Mike,

I think the reason is as simple as you stated. In general, tournament anglers just don't like to see bass kept. Of course, there are walleye tournament fishermen, but they do not preach the catch and release ethic like bass organizations have over the years. I believe it has been only recently that major walleye tournaments have started to enforce a dead fish penalty.

My personal opinion is that In-Fisherman has had it right for a long time. If you want to eat fish, keep what you can eat and release the rest. If everyone followed this, we would still have excellent fish populations. We may even have BETTER bass populations in lakes where there are a lot of small bass.

Chris

Why would anybody fish for Walleye and then turn them loose alive? They don't fight worth a darn. Maybe it is just the challenge of getting them to bite, or to get one over the minimum length? I consider my season a success if I don't catch a trout, walleye, perch or squawfish. This year has already been ruined by a perch and two squawfish. At least, I haven't caught a trout.  Carp are almost ok, at least they fight good.

C&R, Steve

"yuck! Pasty white fleshy things"   

Hhhmmm, Virgil is he talking about your legs?  BTW, good job at the Fishing Kids event.

Rich

As to the taste, I talked to a professional chef who told me that the walleye are one of the best fish to work with in the fancy resteraunts because the flesh tends to take on the taste of whatever spices and ingredients are used.  Therefore the walleye can be fixed many different ways with a variety of excellent results.  Bass (while good) do not tend to lend itself to the same variety of results.

But let's face it, who of us have not had a bass or two that died in the live well or got foul-hooked (in the gills) and ended up in the frying pan since it was doomed to die anyway.  And... admit it - it was good!  

Here's my theory on why walleye fishermen tend to keep theirs and bass fishermen don't.  First, the two kinds of fishing styles tend to attract different kinds of personalities.  The walleye guys love fishing, but they don't tend to want to work so hard for it.  They like the idea of trolling, and sitting back in their chairs, sipping on their favorite beverage, and telling fishing stories.  And yes, when they catch fish - their "fishing culture" has no hesitation about eating them.

Bass fisherman however tends to attract the Type-A kind of personalities who enjoy the chess game of bass fishing.  Win or loose, they like casting, changing gear, adjusting to conditions, etc..  It's not the eating of the fish that is our reward, it's winning the game!  And... our "fishing culture" is more concerned about fooling our quarry than eating it.

Hey, Sarge - maybe you can tell me if this is true:  I heard that a trout in the Northwest can grow up to 12 inches in a year because it is unaffected by cold water and continues to eat year round and therefore grows throughout the winter.  But it takes 5 years to grow a 12 inch bass here in Washington because it's metabolism slows down dramatically during the cold water winter months.  Is this true?  (5 years seems to be stretching it a little) but I've heard bass guys use this to justify not taking bass home because it takes so long to replace the resource.

Which leads to my second question; is the walleye's metabolism in winter closer to the trout or the bass?  Do they grow faster?

So basicly Chris....If I were a Largemouth with my size taken into account and a relative genous attatched...I would be a Florida Strain Largemouth surrounded by Shad and with a double spawn cycle in the middle of Lake Okeechobee?..........

Maybe I better have a crew truck me to North Dakota and put me in a sterile pond made from a soy bean field!

Let's just say this, Larry. If I saw you on a bed, I would definitely spend some time trying to catch you...

Upon re-reading my post, I have now decided that it would have been impossible for me to write anything more embarassing!