Maggie's Farm

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Tuesday, March 22. 2016

Catch and Release


With trout season on the way, a useful chart. ("Exercised" means you played the fish a bit before netting):


Event,  Seconds out of Water, and  Survival Rate

Fish caught, exercised but not taken out of water     0  secs.               88%      
Fish caught, exercised and taken out of the water     30                      62%      
Fish caught, exercised and taken out of the water     60                      28%      
Fish caught, exercised, placed in boat, handled and flops around
                                                                           60+                       0%      




Posted by Bird Dog in Hunting, Fishing, Dogs, Guns, etc. at 14:46 | Comments (16) | Trackbacks (0)

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Good reminder. And, if anything your chart is overly generous, survival being even less in warmer water, and with lighter tackle and larger fish (both lead to "playing" the fish much longer). I recently read a study that suggested for a larger fish, no more than 10 seconds out of water. In reality, there is absolutely no reason to take the fish out of water at all; just cradle it with your hand while removing the hook, and then snap your trophy pict with the fish held just at the surface. After many years of fishing and fish caught, I can honestly say watching a healthy fish swim away is as rewarding as catching it.
#1 Jeff S on 2016-03-22 15:25 (Reply)
barbed or barbless hooks?
#2 Donny "The Bear Jew" Donowitz on 2016-03-22 15:25 (Reply)
Catch and eat. Quit when you have enough for that. Catch and release amounts to tormenting a dumb animal. [Hunkers down and covers head with arms.]
#3 BillhH on 2016-03-22 17:02 (Reply)
I bet you eat a lot of carp.
#3.1 Donny "The Bear Jew" Donowitz on 2016-03-22 18:32 (Reply)
With a pressure cooker and the right recipe carp are good eating, similar to canned salmon.
#3.1.1 Jack Walter on 2016-03-22 22:39 (Reply)
That makes sense, I guess.

So many streams are stocked anyway, it's not as if fishing a stocked stream or lake has any ecological significance anyway. If you do not eat them, the otter, mink, or Osprey will.
#3.2 Bird Dog on 2016-03-22 19:40 (Reply)
Trout are delicate little things. I prefer my warmer, red dirt rivers and lakes with large and small mouth bass. They can handle catch/release much better. Plus, I've never reached the limit for crappie (37 per day) and sand bass have no limit. It's not uncommon to see 50+ carcasses floating in the water.

We have a few rivers that are stocked with trout. It stays cold enough for them to survive, but they won't reproduce. It's totally stocked. Six per day per fisherman, no culling and no restrictions on lures or bait. It's not really fishing. Like hunting deer at a corn feeder, I call it ranching. About a mile down river they are gobbled up by the stripers. People catch trout to use for bait fish on the stripers.
#3.3 Jack Walter on 2016-03-22 22:57 (Reply)
The Founding Fish by John McPhee.

Read and Savor!
#4 Aggie on 2016-03-22 18:38 (Reply)
I keep and eat per catch & possession regulations. Streams I fish hold 1000's of fish per mile when shocked. A half dozen or so twice a month has little impact & others kindly return the results of their labor.
#5 Louie Miller on 2016-03-22 19:19 (Reply)
"Streams I fish hold 1000's of fish per mile when shocked"

Well, I suppose that's one way to fish, the old field telephone is a bit quieter than dynamite, easier to safely store too.
#5.1 Aggie on 2016-03-23 12:20 (Reply)
Fish & Game shocks streams to take a census, i.e., show us where they are. Still using M-80's to actually get them to the net. Much quieter than full sticks.
#5.1.1 Louie on 2016-03-23 17:12 (Reply)
Stocked fish should be caught and kept and eaten. That's what they are created for. A huge number of near clones, bred and selected to grow efficiently in the hatchery. A completely different creature from a wild fish - whether native or "invasive", which describes most of the wild trout in this country. While I know that keeping and eating a few wild fish does not affect the big picture, they are such beautiful and completely wild creatures, I have to let them go.
#6 Jeff S on 2016-03-22 20:29 (Reply)
Back in the day, there was a Girl Guide (read Girl Scout for the USA) badge for fishing. Our nephew tested his sister for the badge: she had to catch, kill, clean and EAT the fish before he would pass her.
#7 Frances on 2016-03-23 02:05 (Reply)
Fly fishing...just another excuse to get outside...along with bird hunting, bird dog training, deer hunting, elk hunting, rabbit hunting, target shooting--the list goes on. Need an accommodating spouse.
#8 rocdoctom on 2016-03-23 08:43 (Reply)
wednesday night trap league, and tailgating, followed by scotch.
#8.1 Donny "The Bear Jew" Donowitz on 2016-03-23 11:13 (Reply)
Add this to the list...martinis, bourbon, and cigars.
#9 rocdoctom on 2016-03-23 13:24 (Reply)

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