Wild fish/confused

[Hawg Caller]

I am a little reluctant to even post this but...I am a bit confused,I dont mind taking a picture of your fish(if handled right) but are'nt some of you guys taking pictures of nates out of the water the same ones who are ******* about the wild coho mortality ? Are you saying its o.k. for you but nobody else ? sounds a little hypacritical to me. one side or the other ? am I reading it wrong or what ?

[fishinpoor]

[img]graemlins/applause.gif[/img]

[Quasimodo the fish killer]

I dont take pictures of fish and to be honest I have made some of my fishing buddies mouths drop when I wont give them time to snap a pic of a nate before I am flipin the net over lettin it go.

I think I may be able to shed some light on your question

steelhead are resiliant fish and with the ptoper handeling speed back off into the deep blue where as cohos arent able to recouperate as easily many times they just sink to the bottom. cohos seem to fight harder and burn out faster and are completely exhausted by the time they make it to the boat. I once heard a retired commercial fisherman say that he in 30 some years of fishing had never once caught a coho with a hook in its mouth. that fact led him to believe that they do not survive well after they have expended their energy, he felt that they were so spent that thet just sunk and became food for something higher up the food chain before they had a chance to revive.

the retired fisherman told me his thoughts right after I had told him I had boated 30 cohos one day in the river I had been fishing.

I guess it comes down to the fact that cohos have a higher mortlity rate when caught and released than steelhead do. I could be wrong but thats my beliefe some of the others on here have degrees in fisheries and will know for sure maybe tye will chime in and give a better explanation then I can.

Quasi
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HC,
Got your asbestos suit on? :shocked:

[STGRule]

Quasi, that is an interesting observation. I have seen the hardware collections in spawning shacks at a couple hatcheries from all the tackle they collect from the fish that come in. I wonder if the amount is different between coho hatcheries and chinook or steelhead hatcheries? You wouldn't be able to prove anything scientifically with the information but it would be interesting. Any hatchery people out there have any info?

[Fishfeet]

UH OOHHH!! Plug my ears. :grin: FF.

[GOT2FISH]

I think the big thing here is theres alot of pros that now how to do it and when folks see some of these photos they dont understand what care took place by the photo taker, Then they assume you can net the fish drag it around take a photo and drop it back in the river unhurt. Theres alot of folks that have fished Steelies since they were little ones and make a living guiding, I'm sure they know what to do . Maybe they should put a disclaimer at the bottom of the photo that says [don't try this at home I'm a trained proffcianal] All I know is I leave my natives in the water and try to relase asap I dont know enough to feel comfortable taking a photo yet. So I dont think its double standards I think its more of knowing what to do.

[drano100]

I have been lurking on the board for about a month now and have seen this topic many times. just thought I would add my thoughts I like to see pic's of fish if you are going to take a pic of a nate keep it in the water, wear golves or get your hands wet, keep the bellie of the fish in the water at all times and keep your hands out of the gills. For you guys that have photos with nates standing in your boats holding it up for the pic this is too much handeling keep the fish in the water, be gentle, and be quick and every thing should be ok :grin:

[Ty]

Big difference between the freshwater phase and the ocean phase of salmonids......

[Quasimodo the fish killer]

oh I know here is a a difference from the ocean caught fish and the river caught fish ty but I just keep thinking that for the life of me I just cant remember ever catching a coho in a river that had a hook in its mouth or even a tear where it had been caught before.


Quasi

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[Hawg Caller]

Thanks guys: didnt mean to blast anyone was'nt sure about the diff. between salt/fresh, handeling. Keta: no asbestos-hope it didnt get that bad, but at the moment I do have my neoprenes on...got some time so Im going to hit the upper willy, see if any steel yet. My general position is that of Drano's, I have lots of pic.s & dont have to pull tham out of the h2o, some of the best pic.s are with the fish still in the water. Just my .02 thanks for the info. everyone.

[Puffin]

quasi why are you netting a nate anaway unhook the fish and let it go

Hi Puffin,
It's nice to hear from another blood thirsty fish slayer. I hope I can make the TA meeting.

[Fishalot]

He probably has the special net with the coating. Or he was refering to a fish that was hooked with a plug or deeply hooked.
I thought the same thing when I read flipin the net over and leting it go.
Who knows with the right net and the fish pointed up stream it my be a good way to revive a fish and keep from releaeing a tired fish prematurely.


Fishalot

[Born to be Wild]

I once heard a retired commercial fisherman say that he in 30 some years of fishing had never once caught a coho with a hook in its mouth. that fact led him to believe that they do not survive well after they have expended their energy

<font size="2" face="verdana,arial,helvetica">In 1991 I caught a coho in the Carver area on the Clack that had a mooching rig (two hooks) in its mouth.
Possibly from the Bouy 10 fishery.

I have caught quite a few coho in Washington that have had hooks in there mouths.

Dano

[thefishnfool]

I've seen many coho in the river with hooks........in their A@#es. hehehe......thought that was funny. No really the mortality difference between fresh and salt is huge. Also...just a thought but I bet that the difference in mortality probably isn't whether the fish had its picture taken. If I remember from bio correctly the number of parasites is much higher in the ocean. So any slime that is removed will have a much higher/quicker impact. Can also be a factor of the "bends" as fish come up from great depths as it can rupture their swim bladders.
Tim

[GutZ]

Every Coho I have ever caught has had at least one hook in it.

[steelheadslayer]

I agree with several points on both sides of this issue. Me personally, I keep the nates in the wtare and don't even try to touch them if I can just use my pliers to get he hook out and get em pointed in the direction of the current. But, I also think the pros practice extreme care and caution when releasing nates or even taking a pic of them.

I also think water conditions play a strong factor also. Winter steelies are caught during the colder water conditions of the year and I also think they are stronger than their coho brethren. Most coho caught that people are firing on about are caught during the warmer lower flows of early fall when they are severely stressed when fought for awhile. These fish I think shouldn't be photographed or needlessly held out of the water at all. They need all the help they can get.

I have personally seen hatchery personnel drop steelhead on the pavement taking scale samples, on accident of course. They then pick them up and send em down the chute to the river where the fish are fine. They don't find them belly up anywhere on the stream. That observance concerned me as to why I questioned em on it. So, IMO, steelhead are the toughest fish out there, that's why I like catching em so much.

[Quasimodo the fish killer]

puffin I dont net them if i can clearly see they are a nate but sometimes thats not so easy when your fishing fast water. as a general rule I just cut the line and let them go if its a plug and I can safely remove it with out losing the plug or a finger I dont net them.

I do have a beckman tar bag net but to be honest I think the old cotton net that came on it did less damage to the fish that rubber coating is pretty coarse.


Quasi

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[Claybear]