what would u do
 

if you were out fishing w/ plugs and u caught a strip bass but it was hooked to deep and gushing blood d.o.a.....now not having a tape ,but looks close would u keep it w/ the plug bury in its gills and look for pitty or pull the plug and let it go to the bottom ...i perfer filit and release..

depends on what time of day or night it was and where. Within an inch or so of legal, in the deep of night, fillet and keep it, making sure nobody was around, and only one. I had a situation last year where i had about 3 out of around 10 schoolies in about 30 minutes die on me in broad daylight. I felt terrible about it, stopped fishing and watched the others fisherman catch for another 30 minutes til they moved on.

I'd get my plug back and then feed the crabs....they gotta eat too.

I'm the kind that always gets caught if I tried to keep it.

I've had it happen twice. Once with clam's and the fish inhaled everything. I did manage to get the hook out but he was bleeding big time. It was dusk and I in no way was going to keep a short on a beach that is regulary patroled. I watched him struggle and he did die and wash back up. It sucked to watch that. The 2nd time was on a plug foul hooked and I did some major damage on the retrieve to his gills. He was just about DOA. I fed the crabs with him as well. I think you got to put them back in no matter what.

It sucks, but they gotta go back. I know where on my rod is 28" just in case i run into that kind of situation.

i wanted to real bad
 

but i decided i wouldn't

gave the fish the benefit of the doubt
that it MIGHT recover in a few...
even though i figured it was a goner

and of course it didn't . :hs:
Soon it was out there
floating
with a gull going after it ... :rolleyes:

glad it doesn't happen that often

If I can't prove that it's legal it goes back. If it's legal I keep it. I don't fish without a tape for just that reason. It'd be a pity to throw a bleeding keeper back. It's the law to throw a bleeding short back. EPO officer told me that something would eat it, wouldn't be wasted in the larger scheme of things....

Get caught with a filleted fish before going home and you'll be fined the same as if you kept a short fish.

Bend your barbs if there's schoolies.

How close is close, Dave? 27-1/2"? I think most EPOs would give you the half inch.

I think if it was even 27" I'd leave the plug where it was, and keep it. Maybe it won't matter to a real hard-ass, but a reasonable EPO might understand when he or she saw the plug buried like that.

On the other hand, I've put back 24 or 25" fish that I knew were goners. You're not getting any leeway from an officer there :hs:

not if your meat is over 28" :rtfm:

i don't have this happen too often and when it does i release the bleeder and feel bad about it cause its going to be a dead fish.couple years ago our boss man john r posted up by catch dead stripers from ocean boats getting herrings and it was alot of dead stripers so i stopped feeling so bad about it.

This is defintely a problem. It's the main reason I stopped fishing for schoolies some time ago. I know a lot of people have a problem with us fishing bunker but I didn't have one sub leagal fish live lining. In fact, I can honestly say that in all my years in the surf I rarely had a schoolie on an eel. It may be where I fish, I don't know, but usually I fish big eels and you know the old saying "big bait, big fish".

Not in Mass:

4) Bass must be kept whole, with head, tail and body intact - no mutilation permitted (other than evisceration). :rtfm:

that situation always kills me....but I always throw them back. I Use circle hooks with bait, but still manage to snag a few deep.

I kept one at 24" that was dead. Not bleeding, dead. I put it back and it floated around in the wash for a while, so I gaffed it from the rock and kept it. I refuse to live in a society that can't recognize why that's perfectly acceptable, so I tend to defer to what it morally right and makes sense over what's legally permissable.

Do what you think is best and live with what follows.

what do i do ...fish looked big enouph,it swallowed a 6 in pp up to the neck ..but w/ no tape ,and doa blowing blood ..i said fckit and left the plug buryed in it deep and layed the fish on the shore ,but keep fishing ...i got 6-8 more some bigger most smaller, but that fish on shore was like a thorn in my butox.. a long walk out to the truck in the rain .gulty or not....well ,tape says a short...........................$#&((*&^%@@$%&*)() *($$&**&!@^)(**(%$@@#$%^&..........32.in criminal it sucks to b honest....

Rules are Rules.

If everyone did what they thought was best society would be to chaotic to live in.

Short fish should go back. Period.

thats what the nazi storm troopers said as they loaded the trains with jews.

rules without interpretation are for the braindead liberals.

unjust, unconstitutional or immoral rules should not be followed.

who decides? I do.

Who decides to pay the Fine...You Do

A truer statement could not have been made.

I agree. If you don't follow fish and game rules, even if some are f#@%## ridiculous, you're on a very slippery slope. Keeping a dead short may make sense to one person (I can see that) but the next guy may think keeping a sickly looking one as the same thing.Etc.

Exactly what I mean.

Then the next thing you know people are intentionally gut hooking fish so they can keep them. Where does the line get drawn? How can a fish and game officer determine who is wounding fish accidentally and who just wants a quick meal? They can't, and that is exactly why the rules are in place.

The fish will be used by something else in the cosystem anyway...

Its a little extreme to compare me to a nazi, just because I'm a law abiding citizen....:hs:

I have personal problem with letting a dead fish "go". In a perfect world where you would be able to trust sportsmen to do the right thing, which in IMO is to take the dead fish home and stop fishing. However it is different in reality, largley because of the untrusting society we live in, and where everything has to be black and white, and PC, there can be no subjectivity (or thought) behind anything....so today, you need to put the undersized dead fish back as distasteful as it is, just to obey the (stupid) law.

Like I said, in my perfect world I think the warden would be able to figure out over time if someone is a real lawbreaker or doing the right thing with a dead fish. But there are few wardens and many changing laws


I also think size limits need to be revisited. I now think size limits contribute to higher mortality. Creel limits is what should be the guideline. As we saw with fluke last year, increasing the size limit so as to meet arbitary target deadlines set by our fishery experts has meant a doubling of the mortality in a year when fishing for the species was low. Now I know bass is different than fluke but if fishermen are fishing for their "limit", perhaps the limit should be 1 or 2 with the stipulation that you can not release dead/dying/bleeding fishing knowingly. I know this is impossible to police but it allows the good sportsman to do the right thing and encourages others to do the same.

just a though.........

It's out of my hands...
 

I'll release and let the big man upstairs call the shots - ain't no fish worth $60/lb if you guessed wrong and Johnny Law is out and about...

Whoa - are my peeps being compared to dead bass? A little extreme, I might say...

Like Piemma said... I dont fish for schoolies. Big bait - Big Fish.

Big bait doesnt always = big fish an 8 inch pencil can get sucked down by a 26inch bass. Even if it doesnt get it all the way in the gullet, it just takes 1 hook to rip out a gill.

I am still having a hard time believing that Stifftip posted something that generated intelligent debate and opinion.:eek5:

I guess there is hope for the world afterall.

Will wonders never cease.

Let the crabs have their way with it.

when it was 36" eveyone had thier rod marked with tape .. then 34" ... wasn't 30" in there... now 28" ...Not sure,,, its gotta go back .. I don't consider feeding crabs a waste ... Stripers eat crabs ..