Please release me, let me go

It’s important for an angler to shorten the fighting time with a fish he knows he’s going to release.

I’m all about releasing undersize, oversize or fish not intended for the dinner table. However, as with most things worth doing, there is a right way and a wrong way. I hope this column will give you some insight and desire into doing it the right way.

One of my pet peeves is fishermen who brag about how many fish they release and then sheepishly admit they really don’t know the best way to handle them properly to insure their survival.

Proper catch-and-release fishing involves more than just ripping the hooks out of a fish to return it to the water before it dies.

Don’t get me wrong. I applaud anyone’s willingness to release unwanted fish; I just also want to be sure the released fish have a good chance of surviving. It’s more wasteful to release a legal fish in too poor a condition to survive than to take it home and eat it.

Releasing a fish with concern for its continued survival is more than just removing the hook and throwing it back in the water. That could be called “throwing them back” and would amount to little more than the practice of culling unwanted fish.

The proper release of a fish includes doing everything possible to insure its continued survival and well-being.

The first part of releasing fish is to make the decision that is what you plan to do. Once you have made this commitment, you can alter your terminal gear, tackle, baits and other aspects to help the fish’s opportunity to survive.

Several of the more commonly released fish are speckled trout, gray trout, red drum and flounder. Of these, the trout and flounder are mostly released because they are too small. At the risk of starting an argument, more drum fishermen appear inclined to release drum that are legal to keep, but they have decided not to. Because they have a slot size (minimum 18 inches to maximum 27 inches) large and small drum will require being released.

Whenever they will fit the technique, circle hooks are a great starting point for releasing fish. They have a very high hooking rate and a very low probability of hooking deep. The great majority of fish are hooked around either the upper or lower jaw, near the corner of their mouth and the hook easily rotates out.

Unfortunately circle hooks will not always lend themselves to the task at hand. It may be the fit or the application, but there are a few situations where they just aren’t the correct answer.

Lures that use treble hooks are one place where circle hooks don’t always do the job well. On jigs, such as Stingsilvers, Hopkins, diamond jigs, jig fish, surf darts and such, circle hooks do a reasonable, but not always great job.

These types of lures often work best, for catch and release, by simply substituting a J-hook for the treble hook. With these lures, the fish hits and shakes its head rather than running past or turning to run. A circle hook works best when the fish hits and runs.

Lures such as MirrOLures, Rebels, Rapalas, Bombers, Rat-L-Traps, Frenzys and such sometimes work well with the treble hooks removed and a J-hook in their place and sometimes do not. Unfortunately experimentation is the only way to find out.

I have a few that work well with J-hooks dangling, some that require the underneath J-hook to be snugged into place with a piece of light rigging wire, some that work with the belly hook(s) removed and only a trailing J-hook, some that work with the belly hook removed and a single trailing treble hook and some that simply refuse to attract and/or catch fish with anything but the original treble hooks.

For years, we have been touting a rig developed by Pamlico County fisherman Owen Lupton for being excellent for catch-and-release fishing of large red drum. This rig uses a circle hook, with a nearby stationary sinker to help prevent large drum from swallowing natural baits. It works well and has been used in smaller sizes for smaller fish.

Rigging techniques have also been developed to allow rigging offshore trolling baits with circle hooks. Tuna, wahoo, dolphin and many billfish have been caught on natural bait trolling rigs featuring circle hooks.

Several years ago the Big Rock Blue Marlin tournament added a secondary category for most releases of billfish caught using circle hooks. Several other tournaments have followed suit and beginning with 2005 events, the North Carolina Governor’s Cup Billfishing Conservation Series added a category for the most-release points using circle hooks.

For 2005 William Blount, of Atlantic Beach and the crew of the Barbara B won this category with 3300 release points, which was enough to finish the series in second place overall and as the top private boat.

The bottom line is anything you can do to make the hook(s) easier to remove and reduce the fish’s time in stress and out of the water will greatly aid its ability to survive. However, hooks aren’t the only thing to be considered when catch-and-release fishing is discussed.

Fish you know in advance you will be releasing can be fought more aggressively to get them in quickly to remove any extended strain and stress. This allows the use of heavier lines, reels, rods and higher drag settings.

When I’m fishing with a preplanned release in mind, it’s far easier to get over pulling a hook or other similar mishap that allows the fish an earlier unintentional release.

Once you battle a fish to the bank, beach, pier or boat, there are numerous things you can do to help ensure its survival upon release. First and foremost is to handle it as little as possible.

Expounding on this concept, it’s a major plus not to remove the fish from the water. This is especially true with larger fish, which are not easily handled. Some states even have regulations that forbid removing any fish to be released from the water.

Dragging a big fish across the gunwale or transom, onto the bank or on a pier can cause serious bruising, internal injuries, rake off its protective slime coating and seriously reduce its probability for survival.

When I’m fun or charter fishing for king mackerel, I don’t keep larger fish. Biologists have told me these are the heart of the breeding stock, and I don’t think they taste as good as 12- to 17-pound fish.

To aid in releasing them without handling them, I use multi-stranded wire instead of the single-strand wire I use during tournaments. The main reason is the multi-strand wire can be easily cut by a pair of fishing scissors.

When a big king, or other species I don’t intend to keep, comes to the boat, I check out the hooks and if they are visible and lightly hooked, I wrap the wire around my (gloved) hand and give a quick yank to pull them free. If the hooks are deep in the fish’s mouth or I otherwise feel they won’t easily pull, I can lean over and quickly cut the leader as close to the fish as possible.

The fish has been released and doesn’t have to be subjected to the stress and strain of being removed from the water and dragged into the boat.

Most fisheries biologists agree a fish is better off to be quickly and easily released, even if the hook is still present, than to be subjected to a minute or more of rough handling to remove a deeply seated hook.

This must be true. Over many years of fishing, I have caught a good handful of fish that were swimming and doing well even though I found a hook from a previous encounter while I cleaned them. From the condition of some of the hooks, they had been imbedded for quite a while.

I have also caught several fish, mostly bluefin tuna, that were continuing to feed while carrying circle hooks, which appeared to be several days old, around their jaws.

Hook material can help a fish’s survival. Hooks made of less corrosion-resistant materials should deteriorate faster. Hooks with a bronze coating are the least corrosion resistant hooks, followed by tin and nickel. Stainless steel is the most corrosion resistant and should be avoided.

The slime coating on fish is there for a reason. Most importantly, it helps resist viruses and infections. Any time a fish is handled, some of this slime coating is removed and its resistance is reduced.

If you must handle a fish, wear wet cotton gloves or use a wet cotton towel. The wet cotton does not scrape off the slime coating as badly as being handled barehanded or with most other glove fabrics.

When handling a fish of any size, use your hand or arm to support its body along its length. It’s especially important to cradle and gently support the stomach area. A fish’s internal organs are supported by thin membranes and tendons that don’t support them well when the fish is removed from the water.

Posing those pictures of large fish held vertically by their gill plates or just a lip gaff can rip many tendons, do massive internal damage and become a death sentence for a fish to be released. If you pose those pictures, take the time to support the fish properly, handle it carefully and return it to the water as quickly and in as good condition as possible to insure its recovery and survival.

After removing or cutting off the hook, a fish might need to be revived a little before releasing it. A smaller tired fish can be rocked back and forth gently in the water to run some water over its gills and get it going again. A hand under its belly and on its tail allows you some control, while allowing the fish to take off when revived.

Larger fish often require more water moving over their gills before they revive. When trolling, sometimes leaving the motor in gear at idle and slowly pulling the fish forward through the water is a good way to revive them.

Billfish are a natural for this as they have a built in handle that makes holding them easy. Just be sure to push the bill away when the fish responds and starts swimming. Once a fish starts responding, it will shake its head or kick a few times and let you know it’s revived and ready to go.

Releasing fish is a great preservation and conservation measure if it’s done properly. Handling a fish badly in the process of unhooking and releasing can cause harm beyond its ability to recover.

Just remember catch and release is more than just getting the hook out and throwing a fish back. With proper handling, a released fish will easily recover to produce future generations and thrill other fishermen-maybe even you again.

We’ll all be better served to take the time and learn to do it right.

About Jerry Dilsaver 1168 Articles
Jerry Dilsaver of Oak Island, N.C., a full-time freelance writer, is a columnist for Carolina Sportsman. He is a former SKA National Champion and USAA Angler of the Year.

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