Fish Are More Harmed By............

[stlfisher]

If I had to rank them I would say number 1, 6, and 5, but IMO they all kind of blend together. All can be less harmful if fisherman are just attentive to what they are doing. Not sure that happens with the average joe.

I read an atricle recently about soft plastics and how bad they really are for the environment...they take forever to decompose. I always wondered what the bottom of a popular fishing spot looks like. I am guessing lot's of lures, soft plastics, etc. Probably looks like that tree at Bennett in zone two just up from the Whistle Bridge.

[Wayne SW/MO]

i know if you remove an adult bass from the nest while there are fry on it, they are pretty much instantly decimated by the panfish that are lingering at the edge of the bass's territory. even if you are fast say 30 seconds from hookup to release, i'd be willing to bet 90% or greater of the fry on that nest are dinner. those are scientific numbers but I have witnessed swarms of fry getting vaporized while the parent was on someone's line. that issue is going to be far less with an egg scatterer with no parental input after laying, like a trout.

i'm not saying that's the most damaging, just pointing out what happens. it's a zero issue for trout, huge issue for black bass.(fishery)

It seems to be more theory then fact that it really harms the fishery. While it's true that the fry are mostly decimated, bass in Missouri lakes don't seem to be in any danger. Remember that when the male leaves he take a shot the fry.

[Outside Bend]

I tend to think of it as that driving anecdote- When polled, most everyone rates their own driving skills as "good" or "excellent." But the statistics don't back that up.

We all want to believe we have as minimal an impact on the resource as possible, that every fish we release swims off uninjured and ready to fight another day. But the reality is that some of the fish we catch will likely die as a result of our angling, and I freely admit I've bungled fish before. Fish will die in any of the scenarios listed, and IMO the best we can do is be responsible, and conscious of proper handling techniques.

[flytyer57]

What really bites is when a fish is hooked deep and in the gills. You know that fish is gonna die but sometimes you just have to release it anyway due to regulations on length and C&R areas.

[jdmidwest]

What really bites is when a fish is hooked deep and in the gills. You know that fish is gonna die but sometimes you just have to release it anyway due to regulations on length and C&R areas.

Turtles have to eat too.

[mikeb]

There are things that kill fish directly, but I think most fish don't die instantly, Anyone who has aquariums knows fish die from stress as more often than not. Some things on my list:

Bass:

1. Being put in a live well for 6-7 hours, beat from one end of the lake to another and tossed in a bag. weighed and tossed into much different water temp, Ph ect. Think that qualifies as stress.

2. Texas did a study a few years back mortality rate for C.Rig fish hooked in the hottest part of summer on scented plastic was around 50% if you include the fish that die later.

3 stupidity

4 People who keep every fish they catch, There are an unlimited fish available, plus I really don't care about anyone besides myself. It doesn't count if you don't eat it. see rule 3

5 Fish pulled up from 50-60 feet deep.

Trout:

1 power bait, on drift rigs

2 fishing way too light of line for the size of fish. Especially during l.o. during the fall

3 stupidity

4 People who keep every fish they catch, There are an unlimited fish available, plus I really don't care about anyone besides myself. It doesn't count if you don't eat it. see rule 3

[BredMan]

I would say #6 first but all have some impact.

Although I feel if anglers were more responsible for their actions and if young anglers were educated to know the harms, that alone would have some positive impact on the fishery. We have all been guilty of inducing some harm to a fish on occasion but most would never on purpose. Being an example as a responsible angler promotes good habits for others and for our younger generations. The worst examples are those easiest to see, that being many of the celebrity fishermen on TV who claim to be the best fishermen in the world.

[ozark trout fisher]

What really bites is when a fish is hooked deep and in the gills. You know that fish is gonna die but sometimes you just have to release it anyway due to regulations on length and C&R areas.

That is a tough one. It's really hard for me to release a fish knowing that it's going to die, and it is the only situation in fishing where I may seriously consider breaking a game law. I just about can't bring myself to release a fish bleeding from the gills-it just seems wrong, no matter what the rules are. I will not say that I have actually done that, but I would not look down on someone keeping an undersize fish that is clearly going to die.

But giving up live bait in the last couple years (except in the winter for pond trout which I always keep anyway) has pretty much eliminated that. It's a bad situation to be in, and I think it's the responsibility of every fisherman to insure that they don't get in that situation any more than is absolutely necessary. I'm not saying it can't happen with flies, but it's considerably less likely to happen than if I'm using bait or treble hooks. I haven't totally given up the use of treble hooks for bass, but I know I should, and I am heading that direction.

[Al Agnew]

Fish that bleed from the gills don't necessarily die, IF you can get them unhooked and back in the water quickly. As long as they are out of the water they continue to bleed and will bleed out if they are out of the water for several minutes, but fish blood has a coagulating factor that makes them stop bleeding very quickly once they are back in the water. Having a pond full of bass right next to the house is pretty instructive, because I have bass in it that I've caught multiple times that have had identifying scars. I've hooked a few of them in the gills, and got them off the hook quickly and released them, and then have caught them again weeks or months later, so I know they can survive even if bleeding badly. And I've caught bass that have had badly torn gills but were quite healthy; a few I've caught actually had tattered gill structures hanging out of their gill plates.

And I think I mentioned before that while treble hooks tend to cause more wounds outside the mouth, including hooks in the eyes, those wounds are seldom fatal. You'll hook one once in a while that has totally engulfed a two treble hook lure so that one set of hooks is down in the gills, but that isn't common. Actually in the last few years the worst wounds I've inflicted on bass have been in using EWG hooks with Senko type lures. A lot of bass seem to get these big hooks just far enough inside their mouths that when you set the hook it comes out through their eye sockets.

[troutfiend1985]

That is a tough one. It's really hard for me to release a fish knowing that it's going to die, and it is the only situation in fishing where I may seriously consider breaking a game law. I just about can't bring myself to release a fish bleeding from the gills-it just seems wrong, no matter what the rules are. I will not say that I have actually done that, but I would not look down on someone keeping an undersize fish that is clearly going to die.

But giving up live bait in the last couple years (except in the winter for pond trout which I always keep anyway) has pretty much eliminated that. It's a bad situation to be in, and I think it's the responsibility of every fisherman to insure that they don't get in that situation any more than is absolutely necessary. I'm not saying it can't happen with flies, but it's considerably less likely to happen than if I'm using bait or treble hooks. I haven't totally given up the use of treble hooks for bass, but I know I should, and I am heading that direction.

OTF I know how you feel. But I think that law is there to prevent people from saying they hooked a trout deeply in the gills and use it as an excuse to keep fish. Also, as Al said, there is a chance that they will survive, just get them in the water as quick as possible.