What Do You Consider To Be A "catch"?

[Mitch f]

The second to last part of the process is actually being able to land the fish correctly. The last being a successful and quick release of a healthy fish. If you cant bring the fish to the boat you are only a half assed fisherman.

[stlfisher]

I would say it depends if your fishing saltwater or freshwater. Most fresh water fish can be caught and corralled without out to much difficulty or danger to you or the fish.

Large Saltwater fish (like sharks) can be a bit more problematic and I think the leader definition is fine for these fish...no reason to lose a hand if you don't need to.

[Flysmallie]

.no reason to lose a hand if you don't need to.

Are you saying you wouldn't lip this one?

[Feathers and Fins]

Wouldn't lip it but certainly would tail it, BTW my most hated shark right there lost plenty of Tarpon to them.

[Gavin]

You haven't caught a fish until you can choose to kill it or let it go. Fooling fish is a different matter entirely. Think that most of the fun is fooling yourself into thinking that you made them eat something fake, artificial, no darn good. Fish don't have hands...

[cnr]

BTW my most hated shark right there lost plenty of Tarpon to them.

You and me both. Man I hate those things. I had one eat a 150lb class Tarpon right at the boat once. What a loss.

[ness]

No hard and fast rules here, and I rarely if ever count. At the end of the day I know if it was a good one or not.

I'd just as soon not handle most trout. Tricking one is fun, playing one right and bringing it in is fun. Jacking around with one in a net, trying to get a hook out and/or tippet unwound while doing as little damage as possible isn't so fun. A lot of the time I'll try and twist the hook out without netting the fish at all.

[JCWolfe]

A fish is caught when its on the hook, netted or brought to hand is how I count fish.

[Al Agnew]

Only you can determine whether you count it as a catch or not. Only you can determine whether it's IMPORTANT whether you count it as a catch or not. For me, what's important is that I am certain that if I wished, I COULD have brought it to hand. Here's what I mean, based upon river bass fishing:

If the fish is much over 12 inches, I kinda do want to bring it to hand, hold it for a second, and then release it. If it's a big one, at least 16-17 inches, I definitely want to bring it in and perhaps measure and photograph it before releasing it. Therefore, if I lose any of those fish before bringing them to hand, I "can't" count it.

On the other hand, I often just ease up on the little ones and let them jump and hopefully throw the hooks. I don't play them carefully enough to make sure to get them in. I give them every chance to get off. Therefore, if I'm counting the total number of fish I "catch", I'll count those little ones that get off, IF I've gotten them close enough that I know for sure which species they are and within an inch or so how big they are. I assume that, if I had wanted to get them all the way in and if I had played them carefully, it's almost certain I would have gotten them to hand. After all, I'm counting mainly to keep the record for myself, and to compare to past trips, not to set some kind of record.

So if I write on here that I caught 50 bass, it may mean that a few of the smaller ones, well under 12 inches, I let get off before bringing them to hand. If I write that I caught 20 over 12 inches, I actually did bring them all to hand. If I say that I caught an 18 incher, I caught it and measured it.

[John W Kelly]

Having strict personal rules for counting catches seems to be pretty normal then...

Thanks everyone!