thewhitesnoop

Good discussion.... I agree with Al actually. I never look at the gage height. CFS is what matters.

After quickly skimming through this long thread, I'll throw my two cents in.... The biggest dangers are not Amish or people keeping fish (although that is always very frustrating), the biggest dangers are otters, Asian carp, and spotted bass. I would put gigging behind those three.

One way to help yourself catch more fish for starters, would be to not brag about what you catch and where you are fishing on the internet. Something many have not yet figured out. Others would do well to not listen to the guys that are doing this and figure some things out for themselves. In the end they will end up better and more knowledgeable than the guys they were previously following on here.

To answer some questions..... A keeper is 12 inches or bigger. All fish returned. Would never take a bass from a river. Some of the days we catch over 100 keepers we might catch anywhere from 200-300+ bass if we counted the little tot bass, which we don't, that's more of an Al thing. I'm not even gonna talk about the 200 keeper barrier.... I don't worry about the math, I worry about catching bass. Seth, for me it's all about production and catching as many bass as I can. If you want to go grind out a few in a tough area, have at it.

The only thing worse than having river tournaments would be mandatory killing of the fish!!! Enough of them die already.

I just saw tjm's post about killing the fish in rivers tournaments..... SAY WHAT??!!!!

Seth- We don't catch 100 keepers every time out. But if we don't catch 100 we are somewhat disappointed. We are generally satisfied with 80+, but 100+ is always the goal. I know this may seem inconceivable to you. It's ok. It's just a different level.

Some days if you are counting the sub-keepers you can put up some pretty crazy numbers. We only count keepers. And yes, the purpose is to compare to other trips and other years. Also, it's a just a measuring stick for what kind of day we had. But fish that are in question of being 12 inches (and therefore counted) are measured on a board. Anything in question of being 18 inches or bigger get measured on a board. I would hope most of us on here have caught enough bass to be able to eye them pretty close, but sometimes they can fool you within an inch or so. Ok. I'm gonna lay off Al now.

Sorry, I was laughing as I typed.

I got a little behind, so I was just quickly reading back through..... but, I thought I read that Al admitted to measuring his fish on a paddle? And that he doesn't have a problem calling a 18.75 incher a 19 incher?...... mind blowing coming from the gold standard of stream anglers. Al, the end of your paddle wears down from use and pushing of the bottom and objects over time. If you haven't gotten a new paddle in a while, these 19 inchers could really be 17 inchers. I guess that's not much of a difference though 🙄 Also did someone say something about an 85 fish day? Who had an 85 fish day? Al?

The direction you were given here was to forget to gas up, scrub a swimbait when you should have been throwing a jig, only somewhat accurately count your fish, and fish dirty water. City boys beware I suppose the part where he mentioned that back flow means that the water is flowing in the wrong direction could be informative to the most novice of city folk ..... it's basically a free clinic 😂

Yes Mitch, I am bored again

Hard to believe that with the fish glued to the bottom that Hog wasn't throwing the vaunted HD craw. Also hard to believe that with anywhere from 32-42 spotted bass caught, that not even a single one was a non keeper. Hog fishing almost every day.... not hard to believe Hog having trouble counting, and can only estimate within 10 fish..... I don't know if that is hard to believe or not, only those who know him well could answer that.

Wrench- I consider them dumb because rivers are not well set up for tournament fishing. Guys running through a hole that you are fishing, you doing the same to them. Lakes are big and spread out, you don't HAVE to step on someone's toes to get to the spot you are going to fish, although some guys may do it anyway. The concept just doesn't work very well for rivers. Then add on what you guys are talking about in this thread with the spotted bass being moved. That's obviously bad. And I'm sure there are a percentage of fish that die from being in a live well all day.

Someone has to police this Mitch, or we have a bunch of people catching 15 inch 17 and 18 inchers all the time thanks to their alternative measuring methods. C'mon now, we have to maintain the integrity of our sport... .🤣