, time out of water, deep hooks, etc. can and do all kill fish, sometimes days after it swam away.

Personally, I like fish and I keep them frequently. 

Ethics doesn't really play in in my mind.  Nothing in nature goes to waste.  If it's in season and of legal size and you keep it, why is ethics even in question?

Chanda, I would say please think more carefully about feeding fish with hooks you leave in them to eagles and other birds. 

If you suspect the fish will die anyway, why leave the hook in it to injure other wildlife?

Just a thought.

[arkpov56]

I was trying to keep my mouth shut while reading this discussion because I was afraid my opinion may dramatically differ from commonly accepted.  But Montrose got me to speak up:
I do not know what motivates me as well as many other fisherman of East European descent, perhaps this is a rudiment from the ancestors hunting for food, but most of the time I only fish for what I (or my family and friends) are going to eat.  I actually prefer not to catch fish if I am not going to keep it.  Of cause, I release whatever accidently gets on the hook and is illegal to keep, like shorts or out of season fish, but I do my best not to target them and injure as few as possible.  I actually stop fishing if I caught my quota or just enough for family dinner.  Somehow I lose interest in accumulating numbers or pounds of fish just because my picture with them will look cool.  Of cause I love the process and sometimes I am fishing just for fun of it letting go everything I catch, but this mostly happens when there is nothing to legally keep or when I am on the fishing trip far away, from where I cannot bring the fish home.
On Jeremy Wade's show "River Monsters" the idea of catching just as much fish as the tribe can eat is repeated  in almost every film.  Predation?  Maybe, but this is natural, I think.