Catch and Release Techniques
- If you know this is a large fish or if it is a fighter and could be a bull trout-plan ahead. Have pliers, cameras, etc. ready to release the fish quickly.
- Do not fight fish to exhaustion
- Bring fish up more slowly the last 30 feet to let them “burp”. Watch for the bubbles at the surface of the water.
- Protect the fish’s slime coating and fins. Use soft nylon or rubber mesh nets. Do not let the fish bounce on carpeting, etc. Wet your hands. Avoid squeezing the gills or soft organs behind the gills. Do not put your fingers in the gills.
- If you take a picture, hold the fish horizontally with both hands to support internal organs. Don’t put your hands in the gills.
- Hold exhausted fish in the water by wrapping your fingers around the base of the tail and holding it until they start to struggle. Gently move them forwards and backwards to help them get water moving through the gills so they can breathe.
- If a fish is bleeding and is legal, keep it. If it is bleeding and is not legal, turn it loose, many of them will survive. On deeply hooked fish, clip the leader and leave the hook in the fish. Hooks will eventually dissolve.
“Bloated” Fish Release Techniques-in order of preference
- Leave the fish in the water. Grab the shank of the hook with pliers, reverse the angle and pop the hook out. Let the fish dive on its own back into the depths.
- Hold the fish with both hands and vigorously plunge it headfirst into the water.
- Hold the fish horizontally and gently squeeze from the vent forward. Only go halfway up the belly and do not force if the fish can’t “burp”.
- Use a 50 foot length of heavy cord or line. And old reel on a sawed-off reel handle will help control and retrieve the line. Tie a large snap swivel on the end to change weights; a large fish may take 2-3 pounds of weight to sink. Tie on several sized hooks inline just above the weights; the rounded bend of an octopus hook fits a fish jaw well. Tie knots at the eye and bend of the hook with the hook pointing down. Blunt the point and pinch the barb down.
To use fit a hook over the lower jaw of the fish and release, letting the weight of the fish freefall to the end of the cord. The change in water pressure will recompress the fish. Let the fish shake free on it own or give a tug to pop the hook free.
IT IS NOT recommended to “fizz” a fish by puncturing the air bladder. There is too much of a danger of puncturing internal organs and causing infection. The hook method is quick, effective, and safest for fish. If you must “fizz” come in from the side rather than the belly where the gut is.