Physiological response of smallmouth yellowfish to angling.

[Gerrit Viljoen]

Is anyone out there using "stomach pumps etc" on yellows?

Probably some idiots trying to sample some Smallmouths but it's not really possible without hurting the poor fish. :wink:

[Scythe]

Is anyone out there using "stomach pumps etc" on yellows?

Never had the need or desire to, you can see what they are eating by turning over the rocks but mostly it's pretty standard for the bigger part of the Vaal, so no need in my opinion. I also read right at the beginning of my YF experience that it was a bad idea to try and stomach pump a Yellow due to morphological differences between them and say Troot.

[redhumpy]

Some fishermen though has had a stomach pump after a Vaal trip - others got rid of the effects by just opening their mouths.

[Jean Bence]

I personally hate the idea of a stomach pump for casual recreation. I really do not see the point. In fact I fail to see the point in any kind of fishing if you are practicing C&R

[Jean Bence]

Surely the fish is eating the immitation that you caught him on...otherwise he would'nt have ate the fly???

And when you do the stomach pump test...behold he was 90% of the time eating what you caught him on. Go figure...

[0266395]

Did the research reveal any new findings that are useful to anglers? The recommendations for C&R are not new. As far as I can see they found what anglers already knew. Fish are stressed when caught, so what? They are also stressed when they see an otter, monitor, fisheagle or an angler. If many fish died because of C&R anglers would be the first to know it. How many dying fish do you see while on the water? I do not visit the over populated venues upstream from Parys, so my experience is limited, but for what it is worth I saw one tumbling down the rapids (chances are good that it died) about six years ago and I fish twice a week during the warmer months. Surely if C&R were to blame, I would have seen more than one dying fish in six years.

Herman

[William Ewels]

And when you do the stomach pump test...behold he was 90% of the time eating what you caught him on. Go figure...

Unassailable logic!

Next issue - what exactly are these "handling towels" being recommended? Texture/properties, cleaning, and research please?

[William Ewels]

When I occasionally get fish slime on my hands, I find the BEST way to clean the slime off is a wet towel - so not exactly my idea of the ideal tool for protecting the integrity of fish slime on a fish. And having some microbiology awareness I realise that same porous wet towel then becomes a veritable zoo ready to inoculate the next fish if not cleaned and sterilized between fish/outings

So if there is some kind of new technology in "fish handling towels" I'd like to know.

[Scythe]

I'd also like to know, maybe they are confused with Carp mats.

I've seen the Americans use a mesh type mitten to cover their hands while handling fish, but to me there is very little difference between that mesh and the mesh of your average knotless meshed landing net.

[JCD]

I personally hate the idea of a stomach pump for casual recreation. I really do not see the point. In fact I fail to see the point in any kind of fishing if you are practicing C&R

I assume you mean "fail to see the point of using a stomach pump in any kind.." and not "I fail to see the point in any kind of fishing if you are practicing C&R"