Quote Originally Posted by LarryG View Post
Gee I felt so bad for this guy. He was complaining that they need to release fish over 5 lbs because they are two inches to small! Please make that dale slot good for cumberland also. Why dont anyone keep any fish under the slot?It will work even better if that is done.
To get back to the original question, I've never fished Dale or Cumberland, but I do fish Elmer Davis Lake, where there's a 12-15" slot, and I guess to me keeping fish under the slot just seems wrong, like it's using some loophole in the law to keep under-sized fish. I know KDFWR says the reason for the slot is there are large numbers of bass under 12" in the lake, and they want to reduce the competition for forage, so more of them might survive to be over 15". That may or may not apply to Dale and Big C, I don't know, but to me it makes perfect sense for Elmer Davis. Still, I just can't bring myself to keep and eat an 11" bass. But after reading this discussion, maybe I'll start keeping a few. It'll be rough, but it's a sacrifice I'm willing to make