Proper fish handling?

[longsilver]

I've seen a lot of discussion around this, there was a few letters to the editor in the most recent OOoD's critical of the sloppy fish handling of the TV fishing show personalities. I've seen this on other boards as well so:

What is the proper way to handle fish? I can't say I know for sure and being catch and release 99.9% of the time I'm interested in ensuring my catch has the best chance of survival with minimal strain.

Thanks for your advice!

 

[Spinninreel]

Some of the key things that i know are; make sure your hands are wet, so the fish doesn't loose it's slime coat, get it back it the water asap, and when you put it in the water, move the fish from side to side and not backward and forward.

 

[frozenfire]

I think the critical thing is to avoid playing the fish for too long when reeling it in.
In my opinion, the longer you play the fish, the more energy it will lose and there will be extra unecessary strain on the muscles. Ultimately, it has a decreased chance for full recovery.

 

[Bigfisherman]

I've seen a lot of discussion around this, there was a few letters to the editor in the most recent OOoD's critical of the sloppy fish handling of the TV fishing show personalities. I've seen this on other boards as well so:

What is the proper way to handle fish? I can't say I know for sure and being catch and release 99.9% of the time I'm interested in ensuring my catch has the best chance of survival with minimal strain.

Thanks for your advice!

In most cases I have been pretty succesful never removing the fish from the water, not touching it and using needle nose pilers to remove the hook(most of my trout/bass lures are barbless).

 

[disspatcher]

Number one pet peeve or concern you will find when talking to anglars is the holding or presentation of the fish.
This is more directed to larger fish such as pike,muskie,rainbow trout,salmon ect.
In the past I have managed to land a few 40"+ Muskie. Before I was more educated on the subject, I posed for a pic with my trophy holding it up by the gill plate.(a vertical pic)...Fortunalty I was informed this is a HUGE NO NO and I never did post pics of the monster. The correct way would be to cradle the fish under the head and hold on to the tail with the other hand.(keep it horizontal) Keep them level for the quick pic then back into the water to recoup. I guess I wouldnt like to be held up by the head either, especially when there is another 35" hanging behind me! :wink:
Now I dont think this pertains to smaller fish like Crappie and bass but for all the time it takes, if you are going to let them swim,be gentle~! :wink:

 

[esoxseeker]

I couldn't agree more disspatcher. Also, never hold a fish by the eye sockets to take it out of the water, a blind fish cannot survive. I've seen so many pics of holding fish like that, NO,NO,NO!!! Also, when releasing it, don't torpedo the fish back in. So many muskies floating around because of the "Oh, it'll be O.K" train of thought. Kind of defeats the catch and release and hopefully catch again practice.

 

[Bigfisherman]

I couldn't agree more disspatcher. Also, never hold a fish by the eye sockets to take it out of the water, a blind fish cannot survive. I've seen so many pics of holding fish like that, NO,NO,NO!!! Also, when releasing it, don't torpedo the fish back in. So many muskies floating around because of the "Oh, it'll be O.K" train of thought. Kind of defeats the catch and release and hopefully catch again practice.

Thats another thing, I use to see this all the time with trout if you catch it and looks like it might not survive if put back(swallowed hook, bleeding, falls on rock, out of water too long), your best to just keep the fish if its edible. Instead of releasing and then it slowly dies after.

 

[disspatcher]

I couldn't agree more disspatcher. Also, never hold a fish by the eye sockets to take it out of the water, a blind fish cannot survive. I've seen so many pics of holding fish like that, NO,NO,NO!!! Also, when releasing it, don't torpedo the fish back in. So many muskies floating around because of the "Oh, it'll be O.K" train of thought. Kind of defeats the catch and release and hopefully catch again practice.

Thats another thing, I use to see this all the time with trout if you catch it and looks like it might not survive if put back(swallowed hook, bleeding, falls on rock, out of water too long), your best to just keep the fish if its edible. Instead of releasing and then it slowly dies after.

Its actually ILLEGAL to release a fish back to the water which will not survive. Check with the regs....

 

[Spinninreel]

Another critical thing to remember is to have the proper equipment with you such as jaw spreaders for pike, a good pair of long needle nose plyers and a fishing glove so it's a quick turnaround getting the fish back in the water.

 

[ght]

as far as i know you never want to move the fish back in forth in a forward motion because believe it or not you can drown the fish. always left to right and try and keep them in out of the water for a short amount of time

 

[longsilver]

Ok, that's two people now that have advocated side to side. Yet out of the hmm, 20 fishing magazines I've read in the last week I've yet to see this they all say gentle forward backward and even then only if the fish isn't responding. If there's a current hold it facing into it and let go when it starts to struggle < is this not correct either?

 

[kennyhman]

Moving the fish side to side results in an increase in oxygen intake/diffusion and concentration, which is a good thing :mrgreen:

 

[MikeyMikey]

I couldn't agree more disspatcher. Also, never hold a fish by the eye sockets to take it out of the water, a blind fish cannot survive. I've seen so many pics of holding fish like that, NO,NO,NO!!! Also, when releasing it, don't torpedo the fish back in. So many muskies floating around because of the "Oh, it'll be O.K" train of thought. Kind of defeats the catch and release and hopefully catch again practice.

Thats another thing, I use to see this all the time with trout if you catch it and looks like it might not survive if put back(swallowed hook, bleeding, falls on rock, out of water too long), your best to just keep the fish if its edible. Instead of releasing and then it slowly dies after.

Its actually ILLEGAL to release a fish back to the water which will not survive. Check with the regs....

Oops! I have performed a illegal operation!
Last fall... well late summer when I went pier salmon fishing my first salmon failed to swim away... I did try to revive it and salmon WAS kicking ready to swim so I let it go but after few feet it came back up the water out of my reach. What now ? One sucky thing about late summer/early fall salmon fishing is that water is way too warm or something and it is very hard to revive the salmons back.... and I horse the fish in as fast as I can. I mean I set my rod end to my belly and crank it in when it doesn't run. Don't really care about fish breaking either because well... it won't.

Anyways... disspatcher any tips on how to release does big salmons early in season? Thanks.

Number one pet peeve or concern you will find when talking to anglars is the holding or presentation of the fish.
This is more directed to larger fish such as pike,muskie,rainbow trout,salmon ect.
In the past I have managed to land a few 40"+ Muskie. Before I was more educated on the subject, I posed for a pic with my trophy holding it up by the gill plate.(a vertical pic)...Fortunalty I was informed this is a HUGE NO NO and I never did post pics of the monster. The correct way would be to cradle the fish under the head and hold on to the tail with the other hand.(keep it horizontal) Keep them level for the quick pic then back into the water to recoup. I guess I wouldnt like to be held up by the head either, especially when there is another 35" hanging behind me!
Now I dont think this pertains to smaller fish like Crappie and bass but for all the time it takes, if you are going to let them swim,be gentle~!

Hahaha... you know what I am going to say now, right? Forget the head, I wouldn't want to be held up by my TAIL !! :?: