Catch & Release And/or Barbless Only?

[Outside Bend]

Factors like water temperature and handling time have a far greater role in fish mortality than barbless hooks- most studies show mortality due to barbed hooks is typically less than 5%. I wouldn't be opposed to barbless regs- they're easier to remove and do less damage to mandibles and gills. But if dramatically reducing fish mortality is the goal, I'm not sure how constructive it would be.

I'd support C&R or even a closed season during spawning- but I'm not sure how effective a yearlong C&R season would be. There's relatively few very large fish in Crane, and relatively few anglers with the skill and patience to catch those fish- except when they're spawning.

[eric1978]

Crane should be C&R, along with the rest of the Blue Ribbon sections in the state, along with statewide smallmouth C&R. Good luck with any of that.

[Craig C]

Living just minutes away from Crane Creek and hiking there very often, fishing only a little, I cant remember seeing anyone ever keep a fish since they changed the reg to allow a keeper. Certainly that doesnt mean it doesnt happen but I tend to think that currently there are not enough fish being legally taken for another reg change to have an affect. Poaching on the other hand has had a huge affect. I have turned in more than one car license to operation game thief and like others have said see signs of bait use constantly.

[Bamboozle]

Lots of good thoughts.

As for mortality there are factors we can and can't control. Water temps of course we can't control. Handling time is absolutely huge but difficult to regulate with a cut and dried "rule." I know there's a guide in Arkansas who give his clients 30 seconds to land a fish and then cuts their line!

As for 5% mortality due to barbed hooks a couple of thoughts. First I think barbed hooks will increase handling time, so it may be hard to separate one from another. Second I'd just point out the simple mathematics of compounding: a 5% reduction in population year after year will compound remarkably.

Now there are counter balancing factors as well, like reproduction. But my point is just to say that 5% is not irrelevant, especially when it is a 5% you can change (versus a factor like water temp which you can't control.)

I totally agree season should be closed during spawning though have gotten excoriated in past for this view.

Yes the use of bait is a constant problem and frankly I think some locals keep fish just to give MDC a symbolic middle finger. So in some sense I guess more regulation -- especially if unenforced -- could be counter-productive.

I love MDC and have at least a couple of agents I count as friends. But I also think that here and elsewhere they're quite imperious and don't try to get local input or buy-in when they put in regulations, they don't edcuate along with regulating and in a place like CC I think this limits their effectiveness.

[steve l]

Gonna somewhat hijack the thread, although its along the same lines. Or at least that's my story. My wife is learning to use plastics, but is still trying to get the hang of it. She, and I from time to time do end up with fish swelling the hook. I usually just cut the line, assuming what I thought I knew about the fishes gastric juices dissolving the hook. But I'm just not seeing that. So anyone able to chime in. Am I just ending up with a fish dying slowly by cutting the hook/ jig, or is there a chance the fish will survive?

[Feathers and Fins]

Why not use circle hooks? I use them on some of my flies and they work just fine and every fish it hooked the same place ( corner of the mouth ) now understandably it would be currently impossible for some of the very small flies but when possible why not use them on places as special as crane?

[Chief Grey Bear]

Only way to reduce mortality is to fish hookless. Problem solved.

[Outside Bend]

I see what you guys are saying, less than 5% isn't nothing. But high mortality is the nature of trout populations- produce tons of offspring, of which only a few survive. In any given year more than half the population may be dying from those factors we can't control- water temperature, predation, lack of habitat/food, etc. Given that, I'm just not sure tweaking a minor source of mortality like barbed hooks is going to dramatically improve the fishery.

It's not a bad reg, but at it's best it's only adding another dozen or so fish per mile- is that something most anglers are going to notice? IMO there's more gain focusing on issues like habitat.

[Bamboozle]

In most cases where wildlife populations seem to be under pressure I'd agree that efforts are best focused on habitat.

But in this case the habitat on the MDC is some of the best along the whole creek. Especially the lower Wire Road which has great water, lots of structure etc. Yet fish numbers on MDC are low. So we have to think that other factors are in play. Specifically angling pressure of one kind or another.

[Of course "low" numbers can also be relative. I have been days and not seen a fish and assumed they're all gone and then come back another day and fish are everywhere.]

I think we call tend to agree that one of the big problems is bait fishing.

Feather & Fins: do you know of any place to buy circle hook flies? I am not a tier but I am intrigued by this idea.

[Harps]

I know there's a guide in Arkansas who give his clients 30 seconds to land a fish and then cuts their line!

He would only do that to me once. I can't imagine a guide that treats his clients like that would stay in business very long, or employed if he's working for a lodge/outfitter. If you know who this is, why don't you out him here so none of us wastes our time and money with him or her?