Originally Posted By: steelspanker
I've been doing my best to remove those brats from the gravel. thumbs
But therein lies a problem. As the summer wears on, some of those brats are not something I want to eat. But I still don't want to release them for the very reason of this topic. What to do? Maybe a third column on the punchcard for "funky brat tossed in the bushes"?


I know this is off topic, but steelspanker's thoughts above raise an issue that interests me. When I saw a similar issue (being required to harvest steelhead from the Wenatchee that aren't exactly quality table fare) being discussed in a thread on another forum, I chimed in with a suggestion that perhaps those fish that we don't want to eat should be killed and then returned to the river. This will ensure that they can't spawn with the natives, and it will also provide valuable nutrients to the system for future generations and resident fish. It feels strange to even suggest such seemingly wasteful behavior, but I think it would be a lot less wasteful than pitching the carcass in the bushes or a dumpster.