Angling mortality, a different look

[Chaz]

Angling mortality has been found to be very low on brown trout when fishing with flies, less then 1%, on brook trout it is only 4% then that is 4 time the mortality of browns. In 1 study the mortality on brookies when caught on bait was 25%, that is 6 times what it would be for fly angling. I've seen 1 study where angling with bait is where mortality is 40% or 10 times what the FF study is, honestly it shouldn't be hard for PFBC to figure this out, the Brook Trout Enhancement Program should be, ALO not All Tackle.

 

[steve98]

Chaz

is there any way i can tell when i release a trout if it will survive or not. except for obvious signs that it will not.

streve 98

 

[FarmerDave]

It is all subjective, and there are way too many variables for the PF&BC to give you certain numbers. You yourself are showing different numbers from different studies. However, I do believe both are accurate. they just did the studies differently.

There are things that we all can do to reduce the mortality. I think hardware fishing mortality rate can be comparable to fly fishing. Of course you have the potential to catch more with hardware, but the percentages can be similar. Even with bait angling, the numbers could probably be reduced down to around 10 percent by not still fishing.

 

[FarmerDave]

Steve, in my opinion, the answer is no. All you can do is play the odds. If a fish is bleeding or struggling, I will usually keep it. Other than that, it goes back, because odds are in favor of it surviving. But that is just me. Some people think I should throw them all back, beause you never know if it will survive. But I say if the odds are it will not, I say let the raccoons catch their own dinner.

 

[Chaz]

I don't know of any way to tell if a trout is going to survive but there are some precautions you may take; don't use tippets smaller then 7X, play the fish quickly, keep it in the water when releasing the hook, take a photo if you like, but keep it in the water, don't play fish to exhaustion. The last item is a really big deal to me, if you have to revive a fish after catching it, then you aren't playing the fish properly and are also playing it too long. When I unhook a fish, I want it to immediately swim off on its own. If the fish doesn't swim off on its own then I know it is stressed and needs to be revived, which means I played it too long or took it out of the water.
Keep in mind that in a fishes environment the fish is weightless and breathing water, taking a fish out off the water is like me dunking you in the water and holding you under, now I wouldn't do that but that's the reality. None of us has been in space but think about how it feels when you are swimming for half a day and then get out of the water your legs feel like they have lead weights on them and everything feels out of sync. It's got to feel much worse to a fish.

 

[littlejuniata]

Great post Chaz, I hate to see guys play a fish too long, heck nail it, swing your rod from side to side and use the butt of the road to get them in and released as quickly as possible. Will be extremely important to do this as the water warms. The pictures you see of guys with their rods held high and pointed straight up is the exact opposite, that is the wrong way to play a fish.