Reviving fish

[ctroy36]

I got a lesson in reviving fish yesterday.

I usually try to land fish as quickly as possible and keep them in the water when freeing the hook in order not to stress them. Yesterday afternoon I hooked a nice 14-inch brown that did not want to be landed. It took longer than I would have liked to get it into the net.

With the net in the water I removed the hook and was planning on letting the fish rest there for a while. However, he popped out and ended up lying in the river about 3 feet in front of me. And there he sat. I decided to leave him there and watch what happened. For 5-6 minutes he just hung there hardly moving. I really thought he was not going to make it. Finally he started moving a bit then darted back out into the river.

Makes me wonder how many released fish do make it considering how long it took this fish to revive while in the quiet water next to the bank.

[jlibs]

-Good lesson CTROY. I try to land and release fish quickly too, but there's always that one that gets tangled in the tippet or that takes an extra minute to kick when you're gently pulling and pushing the fish in the water to get the water and oxygen back in its gills.

What do you use to get the fly out?

I use a traditional forceps and I often mangle my fly. I could use a new trick or tool.
JLIBS

[Uplander]

Sometimes I think quiet water may actually be harmful to reviving a stressed fish. If I have a fish that’s been beat up on the catch and shows signs of stress, I try to cradle the fish in water that has some flow to it, with the head pointing into the flow. It may not help, but to my uneducated mind, that gets more oxygenated water flowing through the gills without effort on the part of the fish, thereby helping the recovery.

[ctroy36]

Jlibs:

Forceps, mainly. Though with smaller fish that come in quickly I often just shake the hook out with my fingers.And, yes, forceps do mangle the fly.

Uplander:

I agree that swifter flowing water and manipulating the fish into it will deliver more oxygen and revive the fish sooner. However, in this case I landed the fish near the bank in slower water and did not want to try and scoop him up in the net to move him. Was afraid that if I tried that he'd spook and head into the current and simply get washed downstream.

That some fish don't make it was brought home to me Saturday when a nice brown came floating by belly up. He could have died from a variety of causes, but that made me not want to take chances with the one yesterday.