well, I think the state has the priorities mixed up a little bit. Bass are more fun to catch, and are tougher, than trout. we spend a lot of money replenishing trout lakes every year and how many thousands of those trout are wasted by swallowing a hook with power bait and being tossed back, only to become a floater 4ft away from the boat? you see them on the shoreline all the time, you can see them sitting at the bottom of the lake in clear water. They gill themselves so easy and you always find them dead or dying. They dont' even taste as good as bass.
in terms of keeping bass, I try to be respectful to the lake, the fishermen, and the fishery. I wouldn't keep an egged up female during the heat of the spawn, but even if I did.. oh well, it happens. Salmon are incredible fish that cost a fortune to maintain and we keep females and nobody bitches.
Personaly, the bass I have kept have been in 2 scenarios.
a. on a lake where the resort owners ask you too because they are thinkign about killing the lake off to get rid of the bass and restock with only trout (doh! that would suck! so I do what I can to cull the bass a bit. Better to keep some now than to not have any later to fish at all).
b. other as needed.
