By Fish Recycler | April 24, 2007
At Recycled Fish, we believe that anglers can have a powerful positive - or negative - impact upon
the resource. This goes far beyond just practicing catch and release, but as implied by our name, Catch and Release is at
the heart of it, because it’s one of the most tangible things that an angler can do to benefit fisheries.
Basically, good Catch and Release practices come down to keeping the fish’s best interest at
heart. After all, if you’re going to release the fish, you want to know it has its best chance of survival, right? These
tips will help. Learn them, practice them all the time, and share them with others. You’ll be doing your part to maintain
our healthy fisheries and help restore those that are suffering!
Consider where you are fishing
Can you safely bring a fish to hand and release it again from an embankment ten feet
above the water? From a bridge thirty feet above the water? Over all those rocks between the water’s edge and your seat?
If you are serious about the fish’s survival, consider fishing from a spot that allows you to legitimately land and
release fish safely and gently. This works in your interest as well – what if you catch the “really big one”
this time out? How would you land that one?
What’s the water temperature like? Particularly when fishing for coldwater
species like trout, when the water becomes warm, fish have a decreased chance of survival after being released. Warm water
contains less dissolved oxygen and fish are under more stress in a warmer water environment. When water temps are high, consider
other fishing opportunities that will have less impact.
Choose your tackle wisely
The right size hooks and line strength for the fish you are going to target is a good place to start.
If you intend to release your fish, remember that fish caught on flies or lures with single hooks have the best chance of
survival. If possible to do so, replace treble hooks with single hooks. If you’re fishing with bait, get rid of your
conventional hooks and start using circle hooks. Circle hooks have been around since the turn of the century, but they’re
getting a recent revival in the recreational angling community. It’s rare to gut-hook a fish using one, they virtually
always hook the fish in the corner of the mouth - and they’re super effective. If you decide to fish with bait and conventional
hooks, set the hook quickly to avoid deeply hooking fish. Deeply hooked fish have a good chance of fatally tearing internal
organs while you are landing them.
Pinch down the barbs on all of your hooks
Barbless hooks allow for a much easier and quicker release of your fish, with less damage to the fish’s
mouth. You can use pliers to pinch down the barbs on your hooks or you can carefully file them off of large hooks. You’ll
be surprised how few fish you lose using barbless hooks compared to the number you lost while using barbed hooks. Nearly every
angler who fishes often for very long hooks him or herself at some point. At that moment, you’ll either thank yourself
for removing the barb or kick yourself for not!
Don’t fight your fish any longer than necessary
Purposely allowing your battle with a fish to continue when it’s not necessary places undue strain
on the fish. Exhausted fish often swim away, but die days later because of lactic acid that builds up in their system.
The longer they fight, the more toxic lactic acid that builds up. This means you should use the proper line test strength
for the fish you intend to catch, and land your fish swiftly, but not carelessly – after all, the point is to land the
fish!
Keep the fish in the water
Don’t lift fish out of the water – don’t even touch the fish if you
don’t have to. Many fish can be released without ever touching them. Just bend over, remove the hook with your hand
or with pliers, and let the fish swim away. Research has shown that keeping a fish in the water dramatically increases its
chances of survival. Think of it – after the fight of your life, say going 12 rounds in a boxing ring or running a marathon,
imagine having your air cut off! That’s exactly what we do when we lift fish from the water. Fish kept out of the water
for more than one minute have a greatly diminished chance of survival, once a fish has been out of the water for
three minutes, it has virtually no chance of survival, even if it swims away.
Keep your hands wet when handling fish
If you do handle a fish, and you do it with dry hands, it can cause some of the protective coating
(“slime”) on the fish’s skin to come off. This coating is designed to protect fish from disease. Wet hands
reduce this risk and can actually make it a little easier to handle your catch. Some anglers prefer soft wet gloves.
Maintain control of the fish
Fish that are allowed to bang around on streamside rocks or the bottom of a boat
harm themselves and expend a lot of undue energy. Depending upon the fish, you can control it by cupping your hand (or hands)
around it, cradling it, grabbing it by the bottom lip, or grabbing it across the back. Under no circumstance should you ever
grab a fish by the eyes or gills (despite what you’ve heard before or seen in outdoor magazines). Avoid squeezing fish
around the belly, as this can damage internal organs.
Keep the fish vertical when holding it by the jaw
If you catch a bass or another fish that you will lift from the water by the jaw, be sure to keep the
body in a straight up and down position. Do not attempt to hold the fish at a 45 degree angle or in a horizontal position
by the jaw alone. You can dislocate the fish’s jaw, making it impossible for the fish to eat, effectively starving the
fish to death. If you want a horizontal photo of the fish, wet your other hand and support it under the belly and take the
stress off the jaw. Bigger fish especially can end up with damaged or broken jaws if they are held without belly support.
Use needle nose pliers, hemostats, or fishhook removers to remove hooks
Pliers or similar tools allow you to remove hooks with better control and limit your “hands on”
contact with the fish. Fish that are barely hooked or hooked in the lip can usually be freed with your hand, but it’s
a good idea to always have a pair of needle nose pliers for those harder to reach hooks.
Do not try to “dig out” deeply engorged hooks
Particularly when fishing with bait, fish can completely swallow the hook. The best thing to do is
to simply cut the line at the fish’s mouth and let the fish go. Trying to horse a deeply swallowed hook out of a fish
can end up doing more harm than good. If the hook is engorged in the gut, gills, or even deep in the mouth, the fish will
be better off for keeping the hook in its mouth; in fact most hooks will simply rust out after a short time.
When fishing in saltwater, many anglers use nickel or stainless hooks. This is your call: using stainless
hooks will allow your lures, flies, and bait rigs last longer. However, if a fish swallows the hook, it is unlikely that it
will rust out after time.
Use Catch-and-Release Nets
If you must use a net to land fish, get a ‘catch and release’ net. The
material is less abrasive to the fish’s skin and “slime,” and the smaller mesh size does less damage as
well. “Cradle” and “U”-type nets are excellent for long fish and safe fish handling. Good C&R
nets typically have soft or knotless mesh.
Release fish promptly
The best bet for your fish’s survival is to let it go immediately. Livewells
utilizing fish health-enhancing products are the best bet if you aren’t going to release fish immediately. Keeping fish
in baskets or on stringers, particularly if they are in current or are being drug by a boat, virtually eliminates any chance
of survival that the fish may have had. When you catch a fish, determine on the spot if you are going to keep the fish or
not. It is an atrocity to find a few small dead fish at the boat ramp because an irresponsible angler decided “they
didn’t have enough to bother with,” but we’ve all seen it.
Revive your fish carefully
In moving water, hold your fish pointing into the current in a slower portion of
the river until it is revived and swims away on its own. In still-water fishing situations, there is debate as to whether
moving the fish back and forth or just holding it gently in the water is more beneficial to the fish. At RecycledFish.org,
we believe that holding the fish in the water with a gentle push forward as it regains its strength is the best technique.
Never “throw” fish – even small fish, back into the water. Even if they “swim away,” the shock
reduces their chance of survival.
Take photos as quickly as possible
The practice of catch-photo-release is a good one, it’s our favorite kind of “CPR.”
But photos should be taken quickly and with minimum impact to the fish. A fish with an engorged hook hanging by the line has
little chance of survival after dangling from its guts, for example. Photos with the angler standing in the water, holding
a fish, dripping with water, inches above the surface creates a beautiful photograph that makes a statement. Photos of long
stringers of dead fish, kitchen doorway or front yard photos, or a bucket of fish lying on a frozen lake are becoming taboo
and are distasteful. If you do keep a “mess” of fish, consider lifting the one or two best fish and taking a photo
of those while you’re still near the water – you’ll have a memento that you can be proud of, and that others
will be comfortable to look at.
For more on catch-photo-release fishing, visit www.catchphotorelease.com.
Keep fish that aren’t going to make it
Finally, if you’ve caught a fish and it does not revive and swim away on its
own, (keep in mind that it can take a couple of minutes to revive large coldwater species) is bleeding, drifts to the bottom
or floats to the top after being released, you should keep that fish for your daily limit if it is legal to do so. Use your
judgment.
In closing, we believe that all types of fish deserve the benefit of a gentle release back
into the water regardless of species. Whether ESA listed steelhead or common carp, all fish are a part of the ecosystems
in which they live, and all entertain us with a battle when caught. Let’s show them the respect that they deserve and
let ‘em swim.
