In the good news department, there are a couple thousand photos of some very nice sized bass in the calfishing galleries that have been released. California is a great place when it comes to catch and release bass fishing and I count myself as very fortunate to live here, and to have the opportunity to re-catch giant bass on a surprisingly regular basis.

As disappointing as it is to see a photo of a big dead bass, it is equally disappointing that we don't spend more time celebrating the positive aspects of catch and release. It's something most of us take for granted, but we should all remember to accentuate the positive stories (like re-catching the same big bass, or sharing it with a friend a year later). The more people that understand just how cool that is, the better off we all are as trophy fishermen.

My .02