I'm sure I'm opening a can of worms, but please, someone, educate me about the "big deal" of catch and release?
On another very good FF site, there is a comment that "since we no longer need to kill fish to eat"......I live in Alaska...there are a LOT of people here that DO need to do just that.
So, what is the deal?
Is C&R the in-thing now? Are we not supposed to fish for food anymore?
I practice C&R when I catch something I'm not supposed to, for example, in the river near my home, Arctic Grayling are C&R only, so if I catch them, I release them. If I catch a trout or salmon out of there, though, it's dinner. Is this wrong?
Personally, I find fishing just to C&R slightly cruel. I understand the sport of it, the thrill of the fight, all that, but if it were me, I really wouldn't like a hook through my cheek for someone's sport, you know? (I don't have a problem with people who only fish C&R, that's just my take on it.)
I grew up on the Gulf of Mexico, on a shrimp boat if you want specifics, until I was about 10 years old. When we weren't out shrimping, chances were good you'd find me on my daddy's bass boat in a lake fishing, or catching stump-knockers in the river behind my grandmother's house. Tiny ones got tossed back, but if they were eating size, they were dinner, or breakfast, as the case may be. Maybe I'd be on the boat with my Gram, headed for mullet lake, maybe we were catching bream, but they were being caught to be eaten. Nights we weren't shrimping, you'd probably find me out gigging frogs with my daddy, or possibly crabbing for blues with a piece of chicken on a string.
Since then, I haven't really fished much, did some deep sea fishing while I was on the shrimp boat, of course, and in my teens, you'd often find me surf-fishing in the Atlantic with my step-dad, but again, they were for eating. We didn't eat the sharks, though!
So, is my perspective because I'm the kid of a "good ole boy" and hunting and fishing was a way of life for us? Do I need to educate myself on this? Is it no longer cool to fish for food, but pay grocery store prices when I want it on my plate?
On another very good FF site, there is a comment that "since we no longer need to kill fish to eat"......I live in Alaska...there are a LOT of people here that DO need to do just that.
So, what is the deal?
Is C&R the in-thing now? Are we not supposed to fish for food anymore?
I practice C&R when I catch something I'm not supposed to, for example, in the river near my home, Arctic Grayling are C&R only, so if I catch them, I release them. If I catch a trout or salmon out of there, though, it's dinner. Is this wrong?
Personally, I find fishing just to C&R slightly cruel. I understand the sport of it, the thrill of the fight, all that, but if it were me, I really wouldn't like a hook through my cheek for someone's sport, you know? (I don't have a problem with people who only fish C&R, that's just my take on it.)
I grew up on the Gulf of Mexico, on a shrimp boat if you want specifics, until I was about 10 years old. When we weren't out shrimping, chances were good you'd find me on my daddy's bass boat in a lake fishing, or catching stump-knockers in the river behind my grandmother's house. Tiny ones got tossed back, but if they were eating size, they were dinner, or breakfast, as the case may be. Maybe I'd be on the boat with my Gram, headed for mullet lake, maybe we were catching bream, but they were being caught to be eaten. Nights we weren't shrimping, you'd probably find me out gigging frogs with my daddy, or possibly crabbing for blues with a piece of chicken on a string.
Since then, I haven't really fished much, did some deep sea fishing while I was on the shrimp boat, of course, and in my teens, you'd often find me surf-fishing in the Atlantic with my step-dad, but again, they were for eating. We didn't eat the sharks, though!
So, is my perspective because I'm the kid of a "good ole boy" and hunting and fishing was a way of life for us? Do I need to educate myself on this? Is it no longer cool to fish for food, but pay grocery store prices when I want it on my plate?