My colleague John Page Williams, who works for the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, is also involved in the Maryland CCA. He turned me on to Careful Catch Maryland, which is promoting the use of catch cradles used by muskie anglers to keep big bass in the water during release. The science behind it is that the less a fish is handled on release, and the less time it spends out of water, the more likely it is to survive. Check out this scientific paper on catch and release mortality, and how your gear and handling affect a fish’s recovery.