Gator Trout!!!

[Black Pearl]

Wow.

[KCM]

Unreal huge Fish nice work

[Striper]

Awesome trout! Great catch!

[SaltwaterMarsh]

Trout of a life time. Good catch! It is just a shame to kill such a great fish. IMO

[closcab]

What a great loooking trout!!!! Congrats cant wait to get on the water makes me want to skip out of work now

[catfishin]

It is just a shame to kill such a great fish. IMO[/QUOTE]

X2
Breeder

[Element]

It is just a shame to kill such a great fish. IMO

X2
Breeder[/QUOTE]

I'm not arguing for or against anyones position on which fish to keep or not to keep, but just curious where the evidence is on very large trout being citical to the future of the population? What's the cutoff for keeping a trout and why? Does a 24" fish breed more than a 19" fish? I hear the "breeder" comments alot on gator trout, but rarely hear anyone make the same comments when it comes to 10# sheepshead, doormat flounder, 20" seabass or 65# cobia, etc.....

[arunram]

I have caught plenty of 15" trout with roe in them. If the law says its ok to keep, keep it! At the end of the day, its my decision to keep it or not. If I want to eat a 30" trout (Not that I can catch any) that day, I will keep it! But I also make the fish gods happy once in a while by letting a beautiful rare specimen go so the gods will treat me with great fishing days for "giving something back". That's just my philosophy anyways. We are all in it for various reasons and a combination of them. All the way from "strictly meat fishermen" to " strictly catch and release". Do whatever you want to do as long as It's within the law and doesn't make you feel bad!

Many a times, even if the angler wants to release a gator trout, they won't because they don't have picture with a beast of a Trout and hence ends up in the ice and someone at home take a picture of you at home. Who doesn't want their picture taken with a fish of a lifetime?! My advice is that if you are a regular fisherman, Invest in a good camera with auto click and a makeshift small tripod so you can take the picture yourself and let the fish go!

My .02

Arun.

[SaltwaterMarsh]

my only point is that a trout that get that big is old and has great genetics.

[Valhalla]

Congrats. The fact that you got from shore on an artificial makes it even sweeter!