How to Safely Handle Fish for Catch & Release Fishing

While keeping fish for a fresh, locally sourced meal is one of the many benefits of fishing, many anglers choose to catch and release fish. To ensure the fish you release are healthy, survive, and live to be caught another day, there are some basic precautions and measures anglers should take when landing, handling, and releasing the fish.

This video discusses the various tools that anglers should have so they are ready to carefully and safely land, unhook and release a fish to ensure it survives. It also discusses safe fish handling practices, and how to support and hold fish properly to avoid injuring them.

[kyleanderson]

Great advice, friends. Thank you for humane fishing tips

[filip]

Overlooked aspect of fishing by many ! I don’t mind harvesting fish for food by do it the right way and when people handle fish poorly and release it so wasteful bc the fish can die and you’re not even using it for food. We should appreciate what nature has given us !

[KAYSBRANCH]

I have to fish from "the bank", and I don't mean First Federal. "The Bank" has many pitfalls that are dangerous to fish. We won't mention the giant grappling hook attached to the bait that is buried in his or her jaw and possibly his or her throat. That coupled with the jerking and pulling that goes along with landing the fish, by the time you manage to force the fish against its will to come to the bank, about all you can do when you are by yourself, is "cane pole" it up and out of the water and drop it onto the bank. At this point it is flopping and spazzing out making it difficult for you to get a grip on him, so you have to put your foot on him to calm him down. I might add, at no time does this fish know you are attempting to let him go. So any stress factors on him are maxed out. I pick him up by his lower lip, covered in grass and dirt, try my best to remove the treble hooks, harpoon hook, or great big hook once hidden a plastic worm, without hurting him. Not always easy. Once he is free of his medieval torture device, I get as close to the water as I can without falling in, and try to set him in the water as gently as I can. But the bank doesn't always allow for that. So a gentle softball toss may be in order. I want god's creatures to not have suffer like anyone else, but I've already enticed one using nefarious methods to attempt a meal and turned it into a nightmare for him. That I was kind enough not to rip the hook from his mouth and toss him a live well or strap him to a stringer still doesn't set well. Fishing is in a sense like hunting, only in hunting there is no release portion. I will make every effort to try to be gentle where I can, but I usually fish alone, on a bank, that has rocks and weeds, and dirt. Great information though.

[pascaltran]

Fantastic video, yes catch what you can eat

[joycedimaggio]

More people need to know this. You should do one for trout! People man handle with full two hand grip! I cringe. Thanks guys.

[carlypalmer]

Did u rly say "Live to be caught again" ? lol guess that's the #nameofthegame but thx for posting the 1st 2:22 sec of this video before the #infomercial so I could "school" (heh) someone on not just throwing damn fish back in the h20 & wondering why they just float there/and/or die...

[jbbairoletto]

Its always good to give advice on how to release a fish, but you show many shortcomings in the return of this specimen, it is unnecessary to handle its tail or hold it, since with your hands you are removing the mucus from its scales (essential for his defense), in addition to the stress he suffered when he was reeled; if you don't want to hurt, touch as little as possible; Not to mention taking a picture of each fish we take out of the water. For this sport, morale is essential.

[DirtNassty]

LMAO...come on bro, We all know (including yourself) that you ain't doing all this everything you catch a fish!

[PMulcahy]

How long can the fish stay out of the water without it dying from no water