Handling and releasing fish

[neckdeep]

I've never seen a trout with fungus up here and there's no shortage of fish handling going on. Perhaps the water is too cold. I have seen fish surviving with large wounds from eagles and pelicans so maybe the fish are a little tougher than we think as far as trauma goes. Seems to me that exhausting them does more damage than the occasional rough handling cuz a mishandled fish keeps struggling and jets away while a cooked fish just rolls overs and sinks. Join the 3x club. I used 3x for almost every fish I caught this year and I was using 2x when the water was muddy (ok, I admit, I've used 4x a few times lately now that I'm fishing dries in low clear water). I carry 5x for the heavily pressured sections on the Henry's. I never use 6x. I don't fight'em, I winch'em in. I get most 18" fish into my hand in less than a minute and most larger fish in under two. I think I broke off a nice fish 3 or 4 times this season.

[skifishbum]

I'm with nd i don't get the 6x thing 4x flouro is the least I'll fish.I reef on em I figure if the they were lightly hooked and it doesn't hold it's all part of the game. Personally I think overplaying em harshes their mellow a hell of a lot more than being handled w/ wet hands
or being out of the water for 30 seconds. Does the larger tippet cost me potential eats?
IDK but imo it aint anything good casts and presentations can't overcome.
I've had a few nice fish head toss the barbless this summer but there is no denying that
releases are faster and way less damage.
and I'm with lexi rollcast them dinks off and get your fly back out there.
Definately see a lot more mangled mouths on the provo then green

[gretch6364]

Thanks for the video AKami....I am fully convinced now to take my rods to NZ with me next month.

As for the whole tippet thing...yeah, I don't know...I see everyone's points, but it is pretty freaking hard to catch a nice trout on the South Platte with 4x...maybe I am doing it wrong though. The water is still in the high 40's in some places, in the mid 50s almost everywhere since it is almost all bottom release tail waters from deep resevoirs.

Anyhow...go with as strong of a tippet as you can get away with for sure.

[yellowstoner]

For the record - if I'm the reason that all of this started I can explain myself. In Yellowstone Lake, lake trout are invasive and thus MUST be killed. The other pictures (the one of the bright, spawning cutt especially, with my hand grabbing his mouth) were a quick attempt for me to get those fish back in the water. Sometimes when you want to get a fish back in the water ASAP you grab at them any way you possibly can and snap a quick photo and get them back in the water. Of the probably 500 cutthroat I caught this year, not a single one of them died on the side of the boat. One almost did - I brought him up while downrigging for Lakers down at 70 feet - he was as bloated as they come, but I used up 15 minutes of a 2 hour fishing trip reviving that fish, and it finally swam away.

I've always thought that the ground was a pretty alright place to set fish while you're trying to get a hook out - I guess I could be wrong about this. However, if this is not the case, I imagine the bottom of the boat is far worse than a sandy beach, and I see fish in the bottom of boats constantly. While I'm out with clients, I don't allow them to take photos w/the cutthroat unless they can take it with the fish in the net. I think the biggest problem with any of this is when people are dropping fish on their head repeatedly. Thankfully we can't release any lake trout, because those things are so damn slimy they get dropped 3 or 4 times per photo op.

I think the biggest thing is to know when you need to be reviving a fish. If it's going belly up (even if it's not floating) it needs to be revived. Those big fish that immediately go belly up or sideways as they're trying to swim away will very rarely live.

[NMmatt]

It's hard to call out people based on a photo when you don't know all the facts - I feel the same way, but I learned to hold my tongue unless I witness it. Water temp is a huge factor. However, the SJ is cold as shit even in the blazing heat of summer (42 - 43 the first mile or so) and there are fungus fish up there. It might be contamination localized to that river? I really think it's the handling - those guys don't get a break, and may just get beat down to where their immune systems can't keep up.

I winch in redfish but usually not trout - side pressure and strateegery can usually put them in the net in a couple of minutes. However from time to time there is the martial artist rainbow that gets in the fast current and stays there regardless of what I do. I agree with the statement learn to fight the fish. Work it!

Fishing in Wyoming has been a different story in my experience - you have some 18" bruisers that fight like 5" bigger. I also am constantly amazed at how much more often you can hook fish in really fast water up there. In CO / NM there is certainly fish in the riffles but they aren't as often in the big currents. Or else there is a carnivorous brown under there that only comes at night - sometimes I wonder...

[yellowstoner]

In my experience big browns like pocket water, so unless there's some giant rock below that fast riffle probably not. I think this is one of the reasons why you'll catch 10 whitefish in one hole before finally pulling out a brown. The rainbows, on the other hand, seem to loooove the riffles.

[Unfrozen Caveman Lawyer]

This is a great thread for a newb like me. I just picked up a net - didn't go rubber as I really didn't know. Can someone explain why rubber nets are better for a fish? I assume it has to do with the slime on the fish, but not really sure.

I basically fish the Truckee and never catch anything anyways..... But my casts in tight spaces and hard water are vastly improving.

[tone capone]

Yeah rubber nets are easier on the fish, plus sometimes hooks can get wraped up in the mesh ones which is a pain as well.

I haven't been taking a net to fish the high country lakes, as it is just one more piece of clutter or something else to forget somewhere. I am rethinking now after reading this thread, and examining my own practices for what I could do better to be as fair as possible with the critters.

[gretch6364]

Sorry Yellowstoner...I guess I should not of called you out...I just saw that picture that you are mentioning of the spawning cut and after all the back and forth in the padded room thread about us fisherman killing more fish then we think, etc.

[Pow4Brains]

I see everyone's points, but it is pretty freaking hard to catch a nice trout on the South Platte with 4x...maybe I am doing it wrong though. The water is still in the high 40's in some places, in the mid 50s almost everywhere since it is almost all bottom release tail waters from deep resevoirs.

Anyhow...go with as strong of a tippet as you can get away with for sure.

Agreed. Up in Montucky and Windoming you can get away with much heavier tippit. Try 4X on the Taylor or Platte and it's fun to watch them move out of the way. Yeah, CO sux.

Big as you can depending on fishery and hook size.

[neckdeep]

In my experience big browns like pocket water, so unless there's some giant rock below that fast riffle probably not. I think this is one of the reasons why you'll catch 10 whitefish in one hole before finally pulling out a brown. The rainbows, on the other hand, seem to loooove the riffles.

Yeah, I think they get that from their steelhead origins. Rainbows and steelies seem to know that predators cannot see them when they sit under surface chop. They love fast water with bubble trains and surface chop and, except for stonefly season, a dry fly guy will never know they are there. Cutthroat, by comparison, are a lazy, flabby fish. You can feel the difference in muscle power when you hold the fish. There's a five mile section of the Teton Canyon that drops about 400ft through continuous class 3-5 whitewater and you'll probably catch over 100 bows before you see a single cutt in that section. They simply don't like it in there despite abundant food. I do not understand this as cutts are capable of ascending steep spawning tribs during full runoff....why are they such wimps?

I think you get the 10 whities before the brown because the big brown usually won't move off its spot during daylight but the whities are not very light averse and will move up and down the water column to intercept nymphs. The big brown simply sez "go ahead and eat that nymph, whitey, cuz I'm going to get it back when I swallow your ass whole tonight.

[yellowstoner]

Haha, that probably is exactly the case - and what I was trying to point out. The browns and whitefish like the same water, whereas you won't find many whitefish in the fast riffle-y sections. By the way, all of this is based on the greater yellowstone area, and might change vastly in places like southern utah/pnw/colorado/etc...

[sierraskier]

I talk to the fish with a soothing and understanding tone, it seems to calm them down.

I'm open to any questions they may have and reassure them that they will see their friends and families again, and in fact, very soon.
(that is if they haven't gone off to school overseas)

A gentle cradling with a smooth continuous rocking, while softly "coo-ing", also seems to bring them down when they're hot.
-I will also kiss a boo boo if they have one

-Looking at them directly in the eyes, however, can enrage them as they read it as a challenge.

I've heard told that blowing pot smoke directly into their gills will really calm them down as well.

[neckdeep]

but it is pretty freaking hard to catch a nice trout on the South Platte with 4x...maybe I am doing it wrong though. .

Are you doing it down and across? If the fish are really leader shy and the water is flat and clear, about the only way I have consistent success is to position myself well above the fish and send the fly down with a lot of stacked mend. Now, I know that is not "sporting" according to English chalk stream rules but I'm no English gentleman. And I do drop down to 5x for those sort of conditions UNLESS there are weedbeds and then I go back up to something that can pull a fish clear of weeds. I've seen a few dead fish hung up in weedbeds by anglers who broke off a two fly rig with light tippet. You can use a corky indicator in place of the big fly to avoid this.