CPR

Just wanted to say thanks to all my fellow fishermen and fisherwomen who are practicing catch and release out there. Ive been hearing about some big bass being caught this spring in my area and the more of these bass that are being released, the better the fishing will be in the future because we are all doing so. While im not opposed to keeping a few fish for frying, we need to let the really big guys go and keep those genes in the gene pool. Those big fish will produce offspring that will grow to be big fish as well as long as we let em go. Thanks again everyone.

I live on a private lake which is stocked yearly. Our bass population was decimated by winter kill a few years ago. Two years ago we planted some bigger bass because we have a healthy northern population, (they survived the winterkill) and the panfish are recovering. I fish often and last year caught only a few bass, mostly small. This year I have caught numerous bass, many of the large. All the fish are released, and I can testify to how well fish can grow and reproduce when they are not removed from the system.