Regrets

[mattd]

Any one else regret keeping a fish? About 5 years ago I went out intending to keep some fish for my grandmother inlaw. I grabbed my spinning rod and headed out to a heavily stocked stream in perry county. Wasn't having much luck till i got to a really nice hole near the car that hadn't produced many fish all year.
To make a long story short I ended up catching one of the best trout of my life. Now I look at the photo of the fish and I really regret keeping it. I do keep trout now and then but if im going out to fish for food I always target stockers.
I will advise, if you have a heart condition and love wild trout you may not want to look at this photo!

NEVER AGAIN :-( :-(

 

[MJL1983]

Thats deffintly a beautiful fish. Atleast you have realized now its better to practice C&R expecially with a fish like that. Every one makes mistakes

 

[flyeyeeye]

I don't keep many wild fish, but damn they taste good! It doesn't pay to look back like that. A brown that size would be eating smaller trout, so in effect you gave the smaller trout a break. No worries!

 

[JoeE]

Yeah, that's life. But, sometimes your better off to keep the bigger fish.

Joe E

 

[mattd]

I believe thats why that hole hadn't fished well all year. Of course I couldn't get him till I took up the spinning rod. It was a fun catch on 2lb test though. Would have been more fun on the fly though.

 

[jayL]

Nice fish! Hope it tasted good.

I've never kept a wild fish, but you were not in the wrong to do so. I personally couldn't do it, and would advise someone not to. I would certainly not think differently of them if they did.

 

[pcray1231]

Thats just a beautiful fish! Congrats! No worries on keeping it, I might think about it on that fish too. Especially if the stream held brookies, you could probably hear them cheering you on in the background....

 

[pcray1231]

Thats just a beautiful fish! Congrats! No worries on keeping it, I might think about it on that fish too. It might have ended up on my wall. Especially if the stream held brookies, you could probably hear them cheering you on in the background....

 

[Padraic]

If it'll make you feel better, I could accuse you of photoshopping the fish to make it look bigger. ;-) Like has been said, our values grow and change over time. Hold on to the C&R ethic, but you know... you can keep some fish.

 

[mattd]

I've caught only one brookie on that stream. Mostly just browns. I've thought about getting it recreated, I have all the dimensions. I'm still waiting to get one like that on a fly. Might be a while, if ever.

 

[Squaretail]

:-o No wonder you only caught one brookie out of that stream.
Although not quite that large, I have two fish at 17" and 19 1/4"
as wild as that one that have haunted me for years now. To be honest those memories help me to spread the C&R word.
Fan-freakin-tastic brownie man.

 

[salvelinusfontinalis]

Wow! Dont sweat keeping such a fine specimen.....you did the little brooks a very huge favor. There are probably hundreds more fish in that stream cause you keep one trout.

 

[littlejuniata]

That guy lived on newly stocked trout, you did good.

 

[FarmerDave]

mattd wrote:
Any one else regret keeping a fish?

My answer is no. However, I have never caught a brown as nice as that. A truely awesone fish.

Don't worry about it.

In my younger days, I would have had serious trouble throwing that one back. In fact, I still might have trouble. Hopefully I will have the pleasure some day of making that tough decision.

I also agree with a few others that you probably did some brookies a big favor.

 

[wgmiller]

And look at it this way, you bought a license and had every right to creel your limit each day. So from a legal standpoint, you were will within your rights. From a moral issue, it all depends on what you believed at the time. Beliefs can change over time, so I wouldn't dwell too much on the fact that you kept that damn nice fish.

Mankind does more harm to fish than your harvesting that one fish will ever do. All the pollution of waters is a prime example (accidents, on purpose, etc.).

If I were you, I wouldn't feel one bit guilty about keeping that fish. Just consider it a step along your progression of becoming an ardent C & R fisherman!

 

[mattd]

littlejuniata wrote:
That guy lived on newly stocked trout, you did good.

It wasn't freshly stocked. Its just stocked heavily in the spring. Don't really see too many of the wild fish till late in the season. Got that one in late Oct.

 

[mute]

Beautiful fish. I dont really think it matters if you kept it or not though. Well, atleast around here, if you dont some other #OOPS# will.

 

[tomgamber]

I think it depends on the stream. If the fish was close to no longer being able to be supported by the stream, you may have taken it just in time. Or perhaps that fish would be easily replaced in a stream with good reproduction. C&R is a good mindset to start with. But sometimes you want to eat a fish and that's ok too. You paid for your license and are at liberty to do whatever you want. It could also be a very nice holdover that started as fingerling or even a regular stockie. I have caught brown trout almost that nice from pur and take lake near my house.

 

[JackM]

Nice fish. I wouldn't have kept it, but you can bet I would have laid it on the bank for a photo :-o

 

[wgmiller]

Reminds me of one of the "hogs" from Lititz Run!