02-23-2014, 02:29 PM
Yesterday, myself and a couple friends fished Bear Lake. We had a good time and enjoyed targeting fish with preferred tactics.
We witnessed some very poor fish handling skills by other boaters (I won't name names) out there. Much to our surprise we saw one of the more accomplished fisherman over there drop (several) fish onto the bottom of the boat so hard we heard it from almost a hundred yards away, hold the fish by the gills vertically and have it out of the water for several minutes and then release the fish ( which by all standards was a trophy fish). We thought for sure they were going to keep the fish by the way it was handled, but to our surprise once pictures were through, it, and most of the fish through the day were tossed from shoulder height back into the water.
I don't want to cause any debates or sore feelings, but Bear Lake is the best it has been in decades and I don't want to lose fish due to poor handling techniques.
Remember, NO fingers in the gills. No need for further explanation
Support the fish HORIZONTALLY. If the fish is large enough, the weight of the fish can actually separate the spine from the skull. They may swim away, but will likely die shortly after.
The fish can't hold its breath any longer than you can, I try to keep this in mind when I take one out of the water for pictures. Otherwise I try to not even take them out of the water.
Don't toss them back into the water. Jump off a chair flat to your back and see how you feel, its probably the same way the fish feel when they hit the water. The surface tension on the water is harder than you think.
We all have our favorite species and fisheries. Lets please be sure to handle fish (all game fish species) correctly so we have the fishery in the future.
Any feed back is welcome.
Thanks.
[signature]
We witnessed some very poor fish handling skills by other boaters (I won't name names) out there. Much to our surprise we saw one of the more accomplished fisherman over there drop (several) fish onto the bottom of the boat so hard we heard it from almost a hundred yards away, hold the fish by the gills vertically and have it out of the water for several minutes and then release the fish ( which by all standards was a trophy fish). We thought for sure they were going to keep the fish by the way it was handled, but to our surprise once pictures were through, it, and most of the fish through the day were tossed from shoulder height back into the water.
I don't want to cause any debates or sore feelings, but Bear Lake is the best it has been in decades and I don't want to lose fish due to poor handling techniques.
Remember, NO fingers in the gills. No need for further explanation
Support the fish HORIZONTALLY. If the fish is large enough, the weight of the fish can actually separate the spine from the skull. They may swim away, but will likely die shortly after.
The fish can't hold its breath any longer than you can, I try to keep this in mind when I take one out of the water for pictures. Otherwise I try to not even take them out of the water.
Don't toss them back into the water. Jump off a chair flat to your back and see how you feel, its probably the same way the fish feel when they hit the water. The surface tension on the water is harder than you think.
We all have our favorite species and fisheries. Lets please be sure to handle fish (all game fish species) correctly so we have the fishery in the future.
Any feed back is welcome.
Thanks.
[signature]