Why on Earth Did I Keep This?

[blackdog1101]

Have you ever gotten home and begin to clean your fish and come across a small fish that you wonder why on earth did I keep this? I did last night. I caught some sunfish yesterday and was cleaning them last night. One couldn't have been much more than 5 1/2" and I'm wondering how did that end up in the bucket? I've done this before too while ice fishing. I don't mind keeping some smaller fish for the table, and I believe in letting the big ones go so they can breed, but I think I need to come up with a better gauge for keeper sized fish than just eyeballing it. Anyone else have this happen occasionally?

[TruthWalleyes]

No,

I tend to bring home enough fish for a meal that day. Generally that is 1 walleye.

[OnAFly]

My mom has this problem. I insist that I have the final say on which fish are kept when I'm going to be the one cleaning them. I've cleaned 5" sunfish before

[BartmanMN]

They do shrink a bit. Sometimes you get in the mentality where you know you have to clean fish, so why not throw it in. But I cleaned some in the Winter that made me say that.

[fisherman-andy]

This easy, you kept the small ones cause you want me to keep the big ones?

Keeping smaller fish is recommended in most lakes, letting the bigger guys go is ideal!

[The Grebe]

I think that anyone that keeps fish for the table has done this at one time or another? Once you see em, you quick look around to make sure nobody sees you take it out of the bucket. You hide it from the wife and the neighbors, little kids are okay to show it to, but not teenagers! You clean it as quickly as you can and swear you'll be more carefull next time and then when you least expect it, another one shows up?

[fishuhalik]

Had it happen plenty. Fishings tough, and you finally get one. It's a little small, but you want a meal so you figure I'll keep it and maybe get a few more. You find an active school and finish out your limit, but that little guys still in there. Or you haven't fished in a while and you forgot what a keeper sunnie really looks like

[pikestabber]

Just be sure to follow the rule of fish cleaning my Grandpa taught me as a young boy...clean the smallest fish first...that way, if someone stops by when you are still cleaning, the biggest ones are still there for proof

A couple winters back my GF and her sister and I were ice fishing and weeding through bunches of smaller gills to get a meal. I repeatedly had to correct what they thought were "keeper" size, but their relentless banter on what size constituted an eater persisted... At the end of the day, I was the one stuck cleaning dozens of 6" gills and the GF had the audacity to get mad at me for taking so long to clean fish! The mind of a woman sometimes...

[The Grebe]

Picking out the smallest to clean first is a good idea, we followed along those lines last week-end. Four of us went out and we got into some really nice gills. Between the 4 of us I bet we caught 100 fish. We kept 12-15 of em for a fish fry. When we went to the cleaning shack, we hit the littler ones first so that the larger carcasses would be on the top of the pile...."Whoa, I wonder who got those whoppers? Look at the size of em!"

[mainbutter]

Actually, no that doesn't happen to me!

I dislike cleaning most fish, particularly panfish. Salmon between 8 and 12lbs I do a great job on. Anything else I keep I tend to be very selective about and only keep one or two fish at the most because of the pita that cleaning is.

[delmuts]

I've cleaned many to to keep a smile on a little kids face!

[Stick in Mud]

Had it happen plenty. Fishings tough, and you finally get one. It's a little small, but you want a meal so you figure I'll keep it and maybe get a few more. You find an active school and finish out your limit, but that little guys still in there. Or you haven't fished in a while and you forgot what a keeper sunnie really looks like

Sounds about exactly right. Funny how a small a "keeper" will look next to some real keepers.

[popriveter]

If I'm going to keep an 8" sunfish, I'll make myself keep a 6" sunfish to accompany it. If we load up on just the largest panfish in the lake, we'll ruin the size structure. My kids and I eat a lot of little sunnies and a few big ones.

[lakevet]

I heard Doug Stange of Infisherman talk about this years ago. He uses a 4 inch fillet knife. I got one made by Rapala with a rubber handle and use it a lot. Always seem to end up with some smaller fish. Kids or their friends catch small ones they want to keep, or fish isn't releasable (gut hooked, deep water) or the previous posters reasons mentioned.

4" knife also works good on medium sized fish and as a starter knife for the kids to learn how to fillet with.

Stange said the little fish taste the best/sweetest. He intentionally keeps those. Just like Tim Leismiester talks about how fawns taste the best.

lakevet

[pikeguy2003]

It used to happen a lot up until about 5 years ago. The ruler doesn't lie and has the final say. It can be a pain measuring sunfish, but I absolutely hate cleaning sunnies under 7 inches. It has gotten easier as my kids get older. All I get to do now is bait hooks take off fish and rebait so I measure while they fish. It is almost impossible when my wife comes with and I am the guide for three girls let me tell ya. They get mad at me because we stop at 20! I am not cleaning more than that by myself.

[efgh]

I have cleaned some very small sunfish, When you are fishing with your small sons or daughters, how can you throw back a fish that they are very proud too have caught. Throwing these back will probley insure you of going alone next time.

[Cyberfish]

Sometimes i wonder when cutting them, but when I am munching on some, its like, oh yeah!

[ole]

They all taste the same! Just a bit tougher to clean. So watch them fingers

ole

[Raider4ever]

"Sunnie Chips" are the best tasting food known to man!!!

[shizzy]

not really, I think it helps sharpen my fish cleaning skills. I think I get sloppy if I'm cleaning a pile of large ones, but if I've got only small ones, I find I take my time so I can try to get every last bit of meat.

[Hoyt4]

I keep a bump board up to 16inches just for panfish. I have another made for eyes. So I never take back any under my cut off.

[JacobG]

Hoyt4 is dead on. Set yourself a standard and stick with it. I always have a bump board for two reasons, I have a 10" minimum for crappies and never keep anything less. Also if I do catch a big slab in that 13" or bigger I like to get a quick measurement and a pic before releasing it.

[Scott M]

+1 on the bump board. I'm going to put up a video later this winter on why everyone needs a bump board and how to make one. Too many reasons not to have one.