I am sick of watching so called fisherman catch these 17″ plus fish and just launch them back into the water. There are not that many places you can go and catch quality fish. So if you are on Mille Lacs and get called a “wanna be” its me calling you out.
Chris Nelson
I say release ’em in the grease 
Never fished up there, maybe I’m a little slow but what are you mad about people releasing fish for? 
Seriously not trying to stir stuff up, just curious. Are there an overabundant amount of fish in that lake of that size?
he doesn’t like the way people throw the fish overboard, they should be released more gently. I agree, especially with the warmer weather coming it gets harder on the fish being pulled up from the deep.
I only do that to crap fish you know: catfish, flat heads, carp, sheepies! 
I agree. Is it that hard to lean down and hold them in the water and watch them swim off. To me that’s one of the coolest part of catching those big girls. I even love the occasional tail splash that gets you in the face.
Is that true about the zeebs? How much of an affect can the sheephead have on their population?
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don’t be dogging sheepies there Tim, they eat zebra mussels, catfish fine but leave the sheepies alone.
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I am sick of watching so called fisherman catch these 17″ plus fish and just launch them back into the water. There are not that many places you can go and catch quality fish. So if you are on Mille Lacs and get called a “wanna be” its me calling you out.
Chris Nelson
Better not come around in April, when others are “fishing” …. you’d have a real kiniption 
FWIW… returning 18″ males will do what for anybody ? Supposedly, they will get to no bigger than 22″ typically… the Natives target fish under 20″… us others cannot keep fish over 17″… what on gods green earth will that 18-22″ male be worth, other than being caught 78 times and released ??? Never counts toward a limit or poundage… just wondering ??? (now you strictly CPR guys, don’t light me up too bad, I ain’t never met a walleye, that I’d much rather slip into some peanut oil than back in the pond)
Not wanting to hijack this post but here is one observation from Lake Champlain in New York…
Fish predation on zebra mussels is regularly occurring at a number of sites throughout Lake Champlain. Sheepshead, pumpkinseed, yellow perch, and rock bass have all learned to recognize zebra mussels as food. More than 50% of the pumpkinseeds and about 40% of the sheepshead collected had zebra mussels in their guts, suggesting that these fish are commonly consuming zebra mussels as prey. About 15% of the yellow perch collected contained zebra mussels in their guts. The large numbers of pumpkinseed, sheepshead, and yellow perch in the lake suggest that these fish have the potential to significantly reduce the abundance of zebra mussels over time. We also suspect that we have not yet documented all the fish species that are preying on zebra mussels in Lake Champlain.
Because the concentration of calcium in the water of Lake Champlain is very low, the zebra mussels in Lake Champlain have very thin shells. The thin shells of the zebra mussels in Lake Champlain may make them especially vulnerable to predation, and this may explain why we are seeing more predation on zebra mussels in this lake than in other North American locations.
The relationship we found between temperature and fish presence and foraging activity clearly suggest seasonality in the use of the zebra mussel beds. If we can begin to characterize the combination of water temperature, bottom habitat structure, water currents, and other factors that influence fish distribution, this may help us to estimate the overall impacts of fish predation on zebra mussels in Lake Champlain.
yes, they do eat them, just not enough to control the population. I’m being optimistic though and every little bit can help.
If you think for a second that tossing a fish back without
leaning over and gently placing them in the water hurts them you better not fish tournaments cause i bet an 8 hour boat ride is a lot harder on them.
So how do you feel about the guys that take the time to lay every fish they catch on the floor of the boat then lay it on the ruler to see how big it is? I don’t think guys need to measure every fish, you can tell if it’s close to 17″ or 28″. They are removing the protective slime from every fish by doing so.
Wallster. ><((((>
I personely dont measure every fish and as pictures go i dont take a picture unless it can be done in a resonable amount of time. That protective slim does come back. I have had a place on Mille Lacs for years so i am not new to this. Also i fished tournaments for years and can say most of the tournaments are kill tounaments. In a tournament setting you are penalized for fish that won’t recover which encourages you to take care of your fish much more than launching it out of the boat
Chris
In a perfect world every fish would be released boatside without ever leaving the water but thats never going to happen. if your fishing water deeper than 20′ simply reeling the fish in is going to put it at risk for dying, its part of fishing. I guess I can’t see that a 3-4 foot drop in the water is really increasing the mortality rate that high. If Al Lindner sees that its fit to drop a walleye in the water I’m not going to make a big stink about it. For the record, I agree that setting a fish in the water and watching it swim away is one of the great things about fishing, too bad not everybody sees it that way.
I fish for the thrill of the fight not to bring home my limit. If i catch some eaters then maybe we have a fish fry, if all I catch is mid 20s fish all day I am more then happy also. I think the true sportsmen enjoys fishing to catch fish not to keep fish. There has been many of times where I have put eaters back. I have friends that I take out and their only reason to fish is to bring a limit of fish back to shore.
Getting back to the topic, I find it disgusting when folks toss 19’s and 20’s back in the water like a piece of trash. people should respect our limited resources more!
Just to flip the coin… I know people who find it disgusting that people go out to purposely catch fish, with the only intention of getting their 3 minute thrill of the fight, which only stresses them and risks hurting or killing the fish
I do agree about releasing a fish properly and respecting the resource (if you exclusively CPR, then it is not a resource for you, but rather a source) 
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I am sick of watching so called fisherman catch these 17″ plus fish and just launch them back into the water. There are not that many places you can go and catch quality fish. So if you are on Mille Lacs and get called a “wanna be” its me calling you out.
Chris Nelson
Ya well, I get sick of seeing the parking lot full of boats at the Casino. We all have things that bother us.
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I am sick of watching so called fisherman catch these 17″ plus fish and just launch them back into the water. There are not that many places you can go and catch quality fish. So if you are on Mille Lacs and get called a “wanna be” its me calling you out.
Chris Nelson
Ya well, I get sick of seeing the parking lot full of boats at the Casino. We all have things that bother us.
I couldn’t agree more with any statement! Chaps my hide when I see all the boats pouring money into that place! 
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I am sick of watching so called fisherman catch these 17″ plus fish and just launch them back into the water. There are not that many places you can go and catch quality fish. So if you are on Mille Lacs and get called a “wanna be” its me calling you out.
Chris Nelson
Ya well, I get sick of seeing the parking lot full of boats at the Casino. We all have things that bother us.
I couldn’t agree more with any statement! Chaps my hide when I see all the boats pouring money into that place!
X3!
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