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Trophy King
If I can fillet it, I'll keep it. If it's too small to fillet (or use for bait), it goes back. I don't often keep fish. A good day of fishing should end with the ride home, not cleaning a bunch of fish. I'm old, hot, and tired!
Bream, for the most part, I'll release (unless I need fish in the freezer).
Fish you didn't ask about....
catfish, probably 2-5 pounds.
bass, at least 12 inches.
sand bass (white bass), anything worth filleting. Same for stripers and hybrids (as long as they're legal length, of course).
crappie, I never measured, but again, something worth filleting.
People who won't keep bass, but will keep large bluegills, I'm lost. If bass are the holy grail, shad and bluegill are a major part of their diet. Large bluegills make smaller bluegills (that bass can eat). Large bluegill don't have a lot of natural predators (can't fit in the mouth of a bass, despite the bass trying). Humans are the big bluegills' main predator. I hate seeing pictures of the same cooler full of bluegills day after day (meaning the same people pulling out a ton of bluegills over and over again). Fortunately, they're prolific breeders, but I believe they can be over-harvested. But the people who do that also keep EVERYTHING they catch, limits be damned. In other words, I'm not complaining about y'all, just them
In short, I prefer to do as little work as possible during the cleaning stage. I'd rather fillet 5 bigger fish than clean 20+ bluegill.
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Thanks for all the replies. To me, bass just isn't as tasty as panfish, I try to catch 10 panfish to keep and eat. Not a huge cleaning mess, and enough for my wife and I to have a meal. My buddy likes to keep small fish so he can out number me, but if we set a size limit....
Crappie Wall Hanger
What is your keeper size?
I throw ‘’them all back.
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I'm lucky enough to fish lakes with good quality , cold water. I'm sure that helps immensely in how great they taste up here.
Slabmaster II
For the most C&R or CPR.
I always release the biggest panfish in the lake and take a lesser size for a meal.
(IMHO) I believe this help keep the big fish DNA alive in the lake.
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They kinda like a moped fun to own till a friend catches you with one.Originally Posted by D10
BG/SC I look for thickness and not length.
Crappie 9.5- 14ish. Any bigger and they cook uneven.
Catfish very rarely target and keep. When I do its game on.
Good thread
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Slabmaster II
I used to keep ones 8 inches and over. But now that I'm retired and get to
fish more I just keep the ones that swallow the hook and would not live
if I threw them back.
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Slabmaster
I wish I could keep bigger fish.
Bluegill bigger than 6". If the pond is over populated, I'll cull some. I can't fillet under 6". I'm going to start judging how thick they are. If I am dealing with a shallowed hook, I'll keep it.
Crappie--I have never kept one. I am hoping to fish for Crappie with flyrod this summer.
Channel Cat: 12" to maybe 18" Any other cat, I don't keep. But if I caught a blue...
I don't fish for or keep bass. Never liked the taste.
Now, trout, almost all of them. Most are in 10" range.
Slabmaster
I never targeted catfish.
I seldom hooked monster brim (larger than 8"), so I barely keep them. I will start targeting them to see if I can find some nice ones.
I only fish for crappie in winter time and keep over 12" crappies.
I keep bass only when my wife was willing to smoke them. I agree 2-3lb bass are the best for eating.
Trophy King II
I like bluegill over 8” but where I live over 8” is kinda hard to come by.
Rarely do I get into batches of fish where I catch them over 8” consistently. That is in enough volume to keep a batch.
Most fish in my lakes seem to be 7.5” and shorter.
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