Help Me Understand Why........

[eric1978]

I still think we need to blame the fish for our differences...

Fair enough.

Stupid fish.

[snagged in outlet 3]

Nice Wrench! Would you give him a ride, if he caught it in the morning and you were staying to fish the next 5 hours anyway?

SIO3

[MstStudent10]

Lets just get down to the real reason here... You catch a record fish... Let it go... A couple months later another guy catches your same exact fish and it weighs a couple 1/10ths of a pound more, maybe just because it's stomach is now full... He steals your record... One way to prevent that from happening... Keep the fish in the first place...

...By the way, that was a joke, although a bad one. But honestly it does make sense...

[ozark trout fisher]

And to me. Respect? C'mon. He was drifting Powerbait. Sure, he had a functional drag and was patient enough not to horse the fish and break off, so I'll give him credit for that. But it's not as if he took the thing on a personally tied fly and 6x tippet.

It's a great fish. It's a state record. There was nothing wrong with the way he caught it and there was nothing wrong with keeping it. But I'll save my respect for the guy who catches a 2 pounder the sportsman's way.

Oh come on. It's a state record. A hell of fish no matter how you look at it. I don't know the guy, so I can't say whether I respect him or not, but I don't see anything wrong with the way he caught the fish. I'm a catch and release fisherman 99% of the time, and I've now quit bait fishing, but I think talk like this is detrimental to our cause. It sounds condescending, and I know for a fact this kinda thing turns people away from catch and release.

Congrats to the guy who caught the record. It's not right that people are trying to make less of it.

[eric1978]

Oh come on. It's a state record. A hell of fish no matter how you look at it. I don't know the guy, so I can't say whether I respect him or not, but I don't see anything wrong with the way he caught the fish. I'm a catch and release fisherman 99% of the time, and I've now quit bait fishing, but I think talk like this is detrimental to our cause. It sounds condescending, and I know for a fact this kinda thing turns people away from catch and release.

Congrats to the guy who caught the record. It's not right that people are trying to make less of it.

Geez OTF...You're the last guy I thought I'd have to explain it to. Read a little further, my friend.

[ozark trout fisher]

Geez OTF...You're the last guy I thought I'd have to explain it to. Read a little further, my friend.

I'll admit I hadn't read the whole thread... It's so long and I just got home. I'm just saying that I don't think there's anything wrong about the way the guy caught it, and while I don't think anyone deserves respect just for a fish, we don't need to be looking down on him for it. It just doesn't sound good. I think, if you are looking to have people stop tossing bait, it's best to not to be talking about how its unsporting. I was a bait fisherman for quite a while myself, and I will tell you that the only way people are going to change their methods is when they make that decision. And people telling them their method is "wrong" or unsporting just slows that process. I know we want the same thing here, just saying.

Sorry to make you explain something twice.

[creek wader]

I love these kind of debates. I'm going to put a couple of different slants on it:

Very interesting replies. Such a wide range of views. Fly rod purists to bait fisherman. Kinda like a bow hunter and a high power rifle hunter, debating. When I hunted, I used a muzzle loader. An old style one, with round balls. Not these new fangled rifled things. I always thought it was much more of a challenge to be able to get a deer within 10 or 15 yards., in the timber, to me. Rather than picking one off at 200 yards, with a scope. But, I wasn't judging that person with a high power. It may be "apples to oranges" to compare, that way. ....

Anyway, say one of you is out deer hunting. Along comes that state record buck. Do you shoot it and end it's life forever? Or do you grab you camera and snap a pic of it? ... Hmmm.. You could say "at least I'm going to eat him." Then again. You just killed the biggest deer, with the nicest rack in the state. For what? Deer burger? Na, that doesn't fly. ..You kill the deer so you can ride around with him in your truck showing him off. Getting your pic taken in the local paper and your name in the record books.

Either way, I much doubt if that big ol' state record trout would of lived much longer, after that fight. As long as he was legal catching it. Let the guy enjoy his fame and luck.

Just my slant. .... wader

[Buzz]

IMO the angler is due sincere congrats. The net man...you GOTTA respect.

And if it was me I would have kept the fish, without question.

I'm sure there's a lot of pounder Rainbows that are REAL glad he got kept

Ditto...

"Powerbait is for fat kids and old people."

I said that once upon a time. It was funny and seemed fitting. It was more of a rhetorical comment on how funny the whole debate was. To each his own and good luck to them as well.

Personally I release every fish. I would undoubtedly release a state or world record. I would take some pics and hopefully have a replica mount made that would sit in the garage and gather dust since my wife would smother me in my sleep if I brought it in the house, plastic or not. I am the type that would spend 5 hours reviving a fish.

-Jerod

Hey Jerod, didn't you get hammered over that statement too?

Lets just get down to the real reason here... You catch a record fish... Let it go... A couple months later another guy catches your same exact fish and it weighs a couple 1/10ths of a pound more, maybe just because it's stomach is now full... He steals your record... One way to prevent that from happening... Keep the fish in the first place...

...By the way, that was a joke, although a bad one. But honestly it does make sense...

That's exactly why I would have kept the fish. Besides, it more than likely would have died if released and then the thread would have went something like this... "The state record Brown Trout washed up on the banks of Taneycomo today"

Buzz

[Wayne SW/MO]

Depending on the time of year, how long to you think a true 5 pound smallie would be? 22 inches ?

I would think it would be in that range.

Eric, as to the catfish rod, I'm trying to give the guy some credit for playing the fish.

[Phil Lilley]

I know. Make a pact. Start a thread and have those who would sign or post promising that IF they ever caught a record fish, anywhere, they would release it, then never tell a soul about it.

Now that'd be the ultimate purest.

It's very possible we have someone here that's done it... but we'll never know