Releasing Fish - Do they survive?

[Korrie]

A couple of factors comes into play when releasing a fish.
a. how deep has the fish been hooked?
b. has any internal organs etc been damamged?
c. how much lactic acid have built up in the muscles?
d. have enough care been taken to make sure the fish is as good as possible when released?
e. how many predators may be lurking and waiting for a tired fish?

Above are just some of the factors influencing the survival of a fish.

[swsmith]

i saw the article on the hooks that anthony did....

firstly i would think that we as fly fishers use a better qaulity hook than that of a bait fisher.just compare prices.so i would hope ours last longer in salt water.

also how did he manage to keep the water in those containers at an equavilent to that of the salinity of sea salt water?

[damage]

Fish have a very good chance to survive if they are hooked in the mouth and treated carefully and quickly returned the ORI tagging program proves this

Hooks left in fish are not good SS or not so you need to debarb all your hooks if you intend to release your fish

i have dived out lead and spoons that have been in the sea for ages possibly years that still have hooks attached to them
we have left hooks on the boat on the mooring that havent rusted nearly enough after 20 + days in the water

I dont think that steel hooks rust out quickly enough

also imagine a piercing that you are going to carry with you would you prefer a stainless or a steel one that will rust and fester

so in closing
Dont use bait or liveys that the fish can swallow
stay connected to your fly and you will get them in the mouth problem solved
/d

[pieterkriel]

Hooks rusts (fact), but what is rust, it is a process of oxydation(sp) not so?

So now take a standard hook, dip it in the sea water and leave it out, and repeat this for a while, it will rust pretty quickly, still not rusting away in only a few days but you will see the effect.

Now place the same kind of hook in sea water submerged, much less oxygen much less rust. Hook time to rust away much longer.

[pieterkriel]

Interesting further reading:

http://www.bassdozer.com/articles/ma...k_in_out.shtml

[HolyGT]

In the Bahamas there have been some studies with satelite tags showing that on some of the flats CAR Bones have a 80% chance of becomming a snack for a larger predator.

There the sharks have began to assosiated humans fishing with a opportinity to get a easy snack. Factors that influence or increased the survival rate was access to deeper water, temprature and logically an absence of predators.
Unfortunately it is all not as clear cut as this as fish are physiologically far different for other animals - like humans. Imagine regutitating your stomach during a 'fear or flight' epissode and swallowing it again as Marlin are known to do? I have seen some fish with terrible injuries that have healed or survived ie loss of sight(eyes), fins, chunks of body, etc and they seem to be doing pretty well.

The hook study as done in the FF mag is fundamentally flawed as it is done outside the intercation of the fishes body processes on the hook. The in vivo reaction to the foreign material will be far different from the reaction of the hook alone in seawater.

Another thing we FF take for gospel is that we need to land fish asap. Recently well known fisheries bilogist/scientist Dr. Pepperell(note spelling!!!) have done some studies on YF tuna that seems to indicate that tuna fought for longer on line decreased their overall Lactic acid counts substantially and also exibited less signs of stress and subsequent mortallity on release. Risk was that they then can become shark food during a protracted fight.


Not all as clear cut as we would like to believe, but doesn't take away our responsibilty to plan for the fishes release and to handle fish with care based on what we know(or think we do).

Or else just take it out bash it over the head, bleed it and enjoy the best form of protein out there - no need to apologise for that!

[poppernel]

In the Bahamas there have been some studies with satelite tags showing that on some of the flats CAR Bones have a 80% chance of becomming a snack for a larger predator.

There the sharks have began to assosiated humans fishing with a opportinity to get a easy snack. Factors that influence or increased the survival rate was access to deeper water, temprature and logically an absence of predators.
Unfortunately it is all not as clear cut as this as fish are physiologically far different for other animals - like humans. Imagine regutitating your stomach during a 'fear or flight' epissode and swallowing it again as Marlin are known to do? I have seen some fish with terrible injuries that have healed or survived ie loss of sight(eyes), fins, chunks of body, etc and they seem to be doing pretty well.

The hook study as done in the FF mag is fundamentally flawed as it is done outside the intercation of the fishes body processes on the hook. The in vivo reaction to the foreign material will be far different from the reaction of the hook alone in seawater.

Another thing we FF take for gospel is that we need to land fish asap. Recently well known fisheries bilogist/scientist Dr. Pepperell(note spelling!!!) have done some studies on YF tuna that seems to indicate that tuna fought for longer on line decreased their overall Lactic acid counts substantially and also exibited less signs of stress and subsequent mortallity on release. Risk was that they then can become shark food during a protracted fight.


Not all as clear cut as we would like to believe, but doesn't take away our responsibilty to plan for the fishes release and to handle fish with care based on what we know(or think we do).

Or else just take it out bash it over the head, bleed it and enjoy the best form of protein out there - no need to apologise for that!

Arno, this is so true!! If I posted this!! Someone would have ''pissed'' on my parade.

Go for it '' ''