44Forest - if you are a newbi, then there are some things worth remembering with anything involving the internet - if you mention catching a chubb on a specific pool, you can bet that more than one or two fishermen will plan a trip there. So most people might say "fished the Esopus", but for their own sake alone few would say which pool, how to get there, etc. It seems that the best places do not have crowds, and advertising a place is not generally a happy thing.
As far a killing fish vs catch and release, this to me is a little bit up to you, with limits. Some streams are stocked heavily, and few fish make it through the year - to me if someone keeps an OCCASIONAL fish for dinner, no big deal. If you take enough to freeze, problem - since if everyone else did this even on these stocked streams there might be no fish left by early summer. Wild trout streams are different in my opinion - the number of fish is a function of habitat - so if one fish, especially a bigger one is taken you have less brood stock, and less little baby trout next spring. Some jerks seem to feel it is important to bring home a stringer of fish of any size - a couple years ago on an unamed little brook I ran into an idiot who had maybe 5-6 wild brookies, with the longest maybe 6" long - what the hell was he going to do with these I have no idea, unless he was feeding midgets - too small to eat. Asked him which one he was having mounted, and he thought I was serious...so use judgement, be considerate of other's fishing, and enjoy the water.
