Just saying my peace
Man I am really unclear, I'll say, on this whole keep 5 approach. I have fished regularly for the past 5 years now and I have invested thousands of dollars into the sport of fishing, everything from boats to soft plastics to the latest wade fishing books and love the sport of fishing. What I dont understand is if the TPWD sets a daily bag limit to 10 trout per day and one over 25" and I catch say 10 20-22" trout, your telling me that I "should" throw 5 back? I dont think so. I always do my part to keep the beaches clean and keep our bays clean, everything from earth day to the crab trap clean up and stopping my fishing to pick up junk floating in the bay. I obey all boating and fishing laws and run a safe boat for myself, my family, and my friends. I have NEVER, NEVER caught a whole limit of trout, and my largest trout to date is a 22" that I caught in East Bay on Hanna's drifting. You think it is fair that if I caught a limit of edible sized fish that I should throw half back. Its hard enough for me to catch a limit, much less do it and throw half back. I would be ecstatic to catch a limit of trout, and if I caught a 25+ I would take a pic and return it to the bay. If I couldnt take a pic for whatever reason, I would prolly mount it. I hardly think that a few limits here and there are gonna deplete or hurt the trout population, look at the masacares that go on in Louisiana, and there limits are waaaaay more liberal than ours, and their trout population doesn't suffer.........Anyhow, been waiting a while to say my peace on this subject, and won't comment any further or respond to any posts........UNLESS OF COURSE SOMEONE WOULD INVITE ME TO GO CATCH A LIMIT OF TROUT! LOL Take Care Guys........