Dead Trout

[loo10]

Fished below Lookout Island from my boat on Saturday.

Did very, very well using zebra midges in red.

Unfortunately we saw loads of fish dead on the bottom

from Point Royale scattered downstream. They all

appeared to be in the slot...dead...lying on the bottom.

Best guess is someone caught them and dumped them

out of their livewell for whatever reason.

Very sad to see.

[rainbow]

Everytime I am above fall creek in my boat I see a lot of dead slot fish. Never see any big ones dead all 12-16 inchers.

[loo10]

I think we do a good job preaching about reviving BIG fish

but the little ones need the same tlc to survive.

I fish from a boat 90% of the time and one has to be careful

about playing a fish and then netting it and keeping it out of the water

for an extended period of time while unhooking it.

You can't just flip it over the side like a bass...it'll croak.

I've spent alot of time educating "passengers" about proper release methods.

If you take the time....

they'll always...eventually...swim out of your hand.

Catch...REVIVE...then release!

But the ones I saw saturday were in one general area....

right where they were dumped!!!!

They didnt die from poor release methods.

[fly2fish]

Last month I was waiting on Phils dock for Thom to go out in his boat and there was a guy bait fishing a couple stalls away, he hooks and lands a fish and ask me if I had any needle nose pliers. I had a pair of hemostats in my fly vest that I got out and took to him and saw the fish was gut hooked, he promptly reaches in and wrenches the hook out and throws the fish back in which went belly up. I watched him catch 2 more fish before we left, throwing them all back and going belly up. I know it is legal and I am not opposed to bait fishing but only if I plan on keeping all I catch and quitting (at least stop using bait) when my limit is reached. I have tried and it is hard to hook one on power bait before it has swallowed it. I suggested to the guy on the dock why not just cut the hook off and retie it would have been faster than the way he was doing it. Just my 2 cents worth.

[Micheal Kyle]

Circle Hooks work very well when bait fishing lot less gut hooked fish.

[motroutbum]

Those fish might also be dead due to the low O2 levels.

[taxidermist]

We use a lot of bait. What we have found is that the standard small hooks kill a lot of fish. We see this on White River.

Eagle Claw makes a Crappie hook that is black in #4 size that has a bend on the shank. We seldom gut hook a fish using this hook. But then we don't leave our rods propped up on rails or the side of boats and use super sensitive rods and 8lb Vanish Florocarbon line.

The #4 crappie hook allows you to run your index finger down the line and your finger tip into the bend of the hook, a easy push will remove the hook and your finger tip will act as a guide and remove the hook without damaging the fish.

While that should not be the case in the restricted area it could happen.

[loo10]

Those fish might also be dead due to the low O2 levels.

Are the O2 levels low enough to cause that kind of kill?

Does it effect a fish's ability to survive

even after being revived at boatside?

Example: Do they swim off appearing ok and then go belly up?

I know some of you guys are very knowledgable about this.

I'm a little fuzzy on the in's & out's of O2.

At what level does it become marginal?