Was this the right thing to do?

[goodentight]

Hey guys I am new here. Followed for a year on and off, about time to register.

Ive been out in the eastern tribs a fair amount recently. New to all of this in the last year or so. Im used to seeing dead fish on the side / in the river but this afternoon I came across this beautiful female. At first glance I just assumed it was another dead fish in the river. But when the sun hit her again it was worth checking out given how beautiful she still looked. Upon investigation I noticed she was alive, restless, helpless, gasping. Half in the water, half out, caught up on some rocks. I can only assume she had just recently spawned. I went up, moved her over into some water (everything was so slow) into the fastest moving in the remote area, a foot or two deep and held her like I release all my fish. It sucked, you could feel her trying with all her power to go but she just had nothing left in her. Finally she gave a good push after a minute or so, I let go. She ran 5 or 10 feet and even that mild of a current rolled her belly up and she drifted on down. Only to be caught up on some more rocks and helplessly die. It sucks. She was a beaut. Is there anything I could have done differently? I know some of you don't take kindly to new guys here. I get it. If you are going to rip on me be constructive please.Thanks guys. Cheers

 

[Float_down]

Yah I would say you did the right thing man, a lot of people will tell you just to leave nature as is, don't intervene at all but I probably would have done the same, she doesn't look spawned out, usually they are in a lot rougher shape. If she was pooched she was pooched and there's not much you could have done next to giving her a shot of epinephrine, or mouth to... Gil. Haha. Cheers for being a good sportsman mate, some people would have picked her up just for the roe, so good on yah.

 

[Dozer]

Mouth to gill :lol: At least you tried to do something, good on ya. And welome aboard, we loooooove pictures.

 

[Graham Bristow]

Nice try, i've done the same thing, i've even proped fish up between rocks in the current to help them stay up-right while they recover.

 

[rocheleauc]

I've done it as well, but hey, at least you tried right? :mrgreen:

 

[NADO]

It still looks pretty silver, I bet it was recently caught and couldn't recover. Maybe a stringer escapee?

 

[float^drifter]

its the guys grabbing fish by the gills then taking millions of photos and fish ends up flowing upside down :angry: please don't grab fish by gills if u plan to C&R thank you!

 

[RiverNinja]

its the guys grabbing fish by the gills then taking millions of photos and fish ends up flowing upside down :angry: please don't grab fish by gills if u plan to C&R thank you!

+1.. Experienced this over the weekend.. Some dumb clowns hero shots,ended with the fish floating belly up 10 ft in front of me.. :evil:

 

[NOTTA STEELER]

Now , by no means is everyone right or wrong . That hen is most definately spawned out and sometimes they don't have the energy to make it back to the lake , sometimes the journey is too much for them to endure . Sometimes in rivers that are low and have warmed up have a very low disolved oxygen content in the water and the fish can't get enough in the gills and die . The average life span of a steelhead is said to be about 5 - 6 years , maybe her time was up ? I've fished the Credit for example in the fall in the past and after an unseasonable week of mid summer temps , the fish , salmon , steelhead and browns , were literally floundering around in the shallows gasping for air. No matter how many times we placed the fish in the current or a pocket , they would flounder up on the rocks in the shallows.
In the Notty we have found a different type of steelhead killer lately , have already found 2 dead fish this week . The culprit ... Musky and Pike . Severe laserations to the body and eventual blood loss and how many don't get away and become dinner . I'll be posting later with an awesome turn of events yesterday .
As a wrap up , fish do die of natural causes and fisherpeople can be the reason for their shortening their lives as well . In the case of this exhausted hen, we'll never know , it will remain a mystery .

 

[openfire]

Judging by that photo, to me it appears that either a) the hen was recently caught, had her loose roe squeezed from her, released and couldn't recover... Or more likely that as Notta Steeler suggests, b ) the hen is spawned out and succumbed to a number of various factors.

Either way, you did what you could do, and I applaud you for your efforts.

Welcome to OFF!

 

[NADO]

That hen is most definately spawned out and sometimes they don't have the energy to make it back to the lake , sometimes the journey is too much for them to endure .

You sure its a hen? I see the bottom jaw curl up a bit there, it may just be the angle of the pic that makes it look like a female.

 

[frozenfire]

The hen appears spawned out to me.
You can tell she was digging up redds by the worn out bottom half of her tail.
You did what you could, let nature take it's course.

 

[Rain-Bow]

Yea it's definitely a drop back. It's not uncommon for migratories to die from exhaustion. Could be that it was just its time to go. I'm sure it lived a good life...