I started fishing seriously in 1976. A few years later I began fishing in local tournaments. My partner and I were true believers of  Catch and Release fishing even before it became fashionable. We always felt that if we were not going to eat the fish then there was no reason to kill it. With that thought in mind, we released most of the fish that we caught.

Twenty years later the controversy over catch and release is still bubbling over. There are those that believe you cannot harm the fishery by keeping everything you catch and others believe that you should put everything you catch back. Somewhere in between there is a balance. Some bodies of water are so fragile that a few educated fishermen can fish it down in a short time. Other waters are so overstocked that the fish are stunted because there is not enough food to go around.

What about keeping a trophy? Back in '76 I made a list of  minimum sizes for various species that I had to catch before I would mount one. A largemouth bass had to be over 5 lb. A muskie had to be over 20 lb. Since then I've caught fish that passed my original goals that I had set for myself but I still don't have one on the wall. It was more important to me to release those fish than to bring them home.

I always take a camera with me when I go fishing so that if my partner or I catch a trophy I can still take it home to show off. When my son was five years old, he caught a smallmouth bass over five pounds. After we netted the fish he asked me if we could put it back. We snapped a couple of pictures of him with his trophy and he released the fish. There is an 8 x 10 of his bass mounted in a frame on a wall in his bedroom.

This isn't a plea for you to release the fish that you catch. After all, fish is an excellent food source and mighty tasty when done properly. But if that fish is just going to end up in the trash or under your rose bush, consider putting it back to fight again.

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