Conscience

[classic drifter]

so heres the story. i was out fishing east yesterday, an hour in, when a dude accidentally foul hooks a fish, nice young buck, full chrome i saw em drop it back in the water as soon as he unhooks his line. an hour later where i stand i seen the same buck floating upside down letting the slow current take em down. i looked at em and saw him barely breathing( gill movement was at a very minimal ) so i grabbed em put him upside an swam him back and forth with some serpentine action on the fish trying to bring him back. after quite some time trying, i see the life of him fading away. so to end his misery i decided to keep em since i know hes healthy and clean. plus a nice eating size buck. just perfect. i for the life of me could not stand seeing a fish like that go to waste. called my buddy up told him what happened and if he wants the fish, and he said yes providing that i bleed him and drop it at his place. ( i would keep it if he didnt want it anyway) now my biggest question is, do you think i should have left the fish alone in the water. and what would you have done if you were in my shoes? plus would there be any laws that i broke doing such thing? is it ethical or not. your inputs are highly appreciated.

 

[BASSMASTER19]

well I'm not sure if it is legal or not (you can't waste fish and that wasn't wasting it) but it would have been un-ethical to leave it, if you could put it to use then its all good but thats my take on it

 

[416fish]

Personally, I think good on you for saving the fish. BUT, technically I'd interpret that action as illegal due to the fact that 1) the fish was not caught by you in a legal manner 2) The original angler who caught it, did not 'gift' it to you.

As others have said in other threads and forums, even though we don't think the fish will make it, some times in nature they do survive even by miracle. Also, if they do expire, it's not like their deaths will not in turn feed the other life cycles of organisms in the environment.

Is it illegal to grab a salmon out of the river and take it home? Yes. Even though they are on their deathbeds and some literally jump onto the shore and beach themselves. It is what it is.

Personally, I would let nature take it's course.

 

[xxxSIBxxx]

When reviving the fish I've heard it's not a good idea moving the fish back and forth as that will actually drowned the fish. Just sit it upright facing up stream in a nice flow and the fish will take off when it gathers up enough energy.

 

[Buzzkill]

Technically I would interpret it as illegal but saying that I would have likely don't the same thing you did. You tried your best to revive it so it showed anyone who might be there to say anything that you had good intentions. Worst case scenario would likely be a CO coming by seeing you let go of a dying fish and not seeing what you did ahead of time so likely best to keep it after you determined it wasn't going to make it.

In terms of wasting again no fish is really wasted as something will come along and eat it in the food chain, so whether its you, your buddy or a raccoon it doesn't matter. No animals near the rivers are starving this time of year.

My two cents

 

[Klik]

This is why proper fish handling is important. people abuse that privilege. what you did was completely ethical, even though technically against angling rules. you can just pretend that guy mishandled the fish and knew the fish was dying and you said you know someone that wants to eat it. as far as leaving it,

i am also sure an officer would understand, and the guy that mishandled the the fish spoken to.

you could of killed it and left it for animals, where do you think 1000s of salmon corpses go?! as far as being good hearted, in logical sense, you took food from100s of different animals around the river that are getting ready for winter. your buddy could always buy food with in kilometres of him.

 

[IR4Jflyfishing]

Ill agree with the above, sort of a grey area of the law.

 

[fisgfreek]

damn if you do , damn if you don't . :???:

 

[instapump416]

In that situation, I would've kept it.

 

[wlatyn]

Everybody has a moral compass which guides their actions...you have to live with your actions, so you chose accordingly. I can't see how your actions hurt anyone else (including all those animals who have hundreds of rotting carcasses to choose from at the present).

 

[classic drifter]

At the time when i saw the life of that fish fade every minute i made the decision to keep it, knowing for sure that buddy will enjoy having a nice baked trout for dinner. I am ready to face a CO if ever i met one on the road or anywhere for that matter. I will tell him exactly what i did and what happened, if in any case what i did was illegal i was ready to face the consequences. You live and you learn, but definately anglers should be certain that the fish they are releasing will recover from the stress they brought. I did my best to try and revive him as much as i could but it was far from coming back, IMHO i think getting bashed onto rocks, getting dragged into ripples, and being hit by other fish while being half alive and upside down would help his situation, but thank you all for the input. I certainly feel better knowing this facts on do's and dont's. Yes its a grey area but next time i hope to see less of this majestic chrome beauties dying just because a fellow angler did not take the few extra minutes to make sure he will be back to a good shape and regain his fighting prowess.

 

[OCDComputing]

CD...I would have NO issue with it at all. I'd rather see a fish eaten than wasted....even though I realize it wouldn't be wasted per se....

 

[classic drifter]

CD...I would have NO issue with it at all. I'd rather see a fish eaten than wasted....even though I realize it wouldn't be wasted per se....

what happened OCD? Saw enough gutted salmies?

 

[Joel52]

no problem in my book.