To Keep or Not To Keep?

[Pomoxis 2]

The purpose of this thread is to see if there is anyone else like me. Is there?

I am sorry for upsetting your "fishing for food" and talk of "coolers full of..." but I am starting to feel like a weirdo. I have not kept a Crappie since about 1985. Yes, I ate them and they were OK, but I catch very many keepers every year (hundreds from 10 - 15 ") and never consider keeping one. WHY?

Well, you probably have (or had) a dog for a pet and of course you would never consider eating one, no matter how good it might taste. Me too. After raising a few Crappie as pets over the last 20 years I just could never do it. I've raised all sorts of tropical fish as well as Sunfish and Largemouths and Catfish, but the Crappie were standouts of personality.

Ever wonder why Crappie are such enticing fish? Why are dogs so loveable? There is just a lot of personality there.

I am not trying to tell anyone to 'not eat Crappie' but maybe you could conserve a little more - don't take more than you can eat and don't cause more pain than necessary.

IMHO Yellow Perch are much better eating than any other 'white-meat' freshwater fish. Shrimp-fed rainbow trout are the best to eat next to wild brook trout (which are so rare now that they should never be kept under any circumstances).

If I wall mount a 19" Crappie please don't kill me. Maybe I'll let him go.

[Crapbie]

And I thought fishing for 20 years with out keeping a fish would be called Hell lol

I agree pretty much but to say they have far more personality then sunfish and bass is kind if retarded since they are all related and very similar. The only fish I've seen that I can say looks to have a lot of personality are saltwater puffer fish from the aquarium store. Unlike regualr aquarium fish they follow you around and just hover while watching threw the glass.

Remember save a crappie today, catch 2 crappies tomorrow

[Barnacle Bill]

When a Crappie jumps up in my lap and goes to sleep, I'll consider your request.

[Pomoxis 2]

And I thought fishing for 20 years with out keeping a fish would be called Hell lol

I agree pretty much but to say they have far more personality then sunfish and bass is kind if retarded since they are all related and very similar. The only fish I've seen that I can say looks to have a lot of personality are saltwater puffer fish from the aquarium store. Unlike regualr aquarium fish they follow you around and just hover while watching threw the glass.

Remember save a crappie today, catch 2 crappies tomorrow

Crapbie - Did I say I have not kept a fish in 20 years?

[kunes]

Hey! Take some pictures of them hundreds of crappies before ya let em go. Love to see em.

[Pomoxis 2]

When a Crappie jumps up in my lap and goes to sleep, I'll consider your request.

My only request is that one CONSIDERS not keeping more than you eat. I have reasonable expectations.

You and I and almost everyone else knows a Crappie will not jump in your lap and go to sleep. So should I assume you are going to continue to "keep more than you eat"?
How many Crappie have you raised as pets - in an aquarium - and then released when they grew big?

The national trend is Catch and Release, or haven't you heard of that?

[Pomoxis 2]

Hey! Take some pictures of them hundreds of crappies before ya let em go. Love to see em.

As soon as I get a digital camera I will. It might be a while, cause I quit my job to go fishin! :D

[Mrs. Crappie Stalker]

Umm . . . .. since you put yourself out there, I just have to ask this question . . . . . if you think of crappie in the context of a pet, why do you fish for them? I don't throw extremely sharp objects for my dogs to fetch so that I can pick them up and pull said sharp object out of their lips or the roof of their mouths. You said that you catch hundreds of fish a year . . . about how much "unnecessary pain" do you think you cause. I would like to believe that the vast majority of members of this site are responsible fishermen/women and are consuming the fish they catch or providing good eating to those who cannot fish.

[kunes]

I don't keep more than I eat..but I eat the hell out of em.

[kunes]

Umm . . . .. since you put yourself out there, I just have to ask this question . . . . . if you think of crappie in the context of a pet, why do you fish for them? I don't throw extremely sharp objects for my dogs to fetch so that I can pick them up and pull said sharp object out of their lips or the roof of their mouths. You said that you catch hundreds of fish a year . . . about how much "unnecessary pain" do you think you cause. I would like to believe that the vast majority of members of this site are responsible fishermen/women and are consuming the fish they catch or providing good eating to those who cannot fish.

Right on.