Your Fastest Derby Limit

[duckydoty]

talapia are very good eating. Cheap too!

[arsenal1477]

duckdoty, i appreciate your stance on the topic. Gary, i too, am not one to take fish like that but when you have a church that is having financial issues because they tend to donate just a bit to much to charity and benefiting others i figured that i was down there so it wouldnt hurt to help others. tilapia may be cheap, but when your feeding 500 disabled children its a little different. in all honesty, not one person in this forum deserves a reason to know why i kept the fish. if i wanted to take them all home and put them over my fireplace its no ones business but my own. im not that type of angler, i respect whatever water i am on and those that are fishing it, unlike some in this forum. from my understanding, you all are having issues with people stealing boats, gear off docks and fish out of livewells during tournements, but your issue with me is i kept some bass to feed to another human being? not to mention disabled children? get a grip fellas. sounds like there are a lot more issues at hand in your own lives then something that i did that was good, was a great cause, did no harm to the environment and was COMPLETELY LEGAL.

[zipstick]

My partner and I caught a limit on Table Rock that weighed 21+ pounds in about 45 minutes to win a Heartland Buddy a few years back in February on jerkbaits. Sweet! Biggest bass weighed over 7 lb.

[Paola Cat]

talapia are very good eating. Cheap too!

Tilapia .... Right On DD!!!!! I've fished a dozen times at Lake Huites, MX. We catch some huge tilapia while fishing for LMBs. They'll hit a crankbait .... I always keep several for a fry and some ceviche. Very tasty. They taste much better than any bass. Cheers. PC

[drs]

Webster defines SACRILEGE as: "one who steals sacred things". Trophy bass in Table Rock are considered, almost sacred, to many folks on this forum. Talking about cleaning trophy bass, for any reason, on this forum could be considered disrespectful or even downright stupid.

[laker67]

Some of you need to be careful when you dismount your horse. The fall might kill you.

[Champ188]

Glad you're feeding the disabled kids, arsenal. Seems to me you could've bought a lot of tilapia or catfish for what you spent in gas alone on that single trip down here, not to mention the cost of lodging, food, lures, etc. Slaying trophy bass "for the greater good" doesn't quite qualify you for sainthood. Just because it was legal doesn't make it sportsmanlike or responsible. As focused fishing brought up, bass of that size are of an elite gene pool and need to be preserved. It is a very small percentage that ever grow to more than 3 pounds, and again, those that do need the chance to reproduce.

[pat]

First I would like to thank all the Guides for the info that they offer up on here. Maybe you could inform, rather than just vent your anger. Do you have some hard statistics to back up what you are complaining about? If so, you are venting your anger at the wrong person. If you haven't already, you should take your facts and petition the MDC for a fishing regulation change.

There seems to be a conflict in fishing mentality. I grew up fishing in Alaska, Washington and now live in Missouri. We fished because we enjoyed it and because it put food on the table. A man is responsible for providing for his family, whether it is food, shelter or clothing. Man is born with a natural born aggressiveness that draws him into the wild to kill a deer or catch some fish to provide that food. Tell me your a man and argue that, then I'll say you must be a mama's boy, LOL.

I rarely catch a limit of fish when I go out, but I keep legal fish when I catch them, regardless of size. I can't tell much of a difference in the taste of Crappie, Walleye, Bass, etc. I also know there are many people who consider Bass a trash fish.

The lake is there to serve a diverse set of needs and all of them bring in income to support jobs and habitat.

It sounds to me like some of you may have tunnel vision and it's your way or the highway. If I am wrong correct me, you don't need to rant and rave. If you have some evidence and facts (not just your personal opinion) for the need to only catch and release fish, show it to all of us who are ignorant.

There are some pretty broad statements in there so you don't need to pick and choose based on your specific comment.

Convince rather than convict. It is apparent the man and his son meant no ill will toward anyone or their fishery. I have to say I am a bit puzzled by your responses. I am certain if you changed your tone you would change some minds.

Tony Hopson

Wild at Heart

RLTW

[duckydoty]

Webster defines SACRILEGE as: "one who steals sacred things". Trophy bass in Table Rock are considered, almost sacred, to many folks on this forum. Talking about cleaning trophy bass, for any reason, on this forum could be considered disrespectful or even downright stupid.

True, but still legal.......

[focused fishing]

Like most of the guides on this forum I clean hundreds of fish in a year, and yes some of those are bass that my clients want to take home with them. We practice selective harvest and keep only average keeper sized bass, usually KY's in the 15" - 16" range. With all of my clients I make it clear we don't keep any bass during the spawn. We never keep trophy size Largemouth and Smallmouth or for that matter KY's. Those fish are photographed and released unharmed.

No one questioned if it was legal to keep trophy size fish, it is, but since the fish kill most don't. We try to protect the fish that have reached that size so they can reproduce and improve the gene pool.

Apparently the guides on this forum should let everyone know how and where to catch fish and keep our opinions to ourselves or face charges. Duly Noted.

If being a good stewart of the resource we are blessed with makes me a mama's boy then so be it.

EP