Make your releases work

A little extra attention will save a few more fish

Hopefully everyone realizes there is more to properly releasing fish than simply taking them off the hook and throwing them back. However, there are times all you can do is watch and wonder.

Fishermen who only release fish because it is required rarely take the time to learn how to best handle them, and there are times they do more harm than good while removing the hook. At the other extreme are the fishermen who harm fish by trying to be too careful and easy. There is a right way and a wrong way to remove hooks and release fish.

I wouldn’t begin to think I know the best way to handle and release all fish. However, I am fortunate to spend a lot of time with fishermen and biologists and am exposed to a variety of ways. During the course of a year, I get to fish with a lot of different fishermen, and all are willing to release undersized, oversize and restricted fish according to the regulations. A surprising number of them have adopted personal standards that are stricter than state and federal regulations.

Fishermen who release a lot of fish develop some basic methods and some that are species specific. The primary objective is to do what is best for the fish being released and help insure its continued survival and well-being.

Handling fish is one of the biggest concerns. Small fish are a big concern as they may be held too tightly and injured or possibly killed. Large fish must be handled carefully, too. As rough and tough as they look — and regardless of how hard they fought — big fish must be handled properly or they can be critically or fatally injured.

Ideally, the best way to handle a fish you plan to release is to leave it in the water and remove the hook, then lower the net or loosen your grip and let it go. Unfortunately, this isn’t an option all of the time. The fish might be hooked deeply or in an odd spot, and it may require stabilization and handling just so, and that can’t be done beside the boat or in the landing net. It may also have endured a long fight and need extra rejuvenation before being released. Every fish is different, but there are similar basics.

Another thing to consider is that we all want pictures of our outstanding catches. Some pictures can be taken with the fish in the water, but most photos require holding and lifting the fish for at least a few seconds. When taking photos, the idea is not to harm the fish and to stress it as little as possible, so handle the fish as easily as possible, take the pictures as quickly as possible, swim the fish however long it needs to revive it, don’t release it until it is kicking and ready to go and always support the belly and length of any sizeable fish.

One of the easiest thing to do to help protect fish is to wet your hands before handling them. This may make the fish more slippery and more difficult to hold, but the slime on fish is there to protect them, and handling them with dry hands will remove it.

Some folks like to hold fish with a cloth while removing hooks. If you do this, thoroughly soak the cloth first. Handling fish using a cloth usually makes them more secure in your hand, but it will remove a lot of slime if the cloth is dry, and a little even if the cloth is wet. Soft cottons and microfibers are the best cloths to use.

My instruction from years of fishing with experts has been simply to hold a fish only as firmly as needed to remove the hook and to pay careful attention not to squeeze it and crush the stomach cavity or poke fingers in its gills. Some fish can tolerate fish grips, and some fare better being held by hand. Occasionally, fish actually fare better by leaving the hook in rather than being injured worse and/or seriously stressed by removing it.

Fish were created to be in water and not out of it. There are thin filaments and tendons that hold their internals in place as long as they are surrounded by water, but they aren’t strong enough to do this out of water, especially when hanging by their lip or tail. The potential for damage from shifting internal organs increases as fish get larger.

If you are going to hold a large fish for a picture, for tagging or any reason, its belly must be supported. Capt. George Beckwith of Down East Guide Service said supporting its belly is one of three critical things for handling larger fish. Use your arm and hand to support a large fish’s belly or leave it in the net.

Lee Paramore, a fisheries biologist for the N.C. Division of Marine Fisheries, agrees with Beckwith on the importance of supporting the belly of a large fish. He added that the hero pictures we often see with a large fish being held by the gill covers, with a hand gaff in its lower jaw or dangling from a fish grip are some of the worst things you can do to injure a large fish. Paramore said the muscles and ligaments in the area between the gill plates and the bottom of a fish’s head, not to mention  the gills and gill covers, can be easily damaged by handling a fish this way.

Paramore and Beckwith also recommend careful handling of larger fish to keep from scraping off the fish’s protective slime. This includes lifting them into the boat using a large landing net rather than dragging them across the gunwale or transom. This also helps prevent potentially bruising or otherwise damaging internal organs.

Capt. Chris Hammill of Hammill Outdoor Adventures said it is common when catching large catfish to weigh them. He said catfish may not be as pretty as large red drum, but he handles them the same to insure their survival. He leaves catfish in the net to weigh them and then subtracts the weight of the net to get the actual weight of the fish. He said this is as simple as it gets to support the fish and get its weight. This will work for large red drum, cobia and any fish you net to bring into the boat.

After a long fight, many fish need to be revived before they are ready to swim off, particularly larger fish caught on lighter tackle that are especially tired after a long fight. They are in oxygen debt, and holding them out of the water to remove the hook and weigh, measure, tag and photograph them taxes them even more. Most fish revive better and more quickly in cooler water as the cooler water carries more oxygen.

Something important to remember when releasing fish is that they don’t have reverse. They don’t swim backwards, and swishing them forward and back in the water is only helpful when they are moving forward. This is a special peeve for me, and unfortunately, I see it way too often.

Water running through the fish’s mouth, across its gills and out the gill covers is the key to reviving it. If there is any current, turn the fish into the current and move its tail side to side while supporting it under the belly. With no current, support the fish and pump the tail. If there isn’t any current and the fish is especially tired, you may have to move slowly forward using the trolling motor or with the outboard barely in gear.

Practice good handling and releasing methods. Released fish must be in good physical condition so they can grow larger, spawn and contribute to the repopulation of their species. I hope your fishing is good enough you get a lot of practice releasing fish — especially some large ones.