JC,
Welcome
Let me start by saying it's great to see a father and son fishing together.
As a young angler myself I'm saddened to see the amount of big bass that you and your son are killing. I wouldn't be so upset if these were fish that you were keeping to feed the family but it seems that this is not the case.
I released a 35lb bass on Monday night that was about the same age as your son. That fish is still out there swimming for all of us to try and catch again. That fish will still make it up the Hudson to drop off a few million eggs this spring.
Best of all that 35lb fish is on its way to quickly becoming a real trophy sized fish.
Let me put it into perspective, that fish took 15 years to grow to 35lbs. It's passed the hardest points in its lifetime and it now has the large mouth to easily inhale a few bunker/sea robins/shad/herring/flounder/blackfish/porgies/sea bass per day without expanding a lot of energy. That fish can pack on the pounds and weigh over 50lbs in just another 5 years.
I think it would be great to see the both of you releasing these fish over 20lbs and catching that on film. It's certainly more impressive than having six dead breeders laying on a dock.