Boat flipping bass

[gim]

10 minutes ago, Jar11591 said:

Nothing scarier than a flailing snot rocket with a face full of trebles. 

 

Yep it's like a live grenade waiting to go off.

 

 

[WaskaCrank12]

I have not fished very long (coming in to year three) and have not caught a ton of fish - I have used a net 100% of the time - I have a rubber net, which certainly makes it easier to get hooks out of and it seems that it protects the fish a bit - I keep a small old Gatorade bottle filled with water right beside my measuring board, I just knock it over with my foot and it dumps the water on to the measuring board so the fish will be on a slick surface (takes a second to knock over, takes less than 5 seconds to refill) - I try and remove hooks (while the fish is still in the net), quickly measure, snap a pic, then place it back in the water - it is no doubt longer than the 30 seconds others have mentioned (probably 1 minute plus, I do it as efficiently as possible, I have all the gear/tools ready to go) - if it is clearly a small/dink fish I will not measure/pic, I will just place it back into the water - I keep the fish in the net until the hooks are out so if I am struggling to get the hooks out I can dunk the fish back in to the water (while still in the net) to give it a reprieve before I try again to get the hooks out

 

As someone who is new to fishing the thought of not using a net boggles my mind - and the fact none of the "pros" use a net seems, well, odd (ie, seems like a strange "tradition")

 

I am going to have to travel to ME to see @Swamp Girl in action - 40/80/100 fish in a day !!! That is mastery of the craft !!!! My most productive day was 8 fish - and I thought I was killing it :)))))))))

 

Yes, Torpedo Fish/Pike/Toothy Critters can be a mess and difficult to deal with - I measured the first few I caught (1 was 28") - but unless I can see that it is that size or larger I keep them in the net, use hemostats to get the hooks out and then deposit the net back into the water and let them go - they can be a slimy, toothy, lure stealing menace 

[Bird]

Don't believe I've ever purposely laid a fish on the boat deck.

I'm hanging off the side holding line with my left hand and lip with my right.

Larger fish and treble hooks get netted.

 

My mom had a tropical fish store in the mid 60's and us kids would reach into the tanks and try to catch them until we were scolded and given an educational course on their slime coats.

Yes, learned as a child.

[Lottabass]

I started a B.A.S.S. club in the 1970's.  One of the projects I was most proud of were the Kids Fishing Clinics we would host every summer.  The kids learned many things including how to handle fish and importance of protecting the resource.

[Swamp Girl]

54 minutes ago, WaskaCrank12 said:

I am going to have to travel to ME to see @Swamp Girl in action - 40/80/100 fish in a day !!! That is mastery of the craft !!!!

 

It's fishing fertile water. I know your turf and you're close to water that holds a lot of fish, both for quantity and quality: Mille Lacs, Chequamegon Bay, the north shore of Lake Michigan, Green Bay, the backwaters of the Mississippi for lmbs and the upper Mississippi for smallies. Best of all, northwestern Ontario sits atop Minnesota. I have fished many lakes in northwestern Ontario where I caught a bass on my first cast, which tells you how abundant and eager they are.

 

However, a hundred-bass day means fishing both mornings and evenings, which I could once do, but no longer.

[river-rat]

6 hours ago, Catt said:

74 yrs old & still ain't taken a selfie 😉

 

Right there with you. 

 

[MonsterZero]

6 hours ago, Mike L said:

The worst thing an angler can do to a fish is to remove its slime coat either by holding against your body to unhook, laying on the carpet, seat or grass. 
 

 I’ll either boat flip up to a certain size of course, lip or net her. 
Scooping her out isn’t always ideal either by jamming and sliding up the side of the boat as some do. 

If done with a little thought and care I still think it’s the best way especially using a single hook set up, treble hooks is tougher but doable. 

It’s a timing thing. 

If you flip her in when she’s coming at you with the momentum she build up or even on a close jump is the easiest.
Just grab the line near its mouth and unhook. 
 

 

 

 

 

Mike

To add to this, handling fish with gloves on. Especially those latex coated extra grippy ones. Drives me insane and does serious damage to the fish. Drives me nuts.

 

On topic, unless something goes sideways, my fish never touch anything but my hands, and as others have said, for as short a time as possible. It is rare that I even take photos anymore; I fish solo 99.9999% of the time, so if I want a picture, I either have to set my phone up beforehand or lay the fish down. Neither of which is something I really want to do. Conservation of the resource is always at the top of my list of priorities, right after actually catching the fish.

[Pumpkin Lizard]

25 minutes ago, MonsterZero said:

To add to this, handling fish with gloves on. Especially those latex coated extra grippy ones. Drives me insane and does serious damage to the fish. Drives me nuts.

 

On topic, unless something goes sideways, my fish never touch anything but my hands, and as others have said, for as short a time as possible. It is rare that I even take photos anymore; I fish solo 99.9999% of the time, so if I want a picture, I either have to set my phone up beforehand or lay the fish down. Neither of which is something I really want to do. Conservation of the resource is always at the top of my list of priorities, right after actually catching the fish.

 

Everyone should wet their hands before handling fish too.

 

 

[Columbia Craw]

Bass are a resource. Treat treat the resource right and it will treat you right. What’s a selfie?

[Susky River Rat]

This kind of reminds me of a musky forum right now. Don’t do this don’t do that. Only do this only do that. the very fish dies that was r handled the way is deemed “correct”. 
 

My one argument is if we truly care about the well being of the fish why are we jamming hooks in their face,eyes,throat,gills,body for our own glory or personal enjoyment. Than ripping them from their world to remove the hooks and put them back.  They aren’t dogs or cats they are fish. 
 

Go fishing,  Have fun and do your best to do no harm. 
 

 

[MonsterZero]

37 minutes ago, Susky River Rat said:

This kind of reminds me of a musky forum right now. Don’t do this don’t do that. Only do this only do that. the very fish dies that was r handled the way is deemed “correct”. 
 

My one argument is if we truly care about the well being of the fish why are we jamming hooks in their face,eyes,throat,gills,body for our own glory or personal enjoyment. Than ripping them from their world to remove the hooks and put them back.  They aren’t dogs or cats they are fish. 
 

Go fishing,  Have fun and do your best to do no harm. 
 

 

With all due respect, there are respectful, humane, and sustainable ways to practice this hobby. You can debate the ethics of fishing until you are blue in the face and still not reach a resolution that is satisfactory for everyone. But at the end of the day, proper, ethical catch and release fishing does little to no damage to the fish. Improper handling, the wrong gear, etc can harm or kill them.

 

If you want to look at it from a purely expedient, 'What do I get out of it?' point of view as you seem to, keeping the fish's safety in mind ensures future fishing opportunities. You fish, and participate here, because you like fishing. If you abuse and/or kill the fish you catch, you are going to ruin your own fun, let alone the ecosystem you exploit and the other people participating. The same goes for keeping trophy fish. There is a reason big fish of any species are more and more rare in our waters. Our forebears killed them with reckless abandon for generations, and now we are paying the price.

 

From a personal perspective, if a person cannot respect the environment and the things living in it, whether it be a dog, cat, or 'just a fish,' they have no business utilizing it.

[swhit140]

I'm too poor to boat flip a bass, my luck I would break a rod on a 12 incher. 😆

[Susky River Rat]

49 minutes ago, MonsterZero said:

From a personal perspective, if a person cannot respect the environment and the things living in it, whether it be a dog, cat, or 'just a fish,' they have no business utilizing it

Of that’s the logic you have than none of us should be living on this planet. We can go down that rabbit hole if you want too. 
 

I refuse to believe boat flipping a bass or even dropping one on the deck kills every single fish this happens to. Is that the best practice for every fish? No. They used to say that catching musky over 80 degree temps killed every single one. I believe it was  University of West Virginia proved this wrong. 
 

Show me data and research that supports boat flipping directly kills fish. Not just what you believe or you heard or you think. 

[TnRiver46]

I boat flipped a fish today, and my buddy did get video of it. I also lay fish down on the boat  to measure them all the time. I don’t really think it hurts them much. Fish continuously regenerate their slime coat 

 

[MonsterZero]

3 minutes ago, Susky River Rat said:

Of that’s the logic you have than none of us should be living on this planet. We can go down that rabbit hole if you want too. 
 

I refuse to believe boat flipping a bass or even dropping one on the deck kills every single fish this happens to. Is that the best practice for every fish? No. They used to say that catching musky over 80 degree temps killed every single one. I believe it was  University of West Virginia proved this wrong. 
 

Show me data and research that supports boat flipping directly kills fish. Not just what you believe or you heard or you think. 

I do not think anyone here has made that claim, but I can provide some articles and studies about mishandling fish and post release mortality, sure.

 

Here is an article and video about the dangers of removing the slime layer. This specifically deals with my point about glove use and mishandling fish. The slime layer can be removed by basically anything outside of the water; gloves, hands, laying in the grass, laying in the dirt, laying in the sand...carpeting on a boat deck...: https://flylordsmag.com/why-you-should-never-use-tailing-gloves/#:~:text=As the video above illustrates,like an external immune system.

 

Here is a study from Monmouth University from 2012 about the mortality rate in striped bass that were caught and released along the east coast of the United States. It details that while some percentage of bass caught and released will absolutely die, this number can be mitigated with proper catch and release techniques: https://www.monmouth.edu/uci/documents/2018/10/best-practices-striped-bass-catch-and-release-report.pdf/

 

Here is an article detailing a more recent study detailing a study, again on striped bass in the Atlantic, showing that catch and release fishing accounts for a large majority of fish mortality. Again, mostly associated with improper fish handling: https://onthewater.com/citizen-science-and-striped-bass-release-mortality

 

There have been relatively few of these studies on largemouth bass, and even fewer of those in a natural setting. But please let me know if I can provide anything else.

[Susky River Rat]

@MonsterZero striped bass are a mute subject on this. Most are caught on to light of gear and played to the point of exhaustion. Much like happens with musky using improper gear. Also water and air temps play a factor. So again you have two other huge factors more so than just handling to much.  Than this in the types of hooks. Stop trying in fight your fight with data that is not relevant to the topic at hand. let’s stay in the lane of small mouth and large mouth and not move to bigger in the family. I ask you again to show me smallmouth and largemouth research. 
 

As far as the slime yes we know they need it. You can’t honestly tell me removing the slime is worse than giving a fish open wounds from

hooks or fizzing. Which fizzing is very common now due to FFS. 
 

I literally fish a river that 20 years ago was on the verge of having no bass in it. That had nothing to do with boat flips or mishandling of fish. 

[MonsterZero]

8 minutes ago, Susky River Rat said:

@MonsterZero striped bass are a mute subject on this. Most are caught on to light of gear and played to the point of exhaustion. Much like happens with musky using improper gear. Also water and air temps play a factor. So again you have two other huge factors more so than just handling to much.  Than this in the types of hooks. Stop trying in fight your fight with data that is not relevant to the topic at hand. let’s stay in the lane of small mouth and large mouth and not move to bigger in the family. I ask you again to show me smallmouth and largemouth research. 
 

As far as the slime yes we know they need it. You can’t honestly tell me removing the slime is worse than giving a fish open wounds from

hooks or fizzing. Which fizzing is very common now due to FFS. 
 

I literally fish a river that 20 years ago was on the verge of having no bass in it. That had nothing to do with boat flips or mishandling of fish. 

On the contrary, I have provided you with evidence that mishandling fish increases fish mortality. Which is, frankly, common knowledge and did not really need to be proven, but I accommodated you anyway. If you would like to ignore it because you do not like it, that is on you. But the proof is there if you would like to change your mind.

[Susky River Rat]

@MonsterZero actually 3/4 of both articles supported that we should not be fishing if we cared for the well being of the fish. 1/4 of it was tackle. 1/4 was fight length. 1/4 was water/ air temp. Which only left 1/4 for the mishandling of fish after the catch. So thank you for proving that handling the fish after the  catch is only 25% of the problem.
 

Don’t just read what you want to see read the whole article that supported what I said to start.  Stop playing checkers and start playing chess.

[Maggiesmaster]

I take a lot of selfies alone with my bass;  first, net the fish in a really big net with a long handle. After removing the hook, put the bass back in the net & keep it in the water ‘til you’re set up. Prop the iPhone on a good spot (such as a boat seat), set it to ‘selfie’ mode, with a timer setting, usually 3 seconds. Hit the button, take the fish from the net, picture snaps & release the bass. If you use rubberized netting, it’s none the worse for wear, and you’ll have a good shot. 

[Swamp Girl]

7 hours ago, Susky River Rat said:

 

I refuse to believe boat flipping a bass or even dropping one on the deck kills every single fish this happens to.

 

No one in this thread asserted this. I've never heard anyone ever assert this. 

 

 

 

[Jar11591]

Come on, Spring!

[padon]

21 hours ago, Catt said:

Y'all hate boat flipping bass but continue taking selfies!

i dont boat flip very often ill hand land or use a net.i also hate when i see people hold the fish out of water , weigh  it ant take a pic. i do things too if its a big one but i put the fish back in the water every minute or so if it takes that long. Remember that fish cant breathe while its out of water. Try holding your breath the whole time the fish is out of the water.

[Pat Brown]

I think this year I'm gonna be bank and boat flipping a few that are under 18" and over 12" into a bucket or stringer and into a fryer so as we can improve the average size in a couple spots I fish regularly that are rather stunted.

 

This is standard practice for fisheries with stunted populations.  The resource is unfortunately so left alone that it isn't doing so great.  Lots of starving fish with big eyes and thin tails.

 

I really think for the most part - bass are not even remotely at risk of being threatened by fish handling - especially in the recreational anglers sector (people who fish maybe 10-20 times per year and have even moderate success). 

 

I think they have a lot more to worry about with all the hooks getting lodged in their throats or intestines - another variable we accept and can't always control.  Lake management dumping chemicals into lakes to control vegetation.  Invasive species.  The systematic removal of environmental regulations that will result in the destruction and neglect of their habitat and ultimately lead to bad things for the resource.  Endless fishing tournaments. It's like basically pick your battles.  Getting on the internet and talking trash to other people who care about the resource and are doing good seems counter productive if you REALLY care about bass.

 

I hesitate to sit on a computer and judge individual people who clearly love the sport and do their best to preserve the resource even if their customs don't perfectly align with mine.  I definitely know what I would do and try my best to do the right thing for the fish but getting angry at people who don't do what I would do seems kinda like misplaced outrage.

 

Even people who show up with a bucket and catch fish to eat - there's no evidence that this is bad for a fishery - on the contrary - it often leads to healthier fisheries and healthier fish - and now that no one keeps fish they catch to eat - many bass are struggling and the resource isn't doing so great in a lot of fisheries that used to produce giants back when bass was on the menu!  Customs change!  

 

I think it's okay to release every bass you catch and it's okay to eat lots of bass - I think becoming absorbed with this kinda stuff is what happens when winter takes a little too long and people are a little stir crazy. 😏😏😏

 

If this thread had started in May - I think people would be far less grumpy 😂😂😂

 

 

[Mike L]

Folks

Agree or not, cease with the contentious comments 
 

 

 

Mike 

[Swamp Girl]

1 hour ago, Jar11591 said:

Come on, Spring!

 

Ha! I really do need spring, but it's nearly here. 10 out of the next 15 days are forecast to be at least 40 degrees. It won't be too long before I can walk down my boardwalk and pitch a jerkbait into the cold, but liquid water.

 

 

55 minutes ago, Pat Brown said:

Getting on the internet and talking trash to other people who care about the resource and are doing good seems counter productive if you REALLY care about bass.

 

Agree.

 

8 minutes ago, Mike L said:

Folks

Agree or not, cease with the contentious comments 
 

 

 

Mike 

 

Thanks for the reminder, Mike.