Handle with Care
It has been my observation that most things beautiful in nature are also delicate. So it is with trout. It is important, therefore, that they be handled with care. This brief piece is about the proper release of hooked fish. Frankly, one of the great things about angling is that you can release fish to be caught again! Think of it--you can relive your experience with the same fish (and I’ve done just that--caught the same fish in successive years)! That is pretty neat!
Before talking about releasing fish, I’d like to make my views known on the barbless hook issue. I don’t think using barbless hooks reduces the mortality of trout. If it is easier to release trout caught on barbless hooks rather than barbed hooks, barbless hooks penetrate more deeply and can (and often does) cause greater damage than barbed hooks. In short, the tradeoffs seem, at least to this observer, to nullify one another. The important thing is where the trout is hooked. If it is hooked in the mouth, barbless hooks are no better than barbed hooks (worse in fact because they penetrate deeper), and, if the fish is hooked any farther back, it is better to just cut off the fly rather than trying to remove it anyway--so it really doesn’t matter. Nature will dissolve barbed or barbless hooks either way. In short, I think the controversy that has exercised “experts” for years (not to mention led to numerous frivilous arrests because someone inadvertently forgot to pinch down the barb) is basically “much ado about nothing!” (That statement ought to be sufficient to stimulate controversy in “The Angler’s Roundtable” for some time to come)!
Now to the proper release of fish caught. The basics are simple actually. Don’t overplay fish to the point of exhaustion. Always wet your hands before touching a trout (this is especially important with brook trout, because they do not have protective scales). Try to remove the hook without lifting the fish from the water. It is surprising how often this can be accomplished.
When you have to touch the fish, be sure to keep your hands away from the gills! That is terribly important. It is often recommended that the fish be turned upside down to disorient it! I don’t do this--because, again, the goal is to handle the trout as little as possible. The final step after removing the hook with your forceps is to get the fish to calm water, and let it fully revive and swim off strongly. Take time to make sure the fish is completely revived, and can swim off on its own. Face it, you’ve fished a long time to land your prize--savor your brief time with something of such exquisite beauty!
And that brings me to my final point. I don’t use a catch and release net, although I definitely do think they are a good idea. I like to touch the fish--to know each one I am privileged to catch in an intimate way; to remember the feel of them in my hand. That is one of the things that makes trout angling so very special for me. And then to experience the joy of having that fish swim out of my hands to perhaps be caught and released another day. My old friend,Walt Canfield, was right all along:“oh, golly, that’s swell!”