02-14-2003, 01:11 PM
[cool] I also have caught fish with line coming out of their mouths. I have also found "floaters" with evidence of "snip releases". One thing is certain, the fish will have a better chance of survival back in the water than in your cooler.
My personal belief is that the hook itself is only a part of the survival potential for a released fish. Stress is often a much greater factor. Fish that have been played out before being released...with or without hooks left in their guts...have a lower survival rate than those brought in quickly and then released without being removed from the water and handled.
I cringe when I watch the so-called "pros" on the TV shows. They beat a fish to a standstill, lift it from the water and hold it in unnatural positions, handle the slime-protected body, often dropping the fish onto the dry abrasive bottom of the boat, keep it out of the water long enough for the flared gills to begin drying out, etc. All the while they go on and on about their great catch and release ethic, before finally dropping the fish unceremoniously back in the water. I suspect that if a post-show film were to be made, there would be a few casualties on top of the water behind the "sportsmen's" boats.
Back on the subject of hooks "dissolving" in fish. I don't believe that happens soon enough to not be a problem. A couple of fish I have taken that had line hanging out of their mouths, had a significant growth of algae growing on the trailing line. That doesn't happen overnight. And, some fish I have cleaned had hooks in their innards that had obviously been there a L-o-o-o-o-ng time.
Still, I would rather give them a fighting chance, as long as they appear to be active and uninjured. But, whenever I detect any bleeding, I humanely dispatch the fish and put it on ice. Fish do not have much blood to spare, and almost any blood loss is likely to prove fatal. Fortunately, the bleeding usually occurs from hooking in or around the gills, rather than in the stomach.
That's my observation.
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My personal belief is that the hook itself is only a part of the survival potential for a released fish. Stress is often a much greater factor. Fish that have been played out before being released...with or without hooks left in their guts...have a lower survival rate than those brought in quickly and then released without being removed from the water and handled.
I cringe when I watch the so-called "pros" on the TV shows. They beat a fish to a standstill, lift it from the water and hold it in unnatural positions, handle the slime-protected body, often dropping the fish onto the dry abrasive bottom of the boat, keep it out of the water long enough for the flared gills to begin drying out, etc. All the while they go on and on about their great catch and release ethic, before finally dropping the fish unceremoniously back in the water. I suspect that if a post-show film were to be made, there would be a few casualties on top of the water behind the "sportsmen's" boats.
Back on the subject of hooks "dissolving" in fish. I don't believe that happens soon enough to not be a problem. A couple of fish I have taken that had line hanging out of their mouths, had a significant growth of algae growing on the trailing line. That doesn't happen overnight. And, some fish I have cleaned had hooks in their innards that had obviously been there a L-o-o-o-o-ng time.
Still, I would rather give them a fighting chance, as long as they appear to be active and uninjured. But, whenever I detect any bleeding, I humanely dispatch the fish and put it on ice. Fish do not have much blood to spare, and almost any blood loss is likely to prove fatal. Fortunately, the bleeding usually occurs from hooking in or around the gills, rather than in the stomach.
That's my observation.
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