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I used to keep everything large or small that was a keeper, but as I became more proficient putting fish on the sand I started keeping smaller fish and letting larger ones go. As a general rule I want that 28", but my cardinal rule is to never ever put back the first fish 'because there are fish everywhere and I'll get a small one later'.
I keep the small ones because they taste cleaner and the larger ones are the better breeders (up to a certain point).
Correct me if my info is wrong, but from what I have read the mortality rate for the smaller fish, between disease and predators, is higher for smaller fish, which means they aren't going to breed as many times as a prime breeder. I have also read that larger fish, 40 lbrs and up, are not as fecund as the 15-30 lbrs. So this lends to keeping larger fish as trophies (or for competition purposes) and smaller fish for consumption. I have a personally imposed slot that I'm free to break anytime!
But I agree with the thrust of George's thread: Let's allow fish to get large. Freshwater bass fisherman do it, why can't we??
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