I'd be curious to collect opinions on catch and release fishing. A couple of times this past summer I caught myself in rather dubious situations:
1. Caught a big bass, released it, and then had Liz go down to the fish market to buy fish (bass) for dinner. Aside from obvious $$$, family and 'percieved sanity' issues, there is a couple of interesting lines of reasoning here: a bought bass 'counts' ag
ainst the commercial quota, hence a released recreational fish really is an additional fish in the water. On the other hand, you're increasing demand for commercially harvested bass and providing incentive for increased commercial interest in the species.
Taking this a step further, what about keeping and eating a fish instead of having something else for dinner that night? At the extreme are all the bulging fish freezers each fall...
2. How does the above argument carry over to a fish like Marlin? You can buy marlin in Falmouth fish markets most of the summer. Should one not buy it (or any fish)?
3. What about keeping a caught trout? If you release, then buy one for dinner, there's an extra fish in the pond, and a happier fish farm somewhere. So far, so good, except if you think of a hatchery as a fish farm. Does (re)stocking level reflect the ann
ual take? Probably, and if so, the ethics of keeping a stocked fish become murkier, I guess.
I've convinced myself that it's OK to keep an occasional stocked trout, as it's just another way for a fish to go from fish farm to dinner plate. (Please, poke holes in this argument if you disagree.) This also leaves more room for native fish, if they're
around. The problem comes in when the kept fish is a native, even by accident.
4. I've been routinely keeping (or crippling) perch, suckers, etc. in the belief they crowd out other species. What's the collective thought here?
In summary, I felt pretty stupid about releasing that bass this summer, and I feel awkward now 'cause a trout I just kept might have been a native. Caleb, what's the DFW position here?