I know for most of you pins don't mean much but I am a novice angler and I wouldn't mind having one. The process requires that the fish be weighed on a "certified scale." I practice catch and release and I'm not going to kill a fish just to get it weighed, especially a lunker. So is there any answer besides lugging a bubbler with me everywhere I go? I cast from the shore so I'm constantly moving.
I have thought about that myself after I caught a pin fish earlier this season...Next time, depending on the situation (ie, how much time I have), I will take a panfish to get certified if its a pin fish, just for the heck of it to have, then harvest it. If its a bass, I will only take it in if I think it could be a state record for the season 7-8+. And if that happens, then maybe I will use my get out of jail free card and get it mounted, as it may never happen again in MA. But I'm still not sure I would even do this, as I am so used to always releasing my bass. Photo, release.
While I agree it's healthy for population only taking a total of maybe 5 -10 fish in my life for pins I don't really see as a huge impact on the mass bass population. I am an eater of some of my catch and as stated before in some of my posts I do it sparingly and typically release big fish but the miniscule amount I would take for pins would be no more harmful.
Also ask around and anyone will tell you the Chu produces massive amounts of SMB. Same goes for LMB on an even bigger scale as there is no body of water you can't find LM in pretty much.(ok maybe some acid bath somewhere.) but the big ones are all there they just don't get caught in mid summer easily. Try fishing at night from what I hear and you will see massive LM.
Also ask around and anyone will tell you the Chu produces massive amounts of SMB. Same goes for LMB on an even bigger scale as there is no body of water you can't find LM in pretty much.(ok maybe some acid bath somewhere.) but the big ones are all there they just don't get caught in mid summer easily. Try fishing at night from what I hear and you will see massive LM.
larger fish that grow to trophy size, have a better chance of producing larger offspring! States like florida,texas, will take the trophy fish u catch ,and will spawn these fish for the purpose of their offsping,and then will stock waters with these offspring, and also they will give u fiberglass replica of ur fish.
That's right Jimmy, I saw that on North American Fishing. It's called the Share A Lunker Program. You catch a huge bass, you turn it over to the state wildlife cons., they harvest it's eggs to produce potentially huge offspring with the genes to grow large, that they then stock into the lakes and rivers around the state. Then they even call you up when they are done, so that you can release YOUR fish that you donated! It's been pretty successful from what I've read. He's right about releasing large fish too, it helps keep those lunker genes out there.