I’m mostly a C&R angler. But I do sometimes keep one or two fish to eat fresh. I’m the only one in my household that eats fish so I don’t need a lot for a meal.
If a redfish is gut-hooked and bleeding, I’ll do it on the half-shell on the grill. I also like to occasionally
grill trout filets wrapped in turkey bacon. I never keep a trout over 19 inches, though.
Legal flounder, pompano or sheepshead go in the cooler. Most of those are in-frequent by-catch.
What the collective sentiment on keeping fish? Or is this a “Show Us the Meat” crowd? Pretty sure I know the answer to that one. LOL
My wife doesn’t care for fresh fish. Frozen whitefish filets from Ingles she likes, fresh bass or crappie not so much. I will occasionally keep a few, but they will be for a family fish fry or special gathering.
I have no problem with people legally harvesting fish for consumption, but some of these meat haulers bother me. And it’s not just the saltwater guys. I see plenty of local to me guides showing off limits of striper, bass, and other fish.
Same as you. I’m typically on the water 5 days straight, and I’ll keep one fish to eat fresh, and possibly 2. All trout over 19 go back unless hopelessly gut hooked, which is very rare. My family doesn’t eat fish either, which makes it easy!
It’s hard to turn away a couple keeper mangrove snapper for sandwiches or a couple nice sheepies for tacos. Other than that, unless the fish is going to be eaten that day or the next in like a group setting, I don’t keep fish or try for a limit. I haven’t kept a snook in probably 20+ years.
I’ll keep a snook or two a year. Gotta be a clean fish close to the inlet though. Other than that I don’t keep much other than a tripletail if I stumble across them.
Either way only keep what I can eat fresh and pass off what I would have to freeze to friends.
Mostly catch and release here. I am tasked by my wife to provide a redfish to make ceviche periodically for parties. I usually kill a snook every year cause they just taste so good!
I’m just as happy catching & releasing as I am keeping fish to eat. With that being said, I do a fair amount of sheepshead, red snapper, mangrove snapper & trout fishing, & I do regularly keep all of those species. Once in a while I’ll keep a slot red as well!
Depends on who I’m fishing with. With some I’m exclusively C&R. With my dad and son, they REALLY like to keep fish so we keep them. My family really likes to eat redfish so if with them they go in the cooler for sure. Sometimes I’ll keep trout for my grandmother, because she REALLY loves it. I personally don’t care for trout, so only keep for her or when with my dad.
Been a while since I’ve caught a slot snook in season, but last one I did was delicious! That was probably 3 years ago, LOL!
I go by what I was taught by my grandfather. You can take enough that you and your family WILL eat without freezing any. Anything else returns to Neptune. Two benefits: reduces waste and creates the requirement to get back on the water again soon.
I keep enough schoolie sized trout to feed the family for a night. Mangroves usually get kept because those fillets are the perfect size/shape for a fish sandwich. Any legal flounder gets a trip to the cooler. I’m sorry, Baby Jesus, they just taste too good. True story: my dad keeps sail cats.
