| By Dr. Ron Taylor Florida Marine Research Institute Guidelines for Catch-and-Release Fishing The most important contributions an angler can make to a successful release are to hook and land the fish as quickly as possible, leave the fish in the water while dehooking, and quickly release the fish. Additional tips to improve survival from catch-and-release are: * Decide beforehand which fish are to be kept and immediately release all others. * Try fishing with barbless hooks or crimp and remove the barb. Catch rates using barbed and barbless hooks are not significantly different. Advantages of barbless hooks are the reduction in time required to dehook the fish and less physical damage to the fish from hook removal. There is no difference in mortality between barbed or barbless hooks. * Avoid the use of gaffs or landing nets made of hard polypropelene or nylon that tend to abrade and remove the protective slime from the scales. * Cut the leader close to the hook when releasing large jewfish, tarpon, sharks or other fishes that are gut hooked that you do not plan to keep. Do not lift a gut-hooked fish out of the water by the leader; this can increase hook damage. * Wet your hands or gloves to handle the fish. Do not injure the eyes or gills. Remove as little slime as possible by placing the fish on a wet towel. To keep the fish quiet, place it on its back or cover its eyes with a wet towel. Control the fish at all times! The fish could fatally injure itself against the boat. * If the hook is difficult to remove by hand, use long-nosed pliers or a de-hooking tool. Do not tear additional tissue, but back the hook through the original injury. If this fails, cut the leader and pull the hook through the injury. * If your fish is in good shape, put it back into the water head first. If it doesn’t swim or is lethargic or erratic, regain control to prevent "waste." * Revive exhausted, but otherwise healthy fish by placing one hand under the tail and hold the bottom lip with the other. Move the fish into the shade, either alongside the boat, under the edge of a dock, or to the bottom. Cooler water contains more oxygen and the fish will revive faster! If the fish is in fair to good shape, merely hold it headfirst into the current. If it is severely lethargic, depress the bottom lip to cause the jaw to gape and gently move the fish forward. Moving the fish in an erratic back and forth motion may only induce more stress. Severely exhausted fish may require 15 minutes to revive. At the first sign of the fish attempting to swim away, let it go, but keep an eye on it. Some fish will swim a short distance, become disoriented, and die, snook especially. Redfish may move into the grass and appear to be dead but swim away when it is touched. * Large pelagics, sharks and tarpon should be brought alongside within 20 minutes of hook-up. Masters Billfish Tournaments require all entries be brought alongside within ten minutes. Do not boat large fishes because they are dangerous to both themselves and crew when green. Bringing an exhausted fish out of the water is like placing a plastic bag over the head a marathon runner. It needs oxygen! Catches that are in good shape should be released immediately by cutting the leader close to the hook. If the fish is exhausted, revive it by making sure the head is totally submerged and tow it slowly forward. Gamefishes usually "throw their stomachs" when hooked. Don’t attempt to replace it; the fish will swallow it after release. * If your fish dies despite your best efforts, ensure it meets all regulations then add it to your creel. Otherwise, discard it.! Anglers who fish Florida’s waters enjoy the benefits of many well managed stocks that are increasing in abundance. The bounty that makes Florida fishing so popular can lead to over-exploitation. Our obligation is to limit our harvest to those fishes that meet our strictest requirements, either as food or as a warranted trophy. Wise use of our stocks dictate that the remainder of our catches be released so they may live to fight again. Contact information for Dr. Ron Taylor: 100 Eighth Avenue S. E. St. Petersburg, Florida 33701-5095 |
| Catch, Release & Mortality Studies by other Authors |
North American Journal of Fisheries Management: Vol. 24, No. 4, pp. 1309–1321. The Influence of Hook Type, Angler Experience, and Fish Size on Injury Rates and the Duration of Capture in an Alaskan Catch-and-Release Rainbow Trout Fishery Julie M. Meka U.S. Geological Survey, Alaska Science Center, 1011 East Tudor Road, MS701, Anchorage, Alaska 99503, USA Received June 11, 2003; accepted March 8, 2004 Abstract.—Owing to concerns about the high incidence of past hooking injuries in Alagnak River rainbow trout Oncorhynchus mykiss, fish were captured with spin- and fly-fishing gear with barbed and barbless circle and “J” hooks to determine gear types contributing to injury. Landing and hook removal times were measured for a portion of fish captured, and the anatomical hooking location, hooking scar locations, bleeding intensity, angler experience, and fish size were recorded for all captured fish. Approximately 62% of fish captured experienced at least one new hooking injury, and 29% of fish had at least one past hooking injury. Small fish sustained higher new injury and bleeding rates, but large fish had higher past injury rates. Injury rates were higher for barbed J hooks, barbed J hooks took longer to remove, and fish caught by spin-fishing were injured more frequently than fish caught by fly-fishing. Fewer fly-fishing-caught fish were injured using circle hooks, and circle hooks tended to hook fish in only one location, generally in the jaw. Barbed J hooks were more efficient at landing fish, and J hooks were more efficient at landing fish than circle hooks. Novice anglers injured proportionally more fish than experienced anglers, primarily during hook removal. Landing time was positively correlated with fish size, and experienced anglers took longer to land fish than novices because they captured larger fish. These results suggest that a reduction in hooking injuries may be achieved by using circle hooks as an alternative to J hooks and barbless J hooks to reduce injury and handling time, yet catch efficiency for both methods would be reduced. Although fish captured with barbless J hooks and circle hooks had fewer injuries, it is important to note that each hook type also caused significant injury, and angler education is recommended to promote proper hook removal techniques. |
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