Releasing Fish

[skippersdream]

Hey everybody, i have a slight issue with releasing fish. Our boat sits a good distance up out of the water. We have no issue netting or un-hooking but when it comes to getting the fish in the water and swimming is a task. We have tried holding the net in the water, but the fish got tangled. Now we take the fish and hold him like a torpedo and shoot him down the back of the boat. But thats a 50/50 shot, then we have to go back and get them. We dont like to keep the fish, im not a fan of the mess or eating them. If you have any suggestions they would be nice. And one more thing, we cant reach over the side and just un-hook them its to far down and i dont really feel like swimming!

Thanks,

Mike

[rshubuck]

This time of year it really is a hard thing to do and your just going to have to face the fact that some fish your just going to have to keep. The problem being this time of year your pulling fish from 42 to 55 degree water into temps as high as 85 degrees. The shock from the warmer temps alone usually kills the fish. The longer they are in the warmer water the less chances they have to survive. Some people say slowly bring them in and others say reel them in fast. I find the less time I am fighting the fish the more energy the fish have and the better their chances of swimming down. By the sounds of it you are already doing the best you can to release them. I like dropping them in the water like a torpedo also but as you said its a 50/50 shot. Its just a matter whether the fish has enough energy to swim back down. Good luck!

[CaptSpike]

I read about a trick I haven't yet tried and I'm not sure Where I read it. What they do is run a barbless hook in the fish and send him down the rigger to cooler water. At that point when the fish gets back to normal he shakes free of the barbless hook.

Makes sense to get them back down to the cooler water.Takes a little extra effort but the results should be better.

Spike

[jdm130]

Makes sense to get them back down to the cooler water.Takes a little extra effort but the results should be better.

We do a similar thing with the night time Rainbows that we catch in the summer here in NJ.. We do alot of night time drifting for suspended Rainbows. Most times we unhook them with out removing them from the water but even then reviving them can be tough with 80 degree surface temps. So I would thread a piece of 2# test mono through the gill plate and tie the line to the cannon ball and slowly lower them back down to 40' where they were suspended. Then we would just drift with them online. I doubt very much that the 2# line hurts them and it brakes very easily once the fish gains even a little strength. Only one time I pulled a fish back up that didnt make it. I think that if you can get them back in the cool water quickly they have a much better chance of surviving.

Like Spike said, it can be a PITA but if Im going to release them I want to give them the best chance of survival.