Quote:
Originally Posted by Iowa_Flames_Fan
I can see both sides of that, and part of me supports lower limits in those situations. I know I don't need to be taking home 5 fish in a day, ever--and my worry with catch and release is that the fish may be injured more often than we think. I don't know anything about bull trout (or freshwater fishing in general to be honest) but I do know that the mortality rate for many ocean fish on catch and release situations is way higher than you'd think. That's especially true for bottom fish due to the "fish bends" but it is also true for many salmonids that just aren't as hardy as we think they are.
I haven't fished in fresh water since I was a kid in Iceland, but when I fish in the ocean my view is to stay within your limit, catch only what you intend to eat, and then stop when you reach your limit to avoid injuring more fish.
Like I said, I am completely ignorant when it comes to freshwater trout in that regard--I suspect we agree that the management policies should be designed first and foremost to protect sustainable fish populations in the water.
The other (more hypocritical, I suppose) side of that is that when I go fishing I usually want to eat what I catch.  |
I don't ever salt water fish but I can speak a bit to the fresh water side of things. We do C&R all the time even when we can keep fish. We have been to numerous stocked ponds/lakes in Alberta and seen people keeping 8" trout and smaller just because they can, I don't agree with this much at all.
Just based on my own experience, I would guess that the bigger fish are less affected, especially when using small sized flies/hooks. If you have tight lines and set the hook right away, most of the time the fish is hooked in the mouth, on the lips. Much less likely to have an impact on the fish after release then say fishing with a minnow on a snell hook from the dock when the chances of swallowing the hook completely are increased significantly.
People do need to read about the best possible way to catch and release fish properly. Here is a place to start.
http://mywildalberta.com/Fishing/Saf...hHandling.aspx
A couple key things:
- Keep the fish in the water as long/much as possible while handling/removing the hook.
- Use barbless hooks, we do most of the time, especially fly fishing because I know I'll be releasing the fish.
- Don't pick up the fish by the gills, this is so bad for the fish and drives me nuts when I see people doing this when it is C&R only.
- If you can't get the hook out because it is far down the fishes throat or the barb is stuck, just cut the line, the hook will eventually just fall out, many people don't know this or think it is true. Again, I have learned from experience, I will always cut the line if I can't get the hook out within about 30 seconds.
Who knows what the actual mortality rate is for C&R but I have fished many lakes where it is C&R only and we don't see a bunch of dead fish floating or at the bottom of the lake, so I know it works. Yes you will have issues sometimes and kill the fish because of mishandling the fish, been there and done that but I have learned from my mistakes.
How many on here have caught fish that still have someone else's hook in its lip or mouth? I have. How many of us have caught larger fish with scars from being hooked at one time or another and they have survived, I bet a lot of us. C&R works and protects our fisheries, if this practices stops working then they should just ban fishing in susceptible fisheries to save them.
Sorry for the rant.