I often put the bigger fish back. They're the ones mating and keeping my favorite fisheries viable.
I caught a humongous Smallmouth bass some years back that would have been the state record if I had not ate it!
I do not eat bass. I do not find it tasty. I do sometimes keep them and give them to some of the old people in the village. They make a stew out of them. I don't care for the taste of bass, so I normally chuck it back in the water - if I caught it by mistake.
Most of my fishing these days is 'sight fishing'. I can see the fish I'm trying to catch and I present them with a fly that I try to make match their current diet. It's hard, but that's my favorite type of fishing.
I do not usually eat it either, but it was me and my kids when they were young and they were impressed with the huge fish and wanted to eat it so I fried the shit out of it. It wasn't that good. The damned thing was 29 inches long, it was a monster bass. I probably shouldn't have ate it, but I did
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