Lethal Factors
by Lee Weil, former President of LIFR
Reprinted from the Long Island Flyrodders website

"Fish on!" The rod bows into a heavy fish and the angler announces his success to his friends. He lowers the rod tip slightly, letting the big rainbow run upstream against the current, tearing the line off against the drag of the reel.

"Look at him go!", he whoops. The fish makes several more strong runs and finally weakens. As it lies on its side he slides the net under it and hefts it out of the water, holding it up to show his buddies. It’s a very nice fish, going about six pounds. He wades out of the stream and walks along the bank to where they are fishing. " Hey, give me the camera, I want to take some pictures of this one". He lays the fish down and walks over to get the camera. "Wait a minute " calls the other fisherman, "I want to get a picture with him, too". They take turns passing the fish around while taking shots of each other.

Each one holds the fish up with his fingers in its gills. After everyone has their turn, the fish is tossed back into the stream, where it swims away sluggishly.

If you asked these guys, I’m sure they would tell you that they practice catch and release. Actually, what they are releasing is a dead fish.

I’m amazed that in a sport where people will spend so much time and energy in learning technique, there is so little awareness of how to preserve our ultimate goal - the trophy fish. We read the latest articles; buy the best equipment we can afford and spend countless hours pursuing our passion; so why not learn to release fish safely? Let’s face it, there are a lot more fishermen out there than there used to be, and only so many fish.

It’s not usually intentional abuse that kills trout, it’s ignorance in the way they’re handled. In a study done by Queen’s University in Ontario, statistics showed that the mortality rate of fish rose significantly when they were exposed to air after being stressed by exercise. Only 28% of the fish released after 60 seconds (one minute) of exposure lived; i.e. less than 3 out of 10. The other 72% died within 12 hours. If exposed for 30 seconds the survival odds rose to 6 out of 10, and fish that were stressed but not exposed had a 9 out of 10 shot of surviving. That’s a substantial margin. The reason for this increase in mortality rate along with exposure time is the damage done to the gill tissues by being exposed to air. This can be easily avoided by leaving the fish submerged while removing your fly with a forceps. If you feel that you absolutely must net your fish simply leave the net in the water.

Another factor that kills trout is the time spent bringing the fish to hand. We all love to play a fish on light tackle, it’s exciting and flyfishing emphasizes the art of finesse. But a fish that is exhausted by a long bout can be stressed to the point of no return, swimming away only to die a few hours later.

Therefore where there are large fish present (for example in Connetquot) you should consider going with a heavier outfit in order to land them as soon as possible. Early in the season, when fishing nymphs and streamers, you can go to a 3X or 4X tippet as the fish are not line shy and it will assist in landing them quickly, reducing the stress and fatigue.

There are those exceptional fish that we want to photograph; either for our photo album or to be recreated into a mount. This is not a problem if you have another person to help out. Have them focus on the spot in the water where you will be releasing the fish while you are playing the fish to you. When you remove the fly, simply cradle the fish on your palms and raise it just above the surface for the shot, lowering it immediately back into the water. If your partner is ready this will only expose the fish for 2-3 seconds. If you don’t have anyone handy to man the camera, please don’t lay the fish on the bank or a dock to take a picture; you may as well put it in the creel. There are times, especially in the warmer weather when, in spite of all your efforts you cannot revive a fish. This is the time to make the decision to take one home for the freezer, rather than leave it for the seagulls.

The next time you have the good fortune to land a trophy sized fish, consider how long it took to reach that size, and how long it would take to replace him. Trout Grand Marnier is my favorite recipe; I find it tastes much better when you use the pan-size butterfly fillets and I derive a lot of pleasure from watching that five-pounder swim away to fight again.

(Permission to reprint the above article was granted by the author)