I hear what you are saying. I said in my email that I realize that the State has mandated that it is a fisherman's right to catch and keep 5 bass over 12" per day at most lakes in California. But I'm saying, why do I have to accept this law? Just because it's the law? Just because it's the way it always has been? Because some commission somewhere at some point in time decided 12" was a good length and 5 was a good number. I'm ready to say hey, let's stop and re-think this.

Is it a selfish motivation to want people to release big bass? You bet. Absolutely. I want to catch big bass, I admit it 100%. The way I see it is like this. If you want bass for the table, why not go where bass are plentiful. Delta, Oroville, Shasta, Nacimiento, Clear Lake, etc etc? What if the State stepped in and said hey... we have a lot of different type of bass fisheries here in CA and let's manage them to suit the needs of different groups of anglers. Maybe make the limit 15 spotted bass in lakes like Oroville and Shasta. Maybe say the limit is 2 bass and no big bass at lakes like Pablo, Rancho, etc. A law like this sure would have helped lakes like Castaic and Isabella which from what I understand had a lot of giant bass caught and killed in the past. For a lot of lakes and rivers, 5 12" bass or greater per day is probably just fine and it should stay the same.

Understand also that I am not nearly so worried about the actual bass fisherman at Pablo as I am the trout/catfish/carp fisherman who regularly catch and kill big bass at the lake. Do I kick myself every day for "showing the world" about the big bass in Nor-Cal. I DO, believe me. Do you see my reports on here any more? No, you sure don't. The thing is, there really are 50 to 100 shore fisherman at Pablo on an average weekend year round. And in the spring, it's double that. It tears my frickin heart out to see the pics of 17's and 18's dead at the marina. That's why I'm doing this.

One bit of information I did not mention about San Pablo, is that there are simply not very many bass at all in that lake. If you did a bass per acre type survey, the numbers would be very low I believe. Not just of large bass, but of all sizes of bass. I catch almost as many bass over 7lbs at Pablo as I do under 7lbs. I almost never see 1 and 2 pound largemouths. I probably caught 5 or 6 fish this size all year there. If you want to know how I really feel, I think the lake should be fully catch and release on bass. Since that's unrealisitc, I'm shooting for a compromise where people get to keep some bass, but not 5 bass, and not any giant bass.

We all know that lakes are each unique and different. What if the regulations governing the lakes were suited to the lakes themselves? I think you can still respect people's rights to take fish home for the table if you work things out with compromise.