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Originally Posted by labrax
That the older larger fish are almost always females and that they are more fecund than the smaller fish. If you don't intend to eat it - then why not consider putting it back.
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It is true that larger females of any fish species do tend to produce more eggs in one season than their smaller counterparts. But reproductive potential also comes into play -- the number of mature offspring a fish can be expected to produce at a given age or size. The smaller fish actually have a better probability of living to the next year (and onward) and reproducing again, so that leaves them with many years of fish babies ahead of them, and, therefore, a higher reproductive potential, which can be just as important as straight up fecundity. But guessing which individual fish is gonna die first? It's a crapshoot. If you're gonna eat it, keep the legal fish that you fought the longest and/or seems least likely to survive.
More rules:
1. Please don't assume I'm a man and address me as such. It's especially disconcerting if you still deny my gender once I and my exclusive-to-women parts have turned around to face you.
2. If you feel you must give me advice, be helpful and not condescending -- no matter how good a fisherman you think you are.
3. Don't set up to fish a cooking current just 20 feet away from me unless you want to spoon later.
4. Leave your lantern/bat signal at home.
5. Realize that some people are much more serious about fishing than others, and heed the collection of rules. It's way easier for you to not piss them off than for them to get their panties out of the knot your presence/googan-ality/newbie-ness will cause. Think of the greater good, and reduce the grump section of the board.
PS I had a real good fishing teacher and majored in fisheries, so I got to hop, skip, and jump up the learning curve a bit, but technically, I am still SO new that it feels weird, like I should be the one these rules are directed towards, and I should have a bucket of chunk and upside-down spinning reel, shining a light in the water.
