if I had no others for food, then bonk it, clean it and cook it.
IF I had others in the 16" to 17.5" range then off it would go.
But food is food and it is within my right to keep the ONE.
I had one a few weeks ago that was on the 5LB range and I kept it, cooked it and it was great. I tried to catch others smaller so I could set it free but no such luck and my family wanted to try it (I would have eaten it all if they didn't) so in the pan it went. Do I regret it, NO. The MNR had the ntes in the lake 3 times this year on my lake so I don't think I did any damage, did they?