Then, as I was leaving, I was chatting with a guy fishing at the take out area. He said he always releases his bass and I said cool and even thanked him. He hooked one similar in size to mine while I was loading up and proceeded to put it in his Home Depot bucket. Ugggghhhhh!!
Way to stay with it Jon, top water is exciting, with a few weeks off from tournys I'll have to try it. He said he released all Bass and then kept, it's his choice but why lie about it unless the fish was hooked too deep to survive.
About 3 years ago I hooked a nice Largie deep, tried for 20 minutes to revive it but ended up taking it home, cooked it up and my wife said it was the best fish she ever had, I told her that was a 1 time deal.
Nice bass! When I catch one, I always release it (Seriously wish I was more productive on the catch part of the equation) LMB just aren't very good eating in my book, Fun to catch but for eating either trout, bluie gill, striper , Black Sea bass or bluefish for me.
Still learning and after may years of absence rembering great times with my grandfather . Very much a noobie.