07-11-2006, 01:03 AM
For me, I would love to take the record. BUT I wouldn't really want to kill the fish. If I were a few years younger, then sure, I'd keep one! But, they're a valuable fish. I've only had the pleasure of hooking into 3 little guys, and all three of them fought harder than most fish I've ever caught in fresh water. Now if they were salt water, I'd say a big Ling Cod's got em beat hands down. If more people released them there would be more bigger fish, and even more records. But reasonably, I can see why a person would want to keep one.
It used to be I'd keep every last big fish I caught. I mean every one. I've got a 10LB Largemouth I kept when I was five... That was mostly my dad's decision, but it was still in my bag limit. I've kept pleanty of 5 Lb bass whenever I could catch them(Nothing better than a big bass fillet). Who knows honestly how many big trout I've kept of big Rainbows, Cutthroats, Browns, Brookies... All atleast 18"ers or better. I have memories of limiting on 16"+ Brookies and 22"+ Rainbows up in Idaho for 6 people. Heck, even last spring I kept a potential record-crashing Albino. Someone else could have caught it, too, but instead the cycle ended with me.
And pretty well every fish I've got on my wall's a skin mount, with, I believe, 3 trout(brown, albino and rainbow), a big Smallmouth out of the Sevier, a whopper Ling Cod, and a massive Cabazon, all still in the shop. And everyone of them were kept. What can I say. I like skin mounts. Synthetics certainly are fine and dandy, but for a true likeness of the fish, rather than just a generality, you want a skin mount.
That's about where it ends, though. I've taken heat before for RELEASING big fish. To this day a lot of people, my own dad included, don't believe me that I whacked a 26" Walleye outta the Jordan. They don't believe that I nailed a 30" Channel and let it go. Even the Tigers' I've gotten are questionable. I carry a camera with me most times now, but on those days I didn't have it on me. Or it was dunked in water.
If it came down to credability or keeping a population of fish going for a long time, I'd take the population going. I can always catch a massive fish again further down the line as long as they're there.
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It used to be I'd keep every last big fish I caught. I mean every one. I've got a 10LB Largemouth I kept when I was five... That was mostly my dad's decision, but it was still in my bag limit. I've kept pleanty of 5 Lb bass whenever I could catch them(Nothing better than a big bass fillet). Who knows honestly how many big trout I've kept of big Rainbows, Cutthroats, Browns, Brookies... All atleast 18"ers or better. I have memories of limiting on 16"+ Brookies and 22"+ Rainbows up in Idaho for 6 people. Heck, even last spring I kept a potential record-crashing Albino. Someone else could have caught it, too, but instead the cycle ended with me.
And pretty well every fish I've got on my wall's a skin mount, with, I believe, 3 trout(brown, albino and rainbow), a big Smallmouth out of the Sevier, a whopper Ling Cod, and a massive Cabazon, all still in the shop. And everyone of them were kept. What can I say. I like skin mounts. Synthetics certainly are fine and dandy, but for a true likeness of the fish, rather than just a generality, you want a skin mount.
That's about where it ends, though. I've taken heat before for RELEASING big fish. To this day a lot of people, my own dad included, don't believe me that I whacked a 26" Walleye outta the Jordan. They don't believe that I nailed a 30" Channel and let it go. Even the Tigers' I've gotten are questionable. I carry a camera with me most times now, but on those days I didn't have it on me. Or it was dunked in water.
If it came down to credability or keeping a population of fish going for a long time, I'd take the population going. I can always catch a massive fish again further down the line as long as they're there.
[signature]