Show off your fish

Not trying to be a dick, but it's extremely hard on a fish when you take it out of the water and put it on the ground. C&R survival rates are proven to be much higher when you keep the fish in the water. And I mean water deep enough so the fish is not kicking up sand and mud into its gills. Obviously I don't know the circumstances of where you were fishing or what gear you had available, but just keep that in mind.

 

Well it's grass down to water like in the background, it laid there long enough for me to get fon off my belt not flopping, held it up to take pics then held it while removing hook and put it back in the water. Not wearing waders so no, wasn't walking or fishing in the water.


So....what is the official proper way to release an undersize salt water fish drug up from 150 ft or so while offshore fishing and it pops their air bag out their mouth? Just not fish? I ask the boat guy why we can't just cook those before returning to US waters instead of throwing them back to die.

 

Well I don't know the laws down there, but up here I think you legally have to keep a non-pelagic rockfish caught in water deeper than 60 feet. However, I have heard of people using a surgical needle to deflate the swim bladder. I don't see how that would be good for the fish, but our Fish and Game actually recommend that. I've also heard of people tying a metal crate to the end of their line and attach weights to the crate. Then they put the fish in the water and drop the crate upside down over the fish. Then they drop the crate slowly down to the bottom and the water pressure will deflate the bladder.

To be honest though, if we catch one and the bladder was inflated, we keep it and use it as bait for our shrimp pots or for halibut. The limit is 10 per day per person up here so...yeah. Plenty of bait haha.

 

There's nothin wrong with takin a few pics of a fish on the ground. Is it great for it? No. It is gonna kill it to be out of the water on the ground for a minute? Highly, highly doubtful.

I see guide services that tell their clients not to take their trout out of the water at all, just enough to get the fly out of its mouth. I take every fish out of the water. None die unless I MAKE them...meaning they go on the stringer, or unless they hit te lure so hard they take it to the gills.

The best rule of thumb is, start holding your breath when you take the fish out of the water. When you need to breathe again, it's time to put the fish back.

Edit: I'm talking about trout. I know nothing about saltwater

 

will definitely be going back next year!

 

The reason guides recommend to not take fish out of the water is that it teaches people good technique. A lot of people that use guides up here are new to fishing. And if they see their guide pull a fish out of the water and flop it on the bank, they are just as likely to do the same thing while fishing on their own. It is actually illegal to take stealhead out of the water in Alaska. That is mostly because they have been decimated in most streams they were native to. If it wasn't bad to take fish out of the water, they would not have made it illegal to do so.

I only use barbless hooks when fishing for trout and salmon. I don't crimp the barb, I buy hooks that are barbless from the factory. This allows me to keep the fish in the water while releasing it, all of which takes a few seconds. A lot of people complain about losing fish to lack of barbs. My argument to that is that barbs were never designed to keep the fish on. They were designed to keep bait on. Tight lines keeps fish on the hook, not barbs

ANYWAY, sorry for the rant. Continue on posting awesome fish pictures. I have not gotten out at all recently due to extreme flooding of pretty much the entire state of Alaska.

 

Eh, whatever. You do your thing and I'll keep doin mine. I catch a LOT of fish, and have a very high success rate unless they take it to their gills. I don't see a problem with it for a short period of time.

 

No man I didn't want you to take that as me bashing how you fish. I'm just saying biologists have done a lot of studies and have concluded its less hard on the fish if you keep it in the water. Then again, I have no idea how they determine that, lol. I'm just glad to see people fishing.

 

Bull trout caught onthe Wigwam River, Feernie BC in Sept.



A nice fat Westslope Cutthroat on the Wigwam!

 

pic no worky

 

Wicked fish in this thread!

Here are a few of mine.
I like this one from a few seasons back, Atlantic Salmon, released to fight another day!



Here are a few from the 2012 season

 

beautiful man!

 

I caught this tarpon by hand, my chic at the time was so freaked out when I filled it an pulled it out she never got the pic

 

caught this bad boy!

 

looks like I'm not the only one, but you can make up for it in automotive department chris

 

I haven't been on the TW for some time. I have been doing my share of fishing though. Here's a 46lb White seabass.

 

Heres a carp i got this summer.



Along with the biggest bass ive ever got at camp on Cayuga lake in NY. Almost 22" both caught on bass pro carbon lite with abu garcia revo s.

 

Nice looking fish, I wish I had a pic of my huge carp. It weighed almost 40 lb I was holding it at my waste and its tail was on the ground. I caught it on a bluegill that I split down the middle for the fun of it. I was surprised when I saw the bobber go down on that and it didnt come up til it hit shore. Caught it on 20 lb test on a cat fish rod with a 6inch stick bobber.

 

Went today since the first week or so in October. Caught 6 small trout. Biggest was a 16" brown that I somehow hooked on the dorsal fin. It felt like a monster with how it was fighting.

Probably wont get back in the water for another few weeks since it's deer season.