There are tourneys where the fish are barged back to the general area. We often return ours anyway if the rules permit.
As for the harvesting of bass during the spawn or anytime, there are always those who will eat their catch. To each his own. There is a slot limit preventing the over-harvest of the big gals, which I closely watch. I don't hestiate to report those to WDFW that are keeping more than one of those over the slot.
It's no different that shooting 10 chuckar or 15 quail in a day. It's illegal.
