open for imput, bass

Numerous times ive observed anglers keeping small bass under one pound. Having caught over 170 bass this summer i kept one 3 lbs. caught larger , lots smaller. would it be a conservative idea to have a 12 or 14 inch minimum size. Its been years since ive seen any ministry checking on the kawartha lakes i fish. just a thought.

Fshwk its funny you say this as i have always seen many small fish being kept that aren’t even worth cleaning at least in my opinion. I have often thought that many species should have a minimum. Many people release large fish as we understand these fish are good breading stock, however nice to give the little ones a chance to reach some sort of maturity. There may be more to this that we are over looking but it is a thought. I fish Balsam and have never seen MNR in 3 years.

TY for the imput, grew up on scugog since 79 . there used to be volunteers and mnr summer and winter checking or taking surveys. i know they mainly chk high volume spots or groups of huts in winter. maybe bass have larger spawning areas ,and have a better survival rate.im still fishing from kayak so for walleye my areas are small.hope to get out thur eve againtill 730 or my toes get too cold

I agree with a minimum size and why not a maximum size as well. The big bass in the rain I posted the other day there was four bass in the one picture. They were 16, 15, 15 and 14 inches aprox. The big one in the first picture I let go, it was just over 5 lbs. I do keep big bass, caught 18 or 19 that day and they were all around the sizes in the pictures. I keep around a third of the bass I catch each season because the family likes to eat them. Let the small ones go I say and the same with the bass that get bigger than 5 pounds. My biggest bass ever was 6.2 pounds 8 years ago and I kept it, but since then my friends have convinced me to let the monster bass go and keep them from 2 to 5 pounds. Not sure what I will do if I ever catch a 7lbs bass, maybe just take a picture and let it go.

an upper slot would be fine as well. nothing wrong with bass on the table.

I dislike the upper slot limit just as a tournament angler. Ethically I don't eat bass if I catch 2000-3000 bass a year and they all swim away it's delusional to think there's 100% survival rate. I figure my mortality rate on bass is probably the same as someone that conservatively harvest bass, so I try not to judge or get mad when people have a limit of bass even giants on a stringer, to each their own.

I don't know where you're fishing but 5lb bass are pretty rare to catch just about everywhere. Even bass over 4lbs aren't that common.I can't imagine why anyone would want to kill a trophy like that when smaller ones are so much more plentiful and fairly easy to catch.

This post has been edited by InTheTrees on Oct 26, 2021 - 08:07 pm

I don't know where you're fishing but 5lb bass are pretty rare to catch just about everywhere. Even bass over 4lbs aren't that common.I can't imagine why anyone would want to kill a trophy like that when smaller ones are so much more plentiful and fairly easy to catch.

I just said in my post that around 8 years ago my friends convinced me to let the monster bass go. Now I keep them between 2 and 5 pounds. I fish for big bass on Balsam and have forever. Last time there I caught 18 or 19 big bass and only kept four. balsam is full of huge bass...always has been. So out of all those bass I put back a couple monsters and kept 4 to eat. I could have kept the biggest 6 but I did not. Balsam has thousands of bass like this monster... Which I let go.

Oh, sorry I forgot about bass tournaments. It would ruin bass tournaments if there was a upper slot size. That is one of the main reasons people get interested in them, the big bass picture and prize. I do not fish in tournaments, just because I like keeping fish I catch for the family to eat. I have helped a couple guys over the years with their fishing so they can do better in the tournaments on Balsam and Sturgeon. They have not won yet, I guess I am a bad teacher.. LOL.. My friends always tell me I could win a bass tournament because I catch big bass. I tell them it takes me all day to catch a dozen or more bass. Good tournament fishermen or fisherwomen can catch that many in a couple of hours. I will just stick to relaxing fishing, it brings me good luck.

I think the conversation is more about keeping an 8” bass or a 4” perch etc. I believe that majority of anglers that keep fish to eat, select harvest and put the monsters back to reproduce. There are lots of big fish out there possible even some new records to be broke on day. Just my take on this. Here is a 22” small mouth i got on Balsam at the beginning of October.

J, you would be surprised just how well you would do in tournaments on the lakes that you're familiar with. There have been days when it takes us a couple of hours to get a limit (5 bass) and there are days when we never get there. Sometimes we get very few bass and other times we'll catch none....or they come one after another. It's totally a crap shoot for most of us, but being able to eliminate unproductive water before even launching the boat is a major plus. And if you've helped one tournament angler catch one fish, that's a successful education!!

Thank you Lionel...going fishing now to balsam with a few friends. Got my fingers crossed LOL. I will post results tomorrow.

not sure about bass as I don't keep them or target them. Not sure if perch are the same but I keep smaller to med size 8 to 10" fish, which means more males ice fishing. I think this is better then keeping the big ones. But it all comes down to what is legal.