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.
Posts tagged “catch and release”
Done properly, catch and release is an awesome conservation tool. Mishandle the fish and you’re throwing back dead meat. Hannah Belford over at Flyfishergirl.com is holding a contest to promote proper fish handling and why its important to let big fish keep swimming. Check it out and maybe you’ll win a reel while you’re at it.
Tagged: catch and release, ethical anglers, fly fisher girl, steelhead
A guy catches the fish of a lifetime and kills it, and the fly fishing community is up in arms. The non-fishing population, and even many anglers who don’t fly, don’t get it. Isn’t the point of fishing to catch something to eat? I showed the picture to a friend and got that exact response. To many outside the fishing community, catch and release seems akin to torture. Or, as some who have made the hunting analogy say, nonsensical–like wrestling a deer to the ground, dunking its head under water for a quick photo op, and letting it go. (I’d credit the originator if I could remember where I read that one.) That analogy sort of works because, for all the mystical bullshit about…
Jason Puris of thefin.com put together this video for Stripers Forever.
