The short answer to all of this is "it depends." The laws vary state by state, so while its legal to filet bass in RI it may or may not be in CT, MA, NY or NJ
For clarification, my question was about Massachusetts.
Three-fourths of the Earth's surface is water, and one-fourth is land. It is quite clear that the good Lord intended us to spend triple the amount of time fishing as taking care of the lawn.