Is this mistreating a wild fish?

[alm21]

So the guy in the video posted that, "I in no way miss treated this fish I only had it out of the water for less than a minute to get a couple pictures! Then I released it and it swam right off!" What do you think?

 

[chrisohm]

As soon as he touched the gills I would say yes he did. He also should have done a better job of keeping the fish in the water. Never touch the gills. I would never hold a fish like that I was not/could not keep.

 

[veilside180sx]

If this threads intention is to win an argument...it's pointless. If it's so both of you understand better how to help wild steelhead survive after/during release then good on you.

It is best served for the fish if it is not removed from the water at all, and absolutely keep your hands out of it's gills. Keep pliers or forceps handy at all times, and if it's too deep to remove quickly...clip it. You will do the fish more disservice by handling it for an extended period, than you will let it swim off with your hook in it's mouth.

 

[steelhead_stalkers]

Painful!

 

[SantiamDrifter]

That guy and his friends are just clueless.

 

[halibuthitman]

wtf? I hate youtube.. pisses me off

 

[Team CF]

Welcome to Douglas County...

 

[imfishing]

Wow -

Wow -

:shock:





WOW.

 

[RunWithSasquatch]

Interesting version of C&R.

 

[RunWithSasquatch]

:lol:

 

[steelhead_slayer]

yeah guy definitely needs to be educated. too bad we can force people into fishing ed like when they send bad drivers to driving ed

 

[bran_man]

As soon as he touched the gills I would say yes he did. He also should have done a better job of keeping the fish in the water. Never touch the gills. I would never hold a fish like that I was not/could not keep.

Exactly! I would never touch the gills unless I was planning to keep the fish(legally of course)

 

[bigsteel]

he clearly doesn't know how to handle a fish

 

[alm21]

If this threads intention is to win an argument...it's pointless. If it's so both of you understand better how to help wild steelhead survive after/during release then good on you.

It is best served for the fish if it is not removed from the water at all, and absolutely keep your hands out of it's gills. Keep pliers or forceps handy at all times, and if it's too deep to remove quickly...clip it. You will do the fish more disservice by handling it for an extended period, than you will let it swim off with your hook in it's mouth.

Nope, not trying to win an argument. I stumbled across the video and I would say that the fish was definitely mistreated when he gilled it. I also think it could have been handled better in the net but it's easy to make armchair judgements. But when someone posts videos of themself on youtube for the world to see, they better be prepared to be judged and take criticism. Maybe the guy was ignorant and doesn't know why he mistreated the fish. I wil go out on a limb and admit that when a first started salmon fishing a couple years ago, I was guilty of gilling a wild fish for a picture. I was ignorant but it was brought to my attention and I immediately corrected my behavior (man was I embarassed - still to this day). The point is that the are new anglers entering the scene constantly and could benefit from examples like this so not to inherit bad habits. Plus it's devilishly fun to stir the pot once in a while. [sinister laugh here]

 

[tnffishman]

Whenever a fish that is going to be released is netted, it's mistreated in my opinion

 

[Eastcoastborn]

If we as fishermen and women want to preserve the small amount of wild fish left in the north west we should probably not even pick up the fish to begin with, but how do you regulate that? It's not worth the picture when another fish will be caught again soon. A fish does not belong out of the water especially if mother nature intended it to be there in the first place. A smart fisherman would be able to tell if its fin was clipped or not way before picking it up. When all is said and done, if we wish to preserve what little resources we have left than we need to learn to treat them with the highest respect. These guys are hopeless, but at least we can attempt to teach future generations how to manage our precious resources and hopefully it is not too late.....

 

[OnTheFly]

The mishandling started with how the guy netted the fish. Then the extended time the fish was out of water. The gill handling was pathetic.

 

[alm21]

The net... interesting topic. Is it safe to say that the type of net matters when landing a wild fish? For example, is the type net in the video part of the problem because of the twisting, binding, etc.? Whereas a rubber net would be an appropriate tool for the situation? Or all all nets "bad" or does it depend on the handler? Thoughts?

For me, because of the type of net I have, I don't want to use it on a fish to be released because once it's in the net, it's a pain to get the fish and rigging out.

 

[OnTheFly]

The net was fine. I think if the guy would have lifted the net straight up and not dragged it then placed it down flat there would have been more access to get to the fish and remove gear thus reducing the time of the whole process. At that point, simply and carefully lifting and moving the fish back into the water would have been a snap.

 

[hunt-fish-trap]

I think that the only people who voted no did it to get a rise. that poor fish was mishandled in every way from start to finish.the fish below was hooked scooped and set on the bank in less than 5 min. and honestly that is the way I set the net down after landing. this year Im going to a rubber net. yes its a hatchery