Anyone else feel bad about foul hooking and accidential rough fish handling?

[Josh]

Anyone else had some less than proud fish handling moments recently? I've noticed that this tends to happen to me early season more than other times. Or maybe it's more the first few weeks when I'm switching from one kind of fishing (i.e. winter rivers) to another kind (lake bass or small creek trout). But for whatever reason, I end up accidentally having a few crappy fish handling sessions. Unlucky hooking, not well thought out handling, etc.

Like a Largemouth I caught this morning. Tough hooking through his upper jaw near his eye that took more force for me to free than I was expecting and I ended up putting more stress on his lower jaw than I should have. Why didn't I just lay him down in the stripping basket/fish measure net thing on my float tube once I realized the bad hooking? I just didn't think of it. Usually a vertical lip hold is the easiest and fastest way to unhook and release smaller bass. He seemed fine and swam away, I just felt bad about it. Or a 10in "monster" small stream Rainbow I caught the other day. Silly as it seems, I bring a net with me when 3wt fishing because it keeps these smaller fish from thrashing around so much and beating themselves up on the rocks. But I lifted him a little higher than I needed to to untangle the leader and he flopped out of my hands smack onto a rock. Again, he swam off and seemed fine. But I would have rather avoided it.

I don't have anything against taking fish for the grill/freezer as long as it's a resource that can support it. But otherwise, I'm a really strong believer in catch and release. I really want those fish to be there for the next person that comes to fish for them. Hell, I want them there for ME the next time I come to the same spot to fish for them. But I think that mindset makes me feel overly guilty when it goes wrong. I know there's always going to be SOME mortality with catch and release, no matter how hard we try. I also know that any fish that dies just ends up in the food web. And hell, a non-native highly successful species like a bass and a hatchery bred stocker trout washed down from a lake, like in the examples above, aren't really fish to stress over.

Still though, I always end up wishing I'd done a bit better.

 

[Dustin Chromers]

Anyone else had some less than proud fish handling moments recently? I've noticed that this tends to happen to me early season more than other times. Or maybe it's more the first few weeks when I'm switching from one kind of fishing (i.e. winter rivers) to another kind (lake bass or small creek trout). But for whatever reason, I end up accidentally having a few crappy fish handling sessions. Unlucky hooking, not well thought out handling, etc.

Like a Largemouth I caught this morning. Tough hooking through his upper jaw near his eye that took more force for me to free than I was expecting and I ended up putting more stress on his lower jaw than I should have. Why didn't I just lay him down in the stripping basket/fish measure net thing on my float tube once I realized the bad hooking? I just didn't think of it. Usually a vertical lip hold is the easiest and fastest way to unhook and release smaller bass. He seemed fine and swam away, I just felt bad about it. Or a 10in "monster" small stream Rainbow I caught the other day. Silly as it seems, I bring a net with me when 3wt fishing because it keeps these smaller fish from thrashing around so much and beating themselves up on the rocks. But I lifted him a little higher than I needed to to untangle the leader and he flopped out of my hands smack onto a rock. Again, he swam off and seemed fine. But I would have rather avoided it.

I don't have anything against taking fish for the grill/freezer as long as it's a resource that can support it. But otherwise, I'm a really strong supporter of catch and release. I really want those fish to be there for the next person that comes to fish for them. Hell, I want them there for ME the next time I come to the same spot to fish for them. But I think that mindset makes me feel overly guilty when it goes wrong. I know there's always going to be SOME mortality with catch and release, no matter how hard we try. And I also know that any fish that dies just ends up in the food web. And hell, a non-native highly successful species like a bass and a stocker trout washed down from a lake, like in the examples above, aren't really fish to stress over.

Still though, I always end up wishing I'd done a bit better.



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If I foul hook a fish I feel horrible for my gear, my self, and the fish. I believe intentional snagging should be punishable by spending twenty minutes in a pool naked while people who are actual sportsmen try to snag you with treble hooks and halibut rods. We could raise money by making it a lottery.

 

[Guy Gregory]

Yeah, I feel bad about foul hooking or fumbling around on the release. That conservation ethic runs deep.

But in the end it's a blood sport. If you don't remember that, and don't remember why, kill a couple of stockers or hatchery fish and eat 'm. It'll come back to you.

 

[Wadin' Boot]

Yeah, I hate it. seems to happen less when strip setting but more when the fly drops or the hook is too small and I'm not paying attention. Ran a long code on a stocker this weekend, two trial swim offs didn't go well, so kept running the code, moving water through the gills. Finally started kicking solidly and the final release was better. Kept expecting the resident eagle to swoop down and pick up the floating fish, but it never happened.

I definitely feel worse about it the older I get...

 

[TicTokCroc]

Having to release a fish I know is going to die because it's catch and release, or some other regs, irritates me more, but there's no other way to combat poaching and other rule breaking. Cost of playing the game.

 

[Salmo_g]

If the fish is in some way exceptional I might think about that. But generally not. Fishing is a blood sport. CNR fishing is still a blood sport, but with a tiny fraction of the mortality. Foul hooking is uncommon enough that I rarely need give that a thought. Mishandling is likewise not intentional, but given the variety of tricks fish play when I try to land them, it happens more often than I'd like, but not often enough to upset me.

 

[Ernie]

When I have foul hooked a fish, it’s like catching a white fish. You have fun bringing your catch in and then you are disturbed when you find out what happened.

 

[Dr. Magill]

I once foul hooked a very large chum hen in the tail. Holy shit……. I thought it was Shamu
I felt more sorry for my gear

 

[Josh]

I once foul hooked a very large chum hen in the tail. Holy shit……. I thought it was Shamu
I felt more sorry for my gear

I broke a nice Sage 6wt foul hooking a Chum not too long ago. Sigh.

 

[krusty]

I do my best, feel bad when it goes sideways, and comfort myself that the bald eagle/osprey/otter/loon collective won't be wasting what doesn't make it.

 

[Coach Potter]

I feel a little bit bad about foul hooking a trout. I wouldn’t bat an eye at foul hooking a bass...they are bullet proof.

I can’t tell you how many times I had a SM end up with a treble hook in the gills, put it in the live well and it would turn the tank red with blood, ride around for 8 hours in the well and you couldn’t tell which one it was when it went to the scales at the end of the day. In 10 years of tournament fishing I only had 1 fish die and that was due to a malfunctioning live well pump that went undetected Until it was too late. Bass are tough as hell!

 

[mooseknuckles]

Is this where I plea for a return of The Foul Hooked Whitey?

 

[SteelHeadDave]

Great post Josh. This topic is why I’m considering moving more towards catch/keep and non-native fisheries (think spiny rays). I can’t give up the beach salmon season though and it sucks when the lil guys move in and you inevitably eyeball hook a few. I got into fishing for the meat and for fun. I no longer find it that fun when I catch and release a fish and I know it’s not gonna make it or have life long injury; all in the name of my personal enjoyment. I’ve always justified it with “ they killed my fly, they’re killers and I’m a killer too” but when it’s a CNR only fishery or I know it’s not getting harvested it kinda bums me out when I seriously harm a fish. It’s interesting to think about how so many people in CNR fishing culture mentality deal with the “blood sport” that is fishing. Obviously I’ve thought about it a bit and don’t get me wrong, I’m all for CNR and still practice it myself. Just being honest.

 

[jaredoconnor]

I used standard length hooks, for my first October caddis hatch. Unfortunately, the small fish were just as keen as the big fish and those big hooks took out some eyes. I felt terrible. I no longer use any hooks with a gap larger than #10; I just increase the shank length, if I'm tying bigger flies.

 

[Josh]

I do my best, feel bad when it goes sideways, and comfort myself that the bald eagle/osprey/otter/loon collective won't be wasting what doesn't make it.

This is very true and it's always cool to see one of them take a fish.

 

[Stonedfish]

This weekend I hooked a src in the eye. It didn't fight much but flopped around a lot in the net before I released it, which I guess was a good sign. It swam off strongly.
Will it make it, I have no idea? I have caught a number fish over the years that were injured in past that looked to have lived a healthy life with one eye.
It happens. Impossible to call the shot where a fish will end up getting hooked.
SF

 

[nwbobber]

I try my best to do as little harm as possible, even to the degree of choosing not to fish for certain fish, like our native steelhead. If I want good fishing I go find a remote spot or one that is restricting the catch, and since it is mostly catch and release for me, I can't help but think bit about the pain and harm I am inflicting on my unwilling dance partners.
Some good posts on here, I am paying attention to those who are sharing their practices of doing less harm.

 

[Peach]

Not sure why foul hooking a fish is considered worse for the trout (unless it is near the eyes or gills) than tranditional in the mouth or worse - throat/gills when the fish chokes the fly down? Most of the fish I foul hook is somewhere in the body, tail, or fin and it doesn't really penatrate the skin or slightly in the muscle tissue at worse. It does take a lot longer to get the trout in - but after a bit of reviving - they are ready to go with no major injury.

As mentioned about - we do have consider this sport as a Blood Sport - and there will be times when we do get them in the eye or in the gills and have a bleeder. That is why I am not really in favor of 100% C&R in some of our flyfish only waters, just in case we get a bleeder and at times no matter how careful we are - there will a few execeptions that the fish is going to die and in my opinion we should keep be able to keep those severally injured - unless we are certain that a osprey, eagle, or otter will benefit from it. It pains me to release an injured fish which I know most likely will not make it because of the 100% C&R rules. One fish limits are better in my opinion, but then again maybe too many folks will take advantage of that situation thus defeating the purpose of why a 100% C&R is implemented in the first place.

Peach

 

[Pink Nighty]

I definitely care about good release etiquette, but I apply that care somewhat selectively. Warm water fish and invasives dont get the same care that cold water natives do. That may be bias from years of hearing how tough spiny rays are, or how delicate salmonids are, or just me generally caring more about native fish.

Not that I'm careless with a bass, but theyll get lipped, laid on grass quickly, barbed hooks, etc... whereas a bull trout will be led into the rubber net, barbless hook usually pops out and I never actually touch it. If I do have to touch it the hands take the icy plunge first.

I am generally speaking a very non confrontational dude, especially on the river. But I will definitely say something to people handling native wild fish poorly. Once on the samish (gross) I saw a guy look over a 15lb wild buck for 5 minutes in the mud before I told him he needed to release it, which he knew. He then went and put it in one inch of water on its side and kicked it. I went and grabbed the fish, walked it to deeper water and tried to revive it. By that point a bunch of dudes were shouting at him about fucking up the fishery and he left. I'm sure that king died.

The other day a couple new fisherman hooked a kelt steelhead just upstream of me. They landed it (beached) near me and immediately went for the grip and grins for their "huge king." They knew to release it because of the fin, but once they did I politely talked to them about what that was, how fucking cool it was to catch one, and about the laws around steelhead handling and why they exist.

These guys were awesome, didnt get twisted up about it and and were really thankful for the heads up about not posting those pics to social media.

 

[John Svahn]

My fishing journey is getting wierd.
I went from 100% C and R to now rarely going strictly for c and r fishing. Now I fish a lot less and scheme about my next trip a lot more. And when I go I bonk em and eat them, and consider the day from planning, to fishing, to cooking, all to be a part of fishing. At this time in my life I find that day more enjoyable than a c and r fishing day.
I used to dream of living near a blue ribbon, native trout, c and r fishery but now I rarely visit the Truckee or Pyramid lake (my locals). Instead I traded that them for smaller fish, hikes to lakes, and bonkables. My latest jam is on our local reservoir, driftng in a boat trying traditional wet fly techniques.
I do C and R fish with buddies or my Dad, if they want to. On those days I tend to c and r one fish, and then go hookless and fish for the grab. That doesn't really work in a nymph fishery.
This came about through a mix of guilt from some wierd fish releases as well as some heavy duty overthinking. Not sure what the future will bring. Maybe I will turn a 180 and get right back to C and R!