Selective Harvest on Hybrid Species?

[GEEZER]

A past personal experience that relates to this thread - I think. I used to fish a reservoir on a ranch in extreme northeast Wyoming. It was absolutely loaded with 7-8" largemouth bass with the occasional 14-16 incher. A game warden stopped by and, after watching me release a bunch of the smaller ones, he asked me not to put them back. He said those fish were probably 5 or more years old and wouldn't grow any bigger. He said the environment in that pond was so conducive to bass propagation that the bass were just overwhelming it. I love to eat bass so I told him I'd be more than pleased to take home a mess of the smaller ones. He then told me we were in a catch 22. The limit was 5 and if he caught me with more, he'd have to cite me. Said he didn't agree with that but he could get in a lot of hot water or even lose his job if he didn't and his superiors found out. I asked him what I should do with them and he said to leave them on the bank for the numerous foxes, coyotes and eagles. This was about 25 yrs. ago and, I've learned that since then, HUMAN TRASH finally left too much trash behind and the rancher just closed the pond to the public.
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