it sounds to me like 3 generations of poorly taught ethics of catch and release being passed down, but apparently these guys dont know and understand what catch picture and release has done to increase the size and number of nice cats(flat and blue alike)in this lake. i would be willing to bet if most people were like these guys, i guarantee they would have never had the chance to catch a fish that big, and for sure this one was not awarded the opportunity to grow alittle bigger and give someone else, or maybee even these guys a chance to catch him when he made it to 70 or 80lbs." theres only one thing that makes you feel better than catching a monster cat, and thats watching him swim away". most of you know what i mean.

92.28 was the biggest a blue. 89 was the biggest for last year also a blue. Both caught by people I know and on opposite ends of the lake.

I think it is a shame when someone takes their family out and catches a nice fish and reports it on this board and gets a lot of criticism! And you guys call yourselves sportsman? Evidently I don't know the meaning of sportsmanship. PETA loves guys like ya'll.

Congratulations on your nice catch Red. Hope you, your Dad and daughter had a great time. Thanks for sharing with the rest of us.

Steve, I agree with you. I catch and release anything, ANYTHING, that I am not going to release. Let the folks enjoy their catch.

I agree that although it's your right to speak your mind, it's also their right to keep a fish if they so choose. Congratulations on the big one Red and hope the family had a good time, know they enjoyed it. I don't fish for the big cats and would probably release one if I did catch one but I don't believe it's detrimental to the fishery to keep some here and there and certainly it's food for the anti's when we bicker about such things.

Congrats on your fine catch. For best eating though, you might want to target ones in the 3-15lb range, as old big fish do accumulate whatever toxins might be present in the water.

Not sure how bad Kerr is (actually better than a lot of other waters), I know you would want to be very careful about fish that size east of 85 where the PCB contamination is heaviest in NC. Make sure to remove the red meat and any belly fat and consider grilling or broiling to let more fat run off instead of frying on a fish this big.

Nothing against CPR, that is great on your part, but not everyone is into tournament or trophy fishing and you need to give these guys a break.

As for how to get your photos, if you want the fish to have the best chance of surviving, please try to avoid lifting them up with your hands inside their gills (not good for any fish), probably also best if you can photo them at boatside or at least fully supported lengthwise instead of held heads up so their internal organs are better supported (as has been documented with large striper). Just basing this observation on some of the pictures on the Catch of the Day page.

I may be wrong about this, but it's my right to be wrong. The wording of "RED's" story makes me believe that this was another of those great posts that never occured but elicits fabulous responses from the "my way is the only way crowd". Angler's are usually split into two large crowds on this board an across the world. Those who believe that fishing for food is a great way to celebrate life and comtemplate what it was like when this had to be done, and those who think that it is politically incorrect to keep fish. Both sides have their own reasons for doing so and believing what they do. In a perfect world the consumers of fish would all do so in a sporting manner and with a thoughtful approach to conservation. On the opposite side , we have way to many who believe because they are trophy anglers or fish for money that they reside on a higher moral plane and their pursuit of fish is acceptable because their kill rate is lower and they do less harm to the resource. That of course is higly debatable.
One thing is for sure, the name calling and harrassment of those who choose to enjoy fishing in the old established manner does nothing to enhance the sport or the experience in any way. Congratulations to all of us who enjoy the angling experience, as long as we do so legally, whether we do it for meat,gold, money,or to impress our peers.Fish on...and on...an on..... WL

I'm sorry to have post such an outting we had on the Lake. Yes, we are eating the fish. We only keep what we are going to eat. We had grill most of it already. It was very tasty. I thought most of you'll would like to have known about a 60 lb. blue. It was the biggest fresh water fish we have ever caught. We do return most of the fish that we aren't going to eat. I have to voice my concerns now. The stripers are being eaten by the big blues. I don't think it hurts to take one. Look at Santee Cooper. Stripers there are almost extinct. How many of you'll realize it? Kerr is headed that same way. Look at Gaston it's right there with Kerr. Look at the blues that run up to the dam. They eat the stripers and also keep the stripers from come up to the dam to feed. This my feeling on it all. Thanks for listening, RED

Red glad to hear you ate the fish. But your wrong about Santee. The stripers where fish out during the 60's my dad and grandfather were involved. The blues where not introduced into Santee until after the stripers were fished down. And now the # of trophy cats being caught at Santee has took a down fall also do to over fishing and unselective harvest. The stripers at Kerr/Buggs were fish down by a commercial operation that was netting them. The VA fish and game has set length and creel limits on cats to help promote a trophy fishery. Both NC and VA have length are creel limits on stripers. The primary forage food for cats and stripers is shad and we have a plenty of them.

I just wonder about all these that are critizing Red for keeping the big cat goes hunting and kill the biggest buck they see.

Well i read and i just couldn't help but to respond.You catch and release guys are no angels.In no way shape or form.This man took kids fishing and he hung a big one and he took it home to consume.Cry me a **** river will ya.I tell you what and mark this under your hat.The next time i am at Buggs and i catch a 50 plus pounder,i'm going to ride everywhere i can think of to just to show it off and the first person that says something about my catch will be eating it raw,skin guts and all.You people are so stupid,yes i said stupid.Just because you think it should be released doesn't mean it should.For a bunch of so called grown ups to bash a kid in such a way is really pitiful on their part.Shows where you stand in society,at least in my book.The dang catfish is a scavenger fish and thats it.All you people worry about is a "RECORD",i say screw your record.When i think of trash fish,the catfish is the first to come to mind.It's a no good fish.Period.

Red,don't worry about what these morons say.Keep what you want.It's not their lake,it's our lake.Screw'em.

first of all i would like to say that i didnt realize the post was made by a kid, and i applogize to him if this is so. and second of all, no one is trying to catch a record, just increase the avg poundage of cats in the lake. i am not a tourny fisherman and never will be, fished showndown once and was not impressed. i would rather be out on the river alone and not woth 100 other boats. one of the reasons i c&r is that i do not care to eat a fish over 30#s and would like to catch that fish again when he is twice that size. its all about the thrill and the rush, who cares about the money. not very many people fish for food primarily, its more for the experience. and why wouldnt you want to do all that you can to be able to experience the catch that they had, again someday, or on a regular basis and a higher chance of one even bigger. and yes i too questioned how catch and release might negatively impact the population of bigger cats, especially if you compare it to deer hunting. if everyone took pictures of deer instead of killing them there would be too many deer not enuf food and habitat, which would equall near extiction due to malnutrition, disease and other problems. but if you look at it like this, its good that we have too opposite ends of the spectrum(catch and release, and keep everything you catch)so someone has to make up for all the fish over 30" that we put back to even out the roller coaster. i just sleep better at night and its nice to be sitting in the river at 1am and say atleast we know theres a 40lber in here cuz we put him back last night. so any way, congratulations on your fish. buggsman just remember we all have the freedom of speech, and the right to voice our opinion, but i think threatening to force feed someone a raw catfish is still " communicating a verbal threat" so i would calm down my posts a little if i were you, besides you may be able to feed the cats you catch to someone lips guts and all, but i use bait bigger than that!!!!!

A couple of years back, they were catching truck loads of blues and channels from behind Kerr dam.I was'nt involved and don't agree with keeping more than you could possibly eat, especially big fish. A friend of mine was one of the few who did. He kept a stringer of catfish one day and I was there to see him clean them. What I saw was astonishing! The catfish ranged in size from a couple of pounds on up to 42 lb.s. Five of these fish were between 24 and 42 lb.s. When he cleaned these fish he felt something hard in the belly. He cut the stomach(s) open and these catish had stripers in them. The biggest was somewhere around 5 lb.s and the smallest around 2 lb.s. I probably would not have believed it without witnessing it. But to say big blues will not eat stripers is wrong. They may not consume enough to hurt the striper numbers but they will make a meal out of one.

Well i tell you what,if you couldn't read Red's post and see that it wasn't a kid then you need a lesson in reading.For people to down a kid like he was a grownup is just pitiful.I'd whole lot rather fish with a kid anyday than 2/3 of the so called grownups on here.It's not your lake,it's our lake and it's not your fish it's our fish.If you don't like the way i or others fish,then stay off my part of the lake.Which is 38,000 acres.

And just think Had to see it,stripers don't reproduce in fresh waters.Now you go figure.What cost more?Catching to many catfish that eat stripers or paying to have all those stripers stocked just so they can be catfish food?This is a one sided board as you see.

Buggs if I recall correctly you have a history on this forum for jumping on kids. And all fish will eat fish of all species even their own kind. With a forage base of shad that we have there is no worry about one species eating out another.

I don't understand why people can't be happy for someone else who catches a fish of a lifetime.

Hey Quint,

A history of jumping on kids?Back it up with facts.Refresh my memory for me.There is nothing more important than a kid with a smile on his/her face.And there is nothing worst than a grown person trying to take that smile away.You people don't even realize how happy he was until he came on here where he thought he could share his happiness and and thoughts of his time with his family on the water and BAM,right off the bat he gets drilled.He did make one mistake though.Coming on here a telling you all.

so i guess the striper run up the rivers to "act" like they are going to spawn, its pretty cool how theyve got that fake spawn roll down pat. i hope the catfish never follow suit, then we will be in trouble!!!!! and i do believe i did appolagize in my reply and gave an explanation of how i may have been wrong. buggsman "wasnt a kid or was a kid" make your mind up, looks like you need a lesson in reading and writing, as you can see that you done it yourself, this is not a grammer class it is a message board. sometimes we make sentences short and mispell abreviations, but overall we know whats being said, so you cant judge age by the content of a post. if we did we would have thought you were going thru your terrible two's and throwing a temper tantrum. if you had actually read my post you would have been able to tell that i was actually agreeing with you, ive always been open minded and always will be, and thats what helps you adapt and keep a forward motion in life. as you go thru life you can form and continue to add and drop beliefs, habits, techniques, gear(fishing hunting or whatever) and so on, and always be able to adapt and overall become a better hunter, fisherman, or whatever it is you do, and overall become a better person thru trial and era and lots of experience. so once again im sorry for my original reply, no ones perfect, and yet another valuble lesson learned in life.

buggs it was a couple years back when you 1st started your mess you jumped all over Katmaster Jr. For the reason that he believed in the release of trophy cats. And it stirred quite a stink. Remember now?

Buggs,Yur wrong about stripers not reproducing in fresh waters.That is why they run up the two rivers is to spawn.I know i have caught minnow size stripers while catfishing on the bank when i was a kid right after they have tun the rivers.

I have had a game warden tell me that stripers do a mock spawn every year they think the can but can't because of a chemical imbalance due to the lack of salt(stripers are a salt water fish) thats why they shock them for eggs for the hatchery!! I dont know personality what the hell the do i just wonder?

Stripers,also known as Rockfish in the salty waters go up rivers from the salty water and spread their eggs and then head back to salt water.The keyword here is salty.The striper is stocked in freshwater because it can not reproduce if it is kept in freshwater.That is why it is stocked.The run they make up the rivers are mock runs,they mean nothing as to spawning.Let me repeat this,stripers or Rockfish do not spawn in freshwater.Got it?

Just to clarify, you are 100% wrong on stripers. Kerr is one of the few lakes with a long enough stretch of river flowing at the right rate above it to successfully spawn. Striper from Kerr provide most if not all of the eggs and milt for the NC hatcheries for the other NC lakes, as well as being traded by the hatcheries for other fish.

If there are extra striper left after stocking the other NC waters and trading with other states, they are put back in Kerr to help maintain the fishery here. Could fishermen and predators exterminate the striper in Kerr - certainly, as it is a lot smaller system than ocean run fish.

Supposedly the striper in Lake Jordan cannot spawn there and are all stocked, and the ones in Falls were pretty much fished out because they can't spawn there, but every so often one turns up that might just have managed it. Those would be rare though since they just don't have the type of river to support a large spawn.

Several other large lakes in the south also support a successful striper spawn. It's all about how long the eggs can stay suspended in the water after spawning, not whether the water has salt in it.

Most places the ocean striper spawn and winter over are very far up river and completely fresh (such as the Potomac River near DC). Your striper run from the sounds to Roanoke Rapids dam is an ocean spawning run, and I greatly doubt the water below Roanoke Rapids is any different than that in the rivers above Kerr.

All of this over 1 big cat that was kept.

Champ you hit the nail on the head. I could create a post regarding the striper run here in Roanoke Rapids but I am not. We need to let this topic die. Let the people enjoy their one catfish. We just need to get along with each other and respect one anothers decisions in regard to catch and release. I hope we as fishermen will honor each ones views even if we disagree with them. Congrats on the catch!!

Bo

Buggsman quote: "And there is nothing worst than a grown person trying to take that smile away."

That's exactly what you do every time you touch a keyboard you ignorant fool. Why don't you just go fish yourself. Yes, that was a typo on purpose, unlike in most of your 4th grade reading level postings. "nothing worst..." My seven year old has better grammar than you, and probably more teeth. You are such a useless spare.

Buggsman...king of the Intertards.

Red,
Congrats on your fish! I CPR everything over 10 lbs, just a personal preference. . . .you guys need to let it go, and get on the water and relieve some stress.
Mike

This is not a online english class, so you people criticizing other folks grammer... get over yourself thats a weak arguement.
Red you the man! Keep catchin them biggons!

Ya'll guys live for this, The arguing is the reason this board is so popular. Grown men have to fight about something. Half you guys probably cant wait to get home to see whats new in the argument on the Kerr site. (Just like I do!) Its just like a soap opera and yall are the characters on the show . Buggsman is the evil doctor. Fishdoc and few others are the good doctors. And there in a constant battle to rule Kerr lake. Wanda may as well just forget the other site, It cant get better than this.

Scott,et al. You seem to be up on the Rock situation. Could you possibly site a published study or reliable source that would state whether or not Rock successfully spawn on Kerr Lake? I have no idea but am very interested in knowing. I know we have many opinions but if it has been successful, there must be many reliable sources for the info. Two weeks ago Patrick Brown, NCWL officer, told me that its fairly well accepted that successful spawns have not occured. But I must say, that he himself could not tell me where to go for this info. Thanks in advance for your assistance. CC

Here is one from Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries. I'll see what else I can turn up.

http://www.dgif.virginia.gov/fishing/waterbodies/reports/2002%20Kerr%20Reservoir.pdf

Scott you are dead on about the striper spawn. It's all about how long the eggs can tumble without stopping before they hatch. Information to verify should be plentyful.

As I read through this I was wondering how long it would take for the truth to surface.

Funny how a strory about an excellent catfish catch sparks so many debates.

Correction Chaos not Chao

WHY BUGGSMAN CRYING SO MUCH .WHO THE CHILD ?GREAT CATCH GET OVER IT.IT GOOD THAT ANY CHILD FISHING AND LEARNING TO BE SPORTMAN ABOUT. HAVING TO PUT UP WITH CRY BABYS ! I LIKE EATING CAT FISH BUT NOT 60 POUNDER TO FISH LIKE DEER TO BUT DONT KILL AND EAT EVERYONE I SEE THAT PART OF BEING SPORTMAN AS FOR SILENT ASSASIN HE ONE BEST SPORTMAN I KNOW AND YES HE LETS BIG DEER WALK.AND WOULD HELP ANYONE LEARN ANYONE TO CATCH BIG CATS OR BIG DEER HE HELP YOU OUT IF NEED IT

Scott, Thanks for the info. Read the article and now I think I am a believer.CC

Everybody on here has an opinion, Yall all post what ya wnat to , jump on who ever ya want, why's Buggsman getting bashed for his post, Cause he speaks his mind ?? What's up with you people ?? It's okay to make someone feel bad about killing a catfish but unheard of for someone to defend that person and thier right to keep that fish. I release every fish I catch, If you do that's great and if ya don't that great too , Congrats on the big cat Red, Hope he tatsed good !!! Bet it did coming off the grill. Atleats yall ate it, Heck a lot of the dead fish at tournamemts end up in the bushes beside the weigh in araes. But I guess the varmits gotta eat too. Biggest problem I see with this forum is a complete lack of "Respect" for others and thier oppinions. In the original post" My dad and I and His grand daughter" would make one think that perhaps a younger person posted that thread and was proud of the fish and wanted to know if anyone had caught any as big or bigger, NOT what yall thought about him eating a fish.

I learned a long time ago that catch and release was the way to go on large fish,I am a chnnel cat man and usually they get kept they get eaten as well,I don't begrudge someone for keeping a large fish if they plan on eating it but I detest someone who catchs one and rides it all over the country to show it to people to let it go to waste is not a sportsman either,cameras are cheap,measuring tapes are available and you can have a mount made and still release the fish,if you have a large enough baitwell or fishwell you can keep it there until you weigh it if you must then release it.I have caught some huge fish in the past and they are still kicking unless soeone else caught them after me,its the fight,seing it and knowing I released it that makes my day !

Good catch hope ya'll enjoy it.