Saturday Was Awesome.

[REDSOXWSCHAMP]

I also would prefer to see 6 smaller one's vs a few chunky spawning bass.

This is the whole point i was trying to get across

[WHARFRAT]

I heard muskies taste good

[WHARFRAT]

sorry

[Troutnut69]

"There will always be more. Always."

I really don't give two hoots about you keeping your two stringers of quality bass , as others have said it's legal so out of my jurisdiction. The above comment made by you though is the same attitude that has resulted in declining numbers of fish and game everywhere over the years. I'm sure that at age 24 you might actually believe that "there will always be more" but history has proved otherwise. Your keeping a couple limits of bass from Stockton isn't going to hurt that fishery...I agree , but your attitude about it is flawed. Just some food for thought......

[Sac River Jim]

When i moved to Dade County (Greenfield) to manage at the grocery store it was some what as a culture shock to me that people up there still harvested fish and game to feed their families as necessity. i used to fish with a dear friend who was 84 and he darn near had a heart attack every time i'd release a keeper bass. People up there use the fish and game to feed there families I really didn't believe it at first but working at Summerfresh as long as i did i seen it for myself. I cooked out at Main Street Baptist Church every Tuesday afternoon during school session for a youth program. I learned quickly that the hot dogs or grilled cheese we served might be the last meal some those kids got that day. Its hard to believe but its the honest to God truth. What I see here is a difference in opinion between sport fisherman like myself and people that eating what they harvest is a way of life. TW said he grew up in that area so keeping a few bass for his grandma hungry for fish is socially acceptable in his eyes. I'm not one to question that because there may come a day when I wish I had a bass to eat. we tell ourselves it will never happen to us but who knows what the future holds especially with our economy the way its getting. I catch and release except for a few crappie and channel i freeze for a cold winters day when fried crappie fillets fried tators and hush puppies warm the old bones. to each his own I guess but as long as its legal and not poaching. I do feel i have a responsibility to report poachers and that i will do and have done.

[powerdive]

Well said, SRJ. To each their own, and keep it in our own yard. This holier-than-thou crud comes up every time somebody posts a stringer pic, and it does get old after awhile. If someone wants to eat legal green carp, they have a perfect right to do so. Bass are no holier than any other fish, and they're far more numerous and easier to catch than some of the "preferred" species they've decided everyone else should eat.

[Dirtracer35]

"There will always be more. Always."I really don't give two hoots about you keeping your two stringers of quality bass , as others have said it's legal so out of my jurisdiction. The above comment made by you though is the same attitude that has resulted in declining numbers of fish and game everywhere over the years. I'm sure that at age 24 you might actually believe that "there will always be more" but history has proved otherwise. Your keeping a couple limits of bass from Stockton isn't going to hurt that fishery...I agree , but your attitude about it is flawed. Just some food for thought......

I don't see it as "flawed". I see it as the truth. The bass are spawning. They will have a good spawn. The numbers of bass below legal size are excellent. Stockton is very healthy. So in my lifetime. In the next 20 lifetimes. There will be bass. Without a doubt. Just because one does not catch fish in a spot does not mean they are not there. Only one fish I kept was full of eggs. The 14" crappie. I did not catch the last 6 bass on Stockton lake.

"Largemouth bass are the most numerous black bass species in Stockton Lake, especially in the upper portions of the lake. Spotted bass and smallmouth bass are present throughout the lake, but make up larger percentages of the population in the lower portion of the lake. Largemouth angling was excellent last year and will continue to be good. Recent largemouth bass spring electrofishing catch rates have been some of the highest ever observed at Stockton. Additionally, the percentage of sampled largemouth over 12 inches in length have been some of the highest ever observed. These numbers can be attributed to large year classes of largemouth spawned in the high waters of 2008 and 2009."

[moskeeter56]

Dirtracer, I applaud you for taking some fish to your grandmother, I would do the same for mine if they were still living. A big thumbs up to you on Mother's Day weekend.

[Feathers and Fins]

Great fish, I truly do not see the difference between a guy who keeps a limit of Walleye or a limit of Bass! if he is keeping them to eat them then its his business and he is legally allowed to. No right or wrong in keeping fish to eat and a hell of a lot better than Tilapia or any store bought fish.

[Phil Lilley]

I'm not a fisheries biologist but I play one on TV Youtube...

Wouldn't you think (I would think so) that poor water levels adversely affect a fish's spawn rather than harvesting. Note: I said harvesting and not over harvesting.

In the evolution of bass fishing the past 30 years, there are more keeper bass caught and released today. That bodes well for any fishery - for bass. If water levels rise and fall at the wrong time, it could knock populations down way more than harvesting fish, even off the beds.

Oh, did I say that!

All I'm saying is that MDC fisheries biologists manage our fisheries with harvest in mind. If zero large fish are taken out, I'd think it would stunt the growth overall, just like in a farm pond. Now if everyone did it, it would hurt. But in this day and age, it won't happen. Too many anglers releasing, or am I wrong.

Note 2: I'm NOT a bass fisherman but I am around a lot of biologists.