Does it annoy you how many people mishandle fish, laying them on the ground and lipping them at a 45 degree angle for pictures?

[casts_by_fly]

seeing fish that are to be released which are laying on the ground bothers me.  It might not kill them, but it's unnecessary.  Conservation is using a resource while doing the least harm necessary.

 

Correcting someone in a FB group about it?  Not worth my time.

 

[Derek1]

I figure holding a fish by the lip with my hand for a pic. Was the nicest thing I did to it. 

[Bluebasser86]

Lots of things other people do annoy me. For my sanity, I've stopped trying to say anything to them because nobody can take constructive criticism or help from a stranger anymore. 

[LrgmouthShad]

6 minutes ago, Bluebasser86 said:

For my sanity

Don’t attach your sanity to the way people react to you or behave. 

I’ve met many people that will take constructive criticism just fine, and others, including myself sometimes, who don’t realize the value of the constructive criticism in the moment but may realize its value later. But I’ve been blessed to be around some nice people.

[Woody B]

The mishandling is one thing.  Livewell trauma is what ticks me off.   The people who fill their livewells for a picture at the landing tick me off.   Every now and then I end up at a landing where there's a club tournament.   Watching them literally throw their bass back into the lake after the weight in ticks me off.  Someone who actually eats the fish is OK with me.   

 

A co worker kept a 5 1/2 pound Largemouth a few months ago for a skin mount.   I don't see the point in mounting a fish that many people, including myself don't consider a trophy.   I've caught a few this year bigger than that, and didn't consider a mount.   

 

I don't think there's anything wrong with a skin mount.   I just think it's a waste of resources, and money to get a small one mounted.   I do think, that in most cases a modern replica looks better, and even more realistic than many skin mounts.   I had a skin mount of a 21 pound Striped bass done when I was a kid.  It looked like crap.   That kinda turned me against skin mounts.  

 

I've got a replica of the 50 pound flathead cat I caught earlier this year.   I considered it for a 7 pound 13 ounce Largemouth, but decided to hold out for at least 8 pounds.   I'd like to have a replica of my PB from 30+ years ago but I don't have any pictures.  

[Tackleholic]

Anglers, and Guides, who fill a livewell of warm surface water only to take a pic. of the day's catch make me sick.  Many, many fish taken to the fillet table are placed in freezer bags and eventually discarded, never eaten.  Some out of town Bass Clubs will brutalize the catch, which will be floating in the Marina the next day.  Most anglers, guides, and tournament directors will be hard pressed to find a fizzing needle or know how to use one.  Anglers who simply mishandle fish only for photo purposes may not know, or care, about the mortality rate.  On my lake, it takes a Largemouth 10 years to reach 5 pounds, a smallmouth 10-14 years to reach 4 pounds;  lake records have not been beaten for 40 plus years and the lake teems with baitfish.  Wonder why those records still stand?  Wonder why each year the average size and number of "keepers" very slowly diminishes?  I'm venting, glad for the opportunity to get this out of my mindset.

[T-Billy]

1 hour ago, Woody B said:

A co worker kept a 5 1/2 pound Largemouth a few months ago for a skin mount.   I don't see the point in mounting a fish that many people, including myself don't consider a trophy.   I've caught a few this year bigger than that, and didn't consider a mount.   

 

It was a trophy to him though. You're opinion of it is irrelevant. Perhaps the correct response to him is, Nice fish, Congratulations!!!

[NYWayfarer]

I won’t hold a fish at a 45 degree angle for a pic.

 

I will however take a pic of one lying on the ground. Often when bank fishing with light line I have to land a fish by getting in the shallowest of waters to lip it or beach it if all else fails. I try and take my pics and release a fish as fast as possible. 
 

If it’s bleeding it goes back immediately with no pic. 

[The Bassman]

1 hour ago, Bluebasser86 said:

Lots of things other people do annoy me. For my sanity, I've stopped trying to say anything to them because nobody can take constructive criticism or help from a stranger anymore. 

Can be a bit of a challenge with spouses, too.

[gim]

1 hour ago, Woody B said:

I do think, that in most cases a modern replica looks better, and even more realistic than many skin mounts.

I can confirm this. I have a skin mount of a largemouth I caught years ago because it had swallowed a wacky rig in the heat of August. I tried reviving that fish for 15 minutes without success. It was simply too warm out. At the time it was a PB and I didn’t want to eat it, so I had a skin mount of it made.

 

In 2020 I caught a 41 inch tiger muskie and had a replica of a it made by LAX Reproductions. The difference between the two is pretty obvious. A replica does cost more, but it never fades in color or wears out like the skin mount does. Initially, the difference may not be that obvious but over time there is a difference in appearance. Plus with a replica, I have the satisfaction of knowing the fish that it represents was released fully alive. That means a lot to me.

[Woody B]

49 minutes ago, T-Billy said:

Perhaps the correct response to him is, Nice fish, Congratulations!!!

 

That's all I said to him.   

[Columbia Craw]

I don’t do FB.

[PhishLI]

I pay heart stopping taxes to live in Nassau County. These public waters here and the fish in them are mine as much as anyone else's. C&R is the rule county wide for black bass, period. Even if you accidentally kill one, it goes back in to feed the cats and turtles. Get caught removing a dead one by the DNR and they'll drill ya. However, if I'm in the next county over at a lake with a daily limit, I mind my business, because it's not my business.

 

I do my best to take care of my catches here. They stay soaked in the water until I'm ready to snap a pic, even if my gloves become saturated in near freezing water during the process. I spend as much time as necessary with them afterward to make sure they swim off vigorously. I do my best to follow the law, and to let them go and grow. Regrettably, I've killed 3 this year with deep tongue hookings, and it knocked the shine right off of the outing for me. I'm not in this to kill fish.

 

If I happen to see someone dancing around with a bass out of the water for too long, or dragging one on the ground, I have no problem tactfully letting them know that they're probably going to kill the fish. No lectures unless they ask questions. Most people respond as if they're embarrassed, then soak the fish or let it go, and nobody has gotten lippy with me yet. I'll gleefully call the DNR officer on the bucket brigades though. Most don't have licenses anyway, or speak the lingo, and the majority of them are ruthless, sneaky, poachers.

 

 

[AlabamaSpothunter]

5 hours ago, bulldog1935 said:

not my biggest, but definitely my best photo

this same fish was photographed again 3 months later by a friend on FFR. 

 

this is my biggest

many more stud bucks where these came from. 

 

But I changed my mind, this is my best photo

I run Trout in the Classroom for Texas

 

One of my best friends who lives in CO is a Trout guy, I was just joking around   

 

That's a wonderful thing to see that you are doing, it will certainly ensure future generations have these same fish to catch.  

[bulldog1935]

@AlabamaSpothunter Our fight in Texas is to reduce groundwater use against runaway population growth at the source of hill country rivers, by getting desalination for public water supply off the ground - and especially out of court.  The problem is we needed it 20 years ago. 

 

The Guadalupe tailwater is somewhat protected by court injunction to ensure discharge for whooping cranes in Aransas NWR, though the Medina River above contributes to that watershed.  Also, the coldwater fishery below Canyon Dam is a legal stakeholder in the water authority, a status won in court by GRTU in the '90s. 

[AlabamaSpothunter]

5 minutes ago, bulldog1935 said:

@AlabamaSpothunter Our fight in Texas is to reduce groundwater use against runaway population growth by getting desalination for public water supply off the ground - and especially out of court. 

 

The Guadalupe tailwater is somewhat protected by court injunction to ensure discharge for whooping cranes in Aransas NWR, though the Medina River above contributes to that watershed. 

Beautiful area, and good luck.   Texas has lots of unique, and special ecology.    My favorite of recent times is learning about the last N. American population of Ocelots living there down south IIrc. 

[bulldog1935]

@AlabamaSpothunter

That's part of the reason I love the Arroyo Colorado so much (right where those ocelots live) - the one successful conservation project in Texas.  In the '90s, terrible brown tides came out of the arroyo and choked miles of Lower Laguna Madre.  The problem was agriculture run-off, excess nitrogen from citrus and sugar cane.

 

The tile fields you can see drain the sugar cane fields and allow the nitrogen to evaporate before discharge into the arroyo.  Since the project kicked off in 2007, problem solved.  The boundary you can see is Laguna Atascosa NWR, the northern edge of the ocelots.  We've seen ocelot tracks when we beached our kayaks on Horse Island. 

 

[AlabamaSpothunter]

4 minutes ago, bulldog1935 said:

@AlabamaSpothunter

That's part of the reason I love the Arroyo Colorado so much (right where those ocelots live) - the one successful conservation project in Texas.  In the '90s, terrible brown tides came out of the arroyo and choked miles of Lower Laguna Madre.  The problem was agriculture run-off, excess nitrogen from citrus and sugar cane.

 

The tile fields you can see drain the sugar cane fields and allow the nitrogen to evaporate before discharge into the arroyo.  Since the project kicked off in 2007, problem solved.  The boundary you can see is Laguna Atascosa NWR, the northern edge of the ocelots. 

 

 

Very cool!   Sometimes you just have to educate the public how special and unique a place is ecologically speaking for things to get done.  

The Little Cahaba River behind me was like that.    Alabama has tremendous biodiversity and has been referred to as the Amazon of North America, but even most Alabamians don't know all the unique creatures that are only found here.    

[Hammer 4]

7 hours ago, casts_by_fly said:

seeing fish that are to be released which are laying on the ground bothers me.  It might not kill them, but it's unnecessary.  Conservation is using a resource while doing the least harm necessary.

 

Correcting someone in a FB group about it?  Not worth my time.

 

Depending on the " ground" any dry surface has the potential to Remove a fish's slime coat, which in turn leaves them vulnerable to parasite invasion, and disease..  

If a bass is laid down on WET grass, probably the fish is o.k.. Even dry hands when holding a fish in the horizontal position can remove the slime coat.

I learned long ago to make sure I wet my hands before lipping my fish.

[bigspirit]

21 hours ago, thediscochef said:

Injury from jaw holding is pretty rare, that's not something I'm going to say much about unless I'm showing a friend how to hold the fish. I hold them vertical for a selfie but am mindful of how far the mouth gets opened. I've not killed a bass yet so ?‍♂️?‍♂️?‍♂️

Im only quoting you on this because it’s the next one I saw after my first post but this is not directed just at you - just a general comment. 
 

Here’s the thing…you (anybody in this case) would not know if you did kill that bass. If you cause damage to its jaw, it’s not going to just die in your hand. It will swim off as it should (provided normal/decent care was taken) only to have the possibility of dying later because it can’t eat, for example. You may be surprised how many people have released fish that swam off fine, only to die later from stress or handling-induced damage. 

Again, not directed solely at you - just pointing out the flaw with that statement. 

[bulldog1935]

You can take smart steps to improve survival rates with catch and release. 

This fish I never took out of the water - she fought so hard, I pulled her against my leg and flipped the fly from her mouth.  This was the only photo I got. 

Two weeks later, she was caught by a guide's fare, and is the state rainbow trout record, though she's not as big as two fish I showed on the previous page, and I know of several fish larger than those.  I have little doubt from the photo album I saw, the amount of handling to measure for the record killed her from lactic acid.  As others have pointed out, that's their business. 

 

The only way to prevent fishing from being a blood sport is to cut the hooks off your lures and count coup.  It's a delusion to think otherwise. 

Liking fish over people is a different kind of problem. 

[gim]

46 minutes ago, bigspirit said:

You may be surprised how many people have released fish that swam off fine, only to die later from stress or handling-induced damage. 

There's a term for it: delayed mortality.  They have done a lot of studies on this with the use of live bait here when targeting walleyes in the heat of summer.  They actually completely close a very popular specific lake in July for a couple weeks because the mortality is sky high.  So in order to completely eliminate any delayed hooking mortality, you can't even target them for about 15 days in July.  Not even for catch and release.

[casts_by_fly]

8 hours ago, Hammer 4 said:

Depending on the " ground" any dry surface has the potential to Remove a fish's slime coat, which in turn leaves them vulnerable to parasite invasion, and disease..  

If a bass is laid down on WET grass, probably the fish is o.k.. Even dry hands when holding a fish in the horizontal position can remove the slime coat.

I learned long ago to make sure I wet my hands before lipping my fish.

Agreed.  I don't hate wet long green grass and will use it if I have to, but that's once in a blue moon (i.e. need pliers and they are in a backpack).  I guess what I was referring to are the constant pictures of fish laying on dry dirt next to concrete and covered in gravel...

[gim]

The state of Florida won't even allow you to lift a tarpon out of the water if you catch one.  Just something to think about.  They value that resource so much that they won't risk anything related to mortality just so we can take a picture with it.  When I caught one in 2018, our guide said I could hold its mouth while it was in the water.  That's it.

[AlabamaSpothunter]

1 hour ago, gimruis said:

The state of Florida won't even allow you to lift a tarpon out of the water if you catch one.  Just something to think about.  They value that resource so much that they won't risk anything related to mortality just so we can take a picture with it.  When I caught one in 2018, our guide said I could hold its mouth while it was in the water.  That's it.

Interesting, was not the case years ago, but it makes sense for sure.

 

I was telling a story on here the other day about a couple of rookies in a nice center console catching a big 100+ Tarpon, these guys thought it was a good idea to bring the fish on board for selfies.....long story short the entire center console was destroyed, and both men sustained significant injuries trying to get the fish free from the boat.  

 

Saltwater fishing is just totally different.  The vast majority of fish you intend to release never come on the boat, and leaders are usually cut rather than removing hooks.