#Fish lip gripper

[catierambles]

He stopped the truck alongside hers, seeing her sitting in the bed with the gate down, legs dangling. A fishing pole was in her hands and she tugged on it from time to time. He knew fishing, did it a lot with his pops and grandpops back home, but the middle of a desert was an odd place for it.

"Whatcha doin'?" He asked, walking over and leaning against the truck. "Motorpool said you grabbed keys and headed off."

"Felt like doing a bit of fishing." She said, "My aetherometer indicated this was a good spot." He didn't know what that was.

"I know they look like waves, darlin', but they ain't."

"It's called Dunefishing." She said, still tugging on the line, "Something I learned back home."

"Dunefishin'." He sounded unconvinced. "You catch anythin'?"

"Not yet." She said, "But I'm patient."

"Come on, let's head back to camp. We'll get you in shade and get some water in ya."

"I'm not heat delirious, Seth, I've done this before."

"Uh huh." He was still unconvinced. "Either way, it ain't safe to--" The line suddenly pulled taut and she yanked on the pole, hopping down from the bed. "Must be a piece of trash."

"Trash doesn't move." She said, her voice straining and he could see the line moving back and forth where it disappeared under the sand. "Thal's guilded halls, it's strong." She yanked back hard and his face dropped as something came flying out of the dunes with a spray of sand. It flopped onto the ground in front of them, jumping and wriggling and she grabbed her fish lip gripper, taking hold of it before it could vanish beneath the sand again.

"Jesus Christ!" He exclaimed. It was mostly teeth and spines, it's round, fat body fighting against the tool. One good stab with a knife and the wriggling stopped. "That's been under the sand this whole time!?"

"Seems like." She stabbed it with another instrument, this one looking like a syringe.

"What's it been eatin'?"

"You see any insects or lizards?" She asked, giving him a pointed look. "Based on the teeth, this is definitely a meat eater. Wouldn't be surprised if it also took care of any bodies that dropped out here."

"So there's more than one?"

"Absolutely." She said, "This area is thick with earth aspected aether, probably what keeps it alive under the sand. Spines help it move quickly, like it was moving through water." She snorted as he hopped up on the wheel of the truck. "It's fine, Seth. We're a bit too big and active for them."

"But what if it ain't the only things down there?" He asked. "What if there's like...big ones?"

"Sandworms?" She offered and he nodded, "Probably closer the mountains where they can make their burrows. Would need something a bit bigger than this pole and lure to catch one of those." The instrument chirped at her and she looked at it. "No poisons or toxins in it's flesh."

"So it's edible?"

"There's always a bigger fish."

"That don't make me want to get down any more." He said and she snorted again.

"How about I catch a few more and we'll grill them up?" She suggested and he gave the creature a long look before shrugging. He'd try anything at least once.

[fishpro4u]

ZACX Fish Lip Gripper Pliers Review

​ ZACX Fish Lip Gripper Pliers – Upgraded Muti-Function Hook Remover and Split Ring Pliers for Fly Fishing, Ice Fishing, Fishing Gear – Gift for Men (Package B) Verdict The ZACX Fishing Pliers and Gripper Tool Set is a great value, offering two essential pieces of fishing equipment at an affordable price. Both the pliers and the gripper feature comfortable grips, corrosion-resistance, and…

[bonzatrading]

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[mangowall]

Description: Electronic Control Device Fish Lip Tackle Gripper Grab Tool Fishing Grip Digital weighing Scale A perfect addition to your fishing gear or kayak fishing accessories Easier to use ...

[xtruss]

ANIMALS

Releasing a Caught Fish Isn’t as Simple as Tossing it Overboard

For a better chance of survival, use these techniques.

— By Capt. Spud Woodward/Sportfishing Mag | February 11, 2020 | Popular Science

Anglers release an astounding ­number of fish each year. Knowing how best to ensure their ­survival is key. Adrian E. Gray

This story originally featured on Sportfishing Magazine

Thanks to a burgeoning conservation ethic, many saltwater anglers choose to release their catches. Others do so because of fishery-management rules, or because it’s required in tournament regulations. As a result, anglers release many, many saltwater fish every year. But just how many?

In my home state of Georgia, anglers released more than 1 million red drum during 2018, according to the Marine Recreational Information Program. For the entire United States, that number climbs to 18 million redfish released. The MRIP estimate for the number of released fish of all species during 2018 is an astounding 605 million.

While we optimistically believe that most of these fish survive, the reality is much more complicated.

Multiple factors, often combined, determine the fate of a released fish, such as how the fish was caught and handled, the fish’s environment, and ecological conditions—including predation. These interactions are unique to each species and situation.

Given the importance of the angler in this complex interaction, biologists and regulators have expended much effort to develop guidelines for catch-and-release fishing. These angling best practices, when used, markedly increase post-release survival. For many years, these methods remained simple and were based on common sense, such as handling a fish with wet hands.

Today, after hundreds of studies evaluating the effects of everything from hook type to handling devices, these best practices have evolved. The studies validate the benefits of some well-known techniques yet reveal that some methods and behaviors are more harmful than once believed.

The Point of the Matter

Hooking injury is considered a primary cause of post-release mortality. Ideally, a fish should be hooked in or around the immediate area of the mouth—lip, tongue, jaw hinge—or just inside the oral cavity. Most lures with single or treble hooks achieve that outcome. However, treble hooks also can injure a fish’s eye or result in foul-hooking.

Tuna Hooked With Circle Hook

Using circle hooks, when applicable, is one of many best practices anglers can follow to help improve the survival of released fish. Jason Arnold / jasonarnoldphoto.com

Conventional J hooks, when used with natural or synthetic scented baits, can be swallowed deeply into the throat or digestive tract. Pulling on a hook lodged in such a location can cause injury to the heart, liver, gill arch, kidneys, stomach and intestines. Attempts to remove the hook only increase the severity of such injuries.

Research backs up the long-standing belief that removing hooks that are not easily accessible in the mouth region should be avoided. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, in its guidance for fishermen, references an agency study that showed four of 12 deep-hooked snook died when anglers removed embedded hooks, compared with zero mortality when leaders were cut and hooks left intact. Fish can dislodge, expel or simply render a hook inert, especially if it’s made of a material such as bronze, which degrades quickly from the combined effects of salt water and the fish’s body chemistry.

Happily, the number of deep-hooked fish has declined dramatically in recent years due to the revival of an ancient hook design. When rigged and used properly, circle hooks penetrate the lip or jaw-hinge area, causing minimal anatomical damage yet producing a strong connection point. Furthermore, studies show that inline circle hooks—those having the point aligned with the shaft—prove most effective at reducing deep-hooking.

In a 2007 South Carolina Department of Natural Resources study, researchers compared the performance of a J hook, an offset circle hook and an inline circle hook used on subadult red drum. Inline circle hooks attached in the jaw, tongue or inside of the mouth area in 90 percent of the fish. Offset circle hooks resulted in mouth- or jaw-hooking 80 percent of fish, and J hooks, 60 percent. Inline circles also generated the lowest rate of subadult mortality: 2 percent. Researchers found similar results with adult red drum, where the circle hook performed better than the J hook.

Despite these conservation benefits, circle hooks don’t work in every angling situation. When J hooks are needed, anglers should opt to use the smallest size—in length, width and wire diameter—to minimize fish injury. They should also consider barbless versions because removing a barbed J hook usually takes longer, thereby increasing handling time.

Time Matters

Fish lead active lives chasing prey and escaping predators. At the same time, they must adapt to varying extremes in their environment. Every species has its physiological tolerances, but those tolerances have limits.

Once a hooked fish starts resisting, a stress response begins that can interfere with normal respiration and alter the fish’s body chemistry. The longer the duration of the stress response, the more likely there will be long-term or permanent negative effects.

Holding a Cobia

Research shows that holding fishes, particularly larger ones, horizontally and supporting their bellies improves postrelease survival. Chris Woodward / Sport Fishing

A 2010 Florida study compared several stress-indicator blood-chemistry parameters in subadult and adult tarpon caught on hook-and-line gear with that of tarpon resting at a holding facility. Experimental treatments included holding the hooked fish vertically versus horizontally, and exposing them to ambient air for 60 seconds compared with leaving them in the water. In this study, the duration of time between hooking and landing had more effect than handling time and method on stress-indicator levels.

A fight of even short duration can exhaust a fish, impairing its ability to evade predators and carry on with life as usual. Research has shown that a significant source of postrelease mortality in tarpon and bonefish is shark predation. The time needed to recover full function varies from species to species and can be greatly influenced by factors such as water temperature.

Holding a lethargic fish in the water with its head into the current can help accelerate its recovery. Once the fish resists, release it.

The take-home message: Choose tackle that allows you to bring the fish to hand in the least amount time yet provides for the enjoyment of successfully angling the fish. When I target adult red drum, I plan to have them to the boat in five minutes or less. If you choose to use light tackle for large fish, do so with the recognition that you’re consciously increasing the chances that the fish will perish.

Landing Gear

Once anglers subdue fish, they have a responsibility to release them in the most expedient manner. Some species can be more sensitive to the effects of handling than others.

In contrast to the 2010 study on tarpon, mentioned above, a 2016 Virginia Institute of Marine Sciences study showed that removing white marlin from the water and exposing them to air had a more pronounced effect than fight duration on postrelease survival for that species. Research also has revealed that warm air can quickly dry delicate gill filaments, causing them to become nonfunctional.

Landing Net With Fish

If you must capture a fish, using a ­knotless, coated-mesh landing Spud Woodward

If you choose to bring a fish into the boat before release, preferred options include the use of hands to lip grippers to landing nets—never gaffs. Wet, gloved hands or a handheld wet towel can effectively control small- to medium-size fish such as seatrout and bonefish but can be inadequate for larger, more vigorous animals. When using hands, always keep the fish in a horizontal position supporting its weight, and avoid any contact with the gills and eyes, which can be easily damaged.

Lip grippers, such as the BogaGrip, have steadily grown in popularity, but their design often tempts anglers to support the entire weight of the fish vertically. Research has shown that doing so can cause debilitating injury to mouth parts, internal organs and skeletal structure, especially for larger fish. When using grippers, support the fish’s weight with a hand under its abdomen.

A 2009 Australian study of barramundi (20 to 40 inches in length) handled with lip grippers provides some perspective. Researchers lifted 10 fish vertically without any additional support—all the fishes’ weight was supported by the mouth parts. Eleven were lifted in a horizontal position with a hand supporting the belly of the fish. Lifting fish using grippers without support increased the severity of mouth injury and altered the alignment of vertebrae, which did not return to normal for three weeks.

Landing nets, used frequently for small- to medium-size species, offer many advantages such as reducing fight time, controlling fish movement to allow for hook removal and preventing the fish from being dropped. Yet landing nets also can potentially harm fish by removing the protective mucus layer, dislodging scales and damaging fins.

Recognizing this, most net manufacturers offer a knotless rubber model, some with the further modification of a flat bottom to prevent fish from rolling in the net and damaging fins. Another study of barramundi in 2008 showed that a landing net of this design resulted in significantly less fin damage and abrasions when compared with a traditional knotted net.

Pressure Drop

Many species most prized by saltwater anglers live near the ocean bottom, sometimes in extreme depths. Granted, we usually pursue them as table fare, so catch-and-release is not typically the targeted outcome. But in today’s world of restrictions on size, quantity and season, releasing reef fish has become part of our new reality—as are the challenges of ensuring postrelease survival for an animal pulled up from 20 fathoms.

Species such as snappers and groupers have air bladders, which allow them to make fine-scale adjustments in their buoyancy. However, when we rapidly pull these fish from the seafloor to the surface, an uncontrolled expansion of their air bladders can cause barotrauma.

Bulging eyes suggest this bottomfish suffered barotrauma. This fish was kept, but if the goal is live release, leave it in the water rather than hold it vertically. Doug Olander / Sport Fishing

Most anglers know the symptoms: bulging eyes, stomach protruding from the mouth, a distended abdomen, and lack of equilibrium when returned to the water. When released, these fish can’t submerge, which makes them easy pickings for predators. In addition, prolonged barotrauma causes irreversible anatomical damage and extended physiological stress, often leading to death.

For many years, anglers have been advised to treat barotrauma in a fish by venting—puncturing its air bladder with a hollow needle. However, venting causes injury, creating additional stress and an opportunity for infection. If you choose to vent, be sure to do it properly. There’s no doubt venting beats simply discarding a fish with severe barotrauma, but there’s a better way.

An angler prepares to fasten a descending device to a Goliath ­grouper prior to release. Adrian E. Gray

Several devices on the market now allow anglers to lower the fish to depth, allowing it to recompress, alleviating the effects of barotrauma (visible and nonvisible). Additionally, these devices return fish to an environment of optimal conditions while hopefully bypassing some of those hungry predators. Collectively known as descending devices, these products have proved to increase postrelease survival in bottomfish.

In a 2015 Gulf of Mexico study, red snapper returned to the seafloor with a descending device fared better than fish that were vented or untreated. Survival rates for descended fish rose during summer, when sea-surface temperatures exceeded those at the seafloor. Research has also shown the benefits of descending devices for Pacific rockfish, reef fish in Australia and even walleye in freshwater lakes.

Descending devices hold such great promise for improving bottomfish survival that the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council has requested the National Marine Fisheries Service make a rule requiring anyone who possesses or is fishing for snapper-grouper species have such a device on board. If approved by the Secretary of Commerce, this requirement will go into effect sometime in 2020.

Choice or Law?

Fishery management and catch-and-release fishing succeed only when a high percentage of released fish survive. Thanks to years of study and on-water experiences, we now have angling best practices that, when followed, maximize survival chances. The quandary becomes whether to mandate the use of some or all of these angling best practices or to rely solely on voluntary compliance. Not surprisingly, angler opinion is divided.

Government entities, conservation groups and the marine industry invest vast sums of money and effort in promoting angling best practices. In some jurisdictions and fisheries, these government entities mandate the use of some types of tackle and gear or disallow certain activities.

For example, circle hooks must be used for billfish, sharks, reef fish, and striped bass in some areas and situations. Federal regulations prohibit marlin or sailfish from being removed from the water, if the fish won’t be kept. Florida law also forbids anglers from removing tarpon over 40 inches from the water.

Whether by choice or legal mandate, anglers have the responsibility to use best practices and to advocate their use to others. This might mean changing behaviors and postponing the catch of the next fish for the benefit of the one in hand. After all, a fish that survives after release is a potential future catch. And we are always looking forward to that next catch.

Tagging Tales

Determining the postrelease survival of fish caught on hook-and-line gear can be daunting. The study methods themselves—taking blood samples, marking, handling, confinement—can mask or amplify the effects of the catch.

Ideally, the fish should suffer the least amount of additional stress and be released into the same environment from which it was caught as quickly as possible. Oh, and yes, the scientist must be able to determine if the fish remains alive or dies during a minimum of 24 hours—and, ideally, for weeks, if not months.

This was once thought impossible, but not anymore, thanks to technological advances in batteries, microcircuitry and satellite communications. Acoustic telemetry and pop-up satellite archival tags (PSATs) have revolutionized scientists’ ability to document the fate of hook-caught-and-released fish.

In a 2015 North Carolina study, researchers used externally attached acoustic tags to document the fate of scamp, snowy grouper and speckled hind caught from depths of 200 feet and treated with a descending device. Previous knowledge suggested that any fish brought up from those depths perished. However, this study reported a 50 percent survival rate after 14 days, showing that recompression can increase postrelease survival in deepwater species.

PSATs have been used in multiple studies of billfish and tunas, species that are notoriously difficult to study with conventional methods. One such project using these tags on juvenile bluefin tuna revealed almost 100 percent postrelease survival, and concluded that the recreational catch-and-release troll fishery for school-size Atlantic bluefins does not represent a significant source of fishing mortality.

Best Practices

For more information about properly releasing fish, consult these resources:

fishsmart.org

releasense.org

myfishcount.com/bestpractices

fisheries.noaa.gov (search “catch-and-release best practices”)

myfwc.com (click on “saltwater fishing,” then “fish handling”)

About the Author: Capt. Spud Woodward retired in 2018 after 34 years with the Georgia Department of Natural Resources serving in various positions from senior biologist to division director. He is the vice chairman for the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission and a member of the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council.

[bentgrassoutdoors]

SF Fish Grip Holder Stainless Steel Fishing Gripper Fish Lip Grabber with Wrist Strap https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07TB1YDCC/ref=sspa_dk_detail_3?psc=1&pd_rd_i=B07TB1YDCC&pd_rd_w=Q9xkD&pf_rd_p=a64be657-55f3-4b6a-91aa-17a31a8febb4&pd_rd_wg=K4ovq&pf_rd_r=GEDX5E7CGTMB0YFKA1AX&pd_rd_r=ae6df94c-a43d-4cba-93e1-c5ac3bf85e94&spLa=ZW5jcnlwdGVkUXVhbGlmaWVyPUEyUVNBU0hXWEFFTEVOJmVuY3J5cHRlZElkPUEwMzk2MTU4VTZURlhVQk9KVFMmZW5jcnlwdGVkQWRJZD1BMDI5NDYzOTNHQlZJU0dJV1QwTDgmd2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9kZXRhaWxfdGhlbWF0aWMmYWN0aW9uPWNsaWNrUmVkaXJlY3QmZG9Ob3RMb2dDbGljaz10cnVl

[bargainbaitbox-blog]

Grip'em don't flip'em. Don't let this happen to you! 😉 Many varieties of fish lip grippers available at: www.BargainBaitBox.com • • • • • @bargainbaitbox #Fishlipgripper #FishingSale #FlashSale #FishingStore #FishingonaBudget #FishingDeals #BargainFishing #DiscountLures #CheapTackle #CheapFishing #FishingTackle #FishingGear #Fishing #FunnyFishing #LoveFishing #Fish #GirlsLoveFishing #FisherGirl #FishingPicOfTheDay #FishingVideos #BassFishing #WalleyeFishing #FishingForBass #BigFish #BassLife #Bass #FishOn #FishBrain #Fishpics

[johnmcnicholas]

I took pictures of a few bands this year.

1. The Downs 2. Emerald Comets 3. Weaverbirds 4. The Sunset District 5. Kenny Howes 6. Jupiter Watts 7. Cadillac Jones 8. Sera Cahoone 9. Tift Merritt 10. Oak House 11. Shanti Shanti 12. Deep Sea Diver 13. Chip Jones 14. Rebekah Pulley 15. Dank 16. Seafang 17. Pretty Voices 18. Mondo Diablo 19. Car Bomb Driver 20. Funeral Dazies 21. Twisty Chris and the Puddin' Packs 22. The Good Graces 23. Bucky Motter 24. Noel Hart 25. Chickens and Pigs 26. nerdkween 27. Eureka Failure 28. New Terminus 29. Jagwar Ma 30. Glass Animals 31. Mount Moriah 32. Strand of Oaks 33. Moontower 34. Parrotice 35. Tedo Stone 36. The Hip Abduction (DJ set) 37. Samantha Fish 38. Chelsea Shag 39. JuJu Beats 40. Dirty Heads 41. CBDB 42. Twiddle 43. Moe. 44. Talib Kweli 45. Tep No 46. Hank & Cupcakes 47. Waxahatchee 48. The New Pornographers 49. Crywolf 50. Ekali 51. ARMNHMR 52. Boombox Cartel 53. Claude Vonstroke 54. Said the Sky 55. Party Favor 56. Alison Wonderland 57. Ganga White Night 58. Snails 59. The Knocks (DJ Set) 60. RL Grime 61. Bonobo (live) 62. Griz 63. Lost Seekers 64. Young Bombs 65. Bad Royal 66. Modern Measure 67. Haywyre 68. Joyryde 69. Kaiydo 70. Slushii 71. Ephwurd 72. CID 73. Illenium 74. Gramatik 75. Pouya 76. Flatbush Zombies 77. Mija 78. Flosstradamus 79. Galantis 80. Kaskade 81. DJ Canvas 82. Echos 83. Wingtip 84. Mantis 85. Vanic 86. Mute Math 87. Mayhem 88. Lost Kings 89. Little Dragon 90. Grandtheft 91. Loudpvck 92. Getter 93. Girl Talk 94. Zeds Dead 95. The Chainsmokers 96. Joe Popp 97. Stokeswood 98. Scott Harrell 99. Patrick Kelly 100. Leland Jacobs 101. Drew May 102. The Mighty Fucks 103. Tyler Porch Band 104. Bloodplums 105. In the Whale 106. Behold the Brave 107. TnT 108. Subsonics 109. Black Lips 110. Faye Webster 111. Tommy Keene 112. Matthew Sweet 113. Five Eight 114. Daktyl 115. Emileigh Ireland 116. The Foresters 117. COEDS 118. Divine Feed 119. Dressy Bessy 120. White Violet 121. Happy Abandon 122. Rat Fancy 123. Kleenex Girl Wonder 124. Feather Trade 125. The Veldt 126. Elf Power 127. Anchient Whales 128. DieAlps! 129. Heavenly Creatures 130. Outer Spaces 131. Procedure Club 132. Casper & the Cookies 133. Red Pony Clock 134. Palehound 135. The Gotobeds 136. Marshmallow Coast 137. Antlered Aunt Lord 138. Waxahatchee (again) 139. The Apples in Stereo 140. Growl 141. Schande 142. Robert Schneider 143. Tres Ouí 144. Big Fresh 145. Matt Harnish 146. Claire Cronin 147. Einschlagen 148. Big Quiet 149. R.Ring 150. Lætitia Sadier 151. Eureka California 152. Superchunk 153. Saline 154. Dump Him 155. Seafang 156. Scooterbabe 157. Peyote Coyote 158. Harlot Party 159. Superbody 160. Lingua Franca 161. noon:30 162. Pylon Reenactment Society 163. Ingrid Andress 164. Charlie Worsham 165. Flat Cat 166. World War Zach 167. Soccer Mommy 168. Stef Chura 169. Jay Som 170. Derek Grippers African Strings Project 171. Trio Da Kali 172. Paul Kelly 173. Luke Temple 174. Wye Oak 175. Nap Eyes 176. Alvvays 177. John K Samson 178. Craig Finn and the Uptown Controllers 179. Auction House Letters 180. Courtney Marie Andrews 181. Hamilton Leithauser 182. Blackfox 183. The Scragglers 184. Sash the Bash 185. AM Gold 186. Baby Baby 187. Eleanor Friedberger 188. Luna 189. Baio 190. The Shins 191. Uncle Tom’s Band 192. Material Girls 193. Smut 194. Bully

[fishingrodsreelsandgear-blog]

SAN LIKE Fish Gripper Fish Lip Grabber Aluminum Alloy Gear for Saltwater and Freshwater, Non-Slip EVA Handle with 35lb Max Weight

https://fishingrodsreelsandgear.com/product/san-like-fish-gripper-fish-lip-grabber-aluminum-alloy-gear-for-saltwater-and-freshwater-non-slip-eva-handle-with-35lb-max-weight/

🐠Fish Protect: Catch-And-Release with the wide plate fish grippers to help protect fish lips from injury. No pointy tips like many other fish grips models that often pierce right through the lip. 🐠Great Material: main material is advanced and durable aircraft grade aluminum , which will not cause corrosion and rust when used in the sea for a long time. Different from the previous cheap stainless steel fish grip, very suitable for all kinds of anglers 🐠Convenient Design:Quick Action Trigger and Positive Locking Jaw is easy for one-hand to grip or release the fish without accident, non-slip EVA handle keeps you from making mistakes in use

[casaibrahim]

The Okuma Fish Lip Gripper is a very handy tool for every angler. Protect yourself and handle your catch with ease when taking pictures, weighing the fish or removing the hook from the mouth of the fish for both saltwater and freshwater fishing. Easy to use, it can weigh fish up to 23kg.

Features.:

Stainless Steel jaws.

Non-Slip rubber grip

Corrosion-resistant

Adjustable Nylon wrist strap

Stainless Spring

Tough ABS handles

[drmeterinfo-blog]

Dr.meter Aluminum Fishing Pliers, Saltwater Resistant Fishing Gear, Tungsten Carbide Cutters Split Ring Pliers Hook Remover Fish Holder with Fish Lip Gripper and Fishing Gloves [3 pcs]

https://www.amazon.com/Dr-meter-Stainless-Plier-Fish-Gripper-Fishing-Handling/dp/B07GW5Y7TF?ref_=bl_dp_s_web_6705578011

Complete 3-Piece Fishing Tool Set: Get the kit that does it all. Each Dr.meter Fishing Tool Set includes a fish plier, a fish gripper, and even a durable fish gloves! It's perfect for pros and amateurs alike.

Heavy Duty Fish Plier: Thanks to its aluminum and stainless steel construction, the fish plier is tough as nails. Use it to remove hooks, cut your line, and more.

Convenient Fish Gripper: Hold on to slippery, slimy fish with the fish gripper! The metal hook holds the fish in place, and the EVA handle helps you maintain a tight grip in both wet and dry conditions.

Protective Fish Gloves: Keep your hands safe and in tip-top condition with the protective gloves. The glove is made from high-quality ethylene fabric with a rubber reinforced palm. These gloves maximize durability without sacrificing flexibility.

Never Lose Your Tools: We've included a fastener lock, a coiled lanyard, and a sturdy nylon sheath to help you keep track of your pliers. You'll never lose track of them again

[bothfuckingcrazy-blog]

An (almost) complete gear list

Here is, as far as we're aware, a mostly-complete gear list of everything we're travelling with. Might update if we remember anything else - Martin

Sleeping/habitation

Enlightened Equipment Accomplice two-person quilt

REI sleeping pad

NEMO sleeping pad

Mountainsmith Equinox 4 4-person tent

SeaToSummit aero premium pillow

Otwego inflatable pillow

Electronics

2x Thinkpad X220s

GBA SP with 2 games

3 backup battery packs (around 50k mAh total)

Amazon Kindle

SoundMagic E10 earphones

Skullcandy earphones

misc cables (usb type-c, type-b, etc) and adapters for devices

Universal outlet adapter

UK->US outlet adapter

Small electronics screwdriver set

Baofeng UV-5R

Pentax K-01

18-55mm and 40mm pancake lenses

2x Princeton tec headlamps

2x Princeton tec lanterns

2x Princeton tec flashlights

Tactical flashlight (AAA)

Aliexpress rechargeable tent light

Oneplus Two smartphone

Nexus 5X smartphone

Cookware/sustenance

Trangia 27-3 alcohol stove set

Methyl-hydrate fuel

Collapsible GSI Outdoors silicone mug

Non-collapsible plastic mug

LightMyFire titanium spork

Toaks titanium spork

Folding MSR plastic spoon

Big fork

Extra pot gripper

Food

Klean Kanteen 1900ml stainless-steel flask

Klean Kanteen 1182ml stainless-steel flask

2x 3l camelbak hydration packs

Sawyer 4l gravity filter

Assortment of herbs & spices in small screw-cap crafts pots

Packing equipment

Vaude Challenger 45+10 pack

Vaude Asymmetric 52+8 pack

Duluthpack medium shell purse

Outdoor Research 10l compression sack

20l drybag

2x 10l drybags

Sealine ultralight 5l drybag

2x 5l drybags

Bunch of ziplock bags for food

Clothing

His

Danner Fort Lewis 10inch

H&M black cotton cargos

Trespass zip-off light cargos

2x cotton tshirts

Sweat-wicking undershirt

Cotton boxer-briefs

Exofficio boxer-briefs

2x pair wool socks

Union jack cotton socks

Field & Stream wool flannel shirt

Green and black shemagh

Marmot long-sleeved top

Baseball cap

Big wooly hat

Beanie

Saltrock hoody

Decathlon waterproof jacket

Hers

Terramar CS short sleeve black tech top

One piece swimsuit

Black shemagh

Marmot grey long-sleeved warm layer

Marmot blue long-sleeved windshirt

Khaki capris (cotton)

Cabela's camo pants (cotton)

Blue plaid mini shorts (cotton)

Wigwam medium weight hiking socks

Smartwool heavy weight hiking socks

Star spangled socks

Regular 100% wool socks

Below-the-knee tall wool hiking socks

2x Exofficio mesh underwear

3x Puma lasercut underwear

Underarmour sports bra

Kill City red plaid jacket

Vinyl rain poncho

Buff

Accessories/attachments

3x big carabiners

3x smaller/misc carabiners

100ft black dacron line

2m x 3m blue tarp

Extra small bits of line we've found

Misc.

Official paperwork (passports, bank statements, etc)

Mahalo black soprano ukulele

Seidel Bluez Session C harmonica

Shakespeare 2-piece fishing rod and spinning reel

Box of fishing lures, etc

First aid kit containing basic dressings/otc painkillers, etc

Rite-in-the-rain hard-cover ruled notebook & HB pencil

Pacsafe RFID-blocking wallet

Lip balm

Toiletries (toothpaste, tooth brush, deodourant, etc)

Sunglasses/spare glasses

Muh bushcraft

Morakniv Bushcraft Black knife

Opinel no.9 locking folding knife

Condor crotalis knife

TOPS knives scandi trekker knife

Leatherman Skeletool

Leatherman Sidekick

2x ferro-rods & strikers

5x disposable Bic lighters

Corona camp saw

1.2lb Wilkos hatchet (hickory handle)

Blade-tech knife sharpener

[kristablogs]

Releasing a caught fish isn’t as simple as tossing it overboard

Anglers release an astounding ­number of fish each year. Knowing how best to ensure their ­survival is key. (Adrian E. Gray/)

This story originally featured on Sportfishing Magazine

Thanks to a burgeoning conservation ethic, many saltwater anglers choose to release their catches. Others do so because of fishery-management rules, or because it’s required in tournament regulations. As a result, anglers release many, many saltwater fish every year. But just how many?

In my home state of Georgia, anglers released more than 1 million red drum during 2018, according to the Marine Recreational Information Program. For the entire United States, that number climbs to 18 million redfish released. The MRIP estimate for the number of released fish of all species during 2018 is an astounding 605 million.

While we optimistically believe that most of these fish survive, the reality is much more complicated.

Multiple factors, often combined, determine the fate of a released fish, such as how the fish was caught and handled, the fish’s environment, and ecological conditions—including predation. These interactions are unique to each species and situation.

Given the importance of the angler in this complex interaction, biologists and regulators have expended much effort to develop guidelines for catch-and-release fishing. These angling best practices, when used, markedly increase post-release survival. For many years, these methods remained simple and were based on common sense, such as handling a fish with wet hands.

Today, after hundreds of studies evaluating the effects of everything from hook type to handling devices, these best practices have evolved. The studies validate the benefits of some well-known techniques yet reveal that some methods and behaviors are more harmful than once believed.

The Point of the Matter

Hooking injury is considered a primary cause of post-release mortality. Ideally, a fish should be hooked in or around the immediate area of the mouth—lip, tongue, jaw hinge—or just inside the oral cavity. Most lures with single or treble hooks achieve that outcome. However, treble hooks also can injure a fish’s eye or result in foul-hooking.

Using circle hooks, when applicable, is one of many best practices anglers can follow to help improve the survival of released fish. (Jason Arnold / jasonarnoldphoto.com/)

Conventional J hooks, when used with natural or synthetic scented baits, can be swallowed deeply into the throat or digestive tract. Pulling on a hook lodged in such a location can cause injury to the heart, liver, gill arch, kidneys, stomach and intestines. Attempts to remove the hook only increase the severity of such injuries.

Research backs up the long-standing belief that removing hooks that are not easily accessible in the mouth region should be avoided. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, in its guidance for fishermen, references an agency study that showed four of 12 deep-hooked snook died when anglers removed embedded hooks, compared with zero mortality when leaders were cut and hooks left intact. Fish can dislodge, expel or simply render a hook inert, especially if it’s made of a material such as bronze, which degrades quickly from the combined effects of salt water and the fish’s body chemistry.

Happily, the number of deep-hooked fish has declined dramatically in recent years due to the revival of an ancient hook design. When rigged and used properly, circle hooks penetrate the lip or jaw-hinge area, causing minimal anatomical damage yet producing a strong connection point. Furthermore, studies show that inline circle hooks—those having the point aligned with the shaft—prove most effective at reducing deep-hooking.

In a 2007 South Carolina Department of Natural Resources study, researchers compared the performance of a J hook, an offset circle hook and an inline circle hook used on subadult red drum. Inline circle hooks attached in the jaw, tongue or inside of the mouth area in 90 percent of the fish. Offset circle hooks resulted in mouth- or jaw-hooking 80 percent of fish, and J hooks, 60 percent. Inline circles also generated the lowest rate of subadult mortality: 2 percent. Researchers found similar results with adult red drum, where the circle hook performed better than the J hook.

Despite these conservation benefits, circle hooks don’t work in every angling situation. When J hooks are needed, anglers should opt to use the smallest size—in length, width and wire diameter—to minimize fish injury. They should also consider barbless versions because removing a barbed J hook usually takes longer, thereby increasing handling time.

Time Matters

Fish lead active lives chasing prey and escaping predators. At the same time, they must adapt to varying extremes in their environment. Every species has its physiological tolerances, but those tolerances have limits.

Once a hooked fish starts resisting, a stress response begins that can interfere with normal respiration and alter the fish’s body chemistry. The longer the duration of the stress response, the more likely there will be long-term or permanent negative effects.

Research shows that holding fishes, particularly larger ones, horizontally and supporting their bellies improves postrelease survival. (Chris Woodward / Sport Fishing/)

A 2010 Florida study compared several stress-indicator blood-chemistry parameters in subadult and adult tarpon caught on hook-and-line gear with that of tarpon resting at a holding facility. Experimental treatments included holding the hooked fish vertically versus horizontally, and exposing them to ambient air for 60 seconds compared with leaving them in the water. In this study, the duration of time between hooking and landing had more effect than handling time and method on stress-indicator levels.

A fight of even short duration can exhaust a fish, impairing its ability to evade predators and carry on with life as usual. Research has shown that a significant source of postrelease mortality in tarpon and bonefish is shark predation. The time needed to recover full function varies from species to species and can be greatly influenced by factors such as water temperature.

Holding a lethargic fish in the water with its head into the current can help accelerate its recovery. Once the fish resists, release it.

The take-home message: Choose tackle that allows you to bring the fish to hand in the least amount time yet provides for the enjoyment of successfully angling the fish. When I target adult red drum, I plan to have them to the boat in five minutes or less. If you choose to use light tackle for large fish, do so with the recognition that you’re consciously increasing the chances that the fish will perish.

Landing Gear

Once anglers subdue fish, they have a responsibility to release them in the most expedient manner. Some species can be more sensitive to the effects of handling than others.

In contrast to the 2010 study on tarpon, mentioned above, a 2016 Virginia Institute of Marine Sciences study showed that removing white marlin from the water and exposing them to air had a more pronounced effect than fight duration on postrelease survival for that species. Research also has revealed that warm air can quickly dry delicate gill filaments, causing them to become nonfunctional.

If you must capture a fish, using a ­knotless, coated-mesh landing (Spud Woodward/)

If you choose to bring a fish into the boat before release, preferred options include the use of hands to lip grippers to landing nets—never gaffs. Wet, gloved hands or a handheld wet towel can effectively control small- to medium-size fish such as seatrout and bonefish but can be inadequate for larger, more vigorous animals. When using hands, always keep the fish in a horizontal position supporting its weight, and avoid any contact with the gills and eyes, which can be easily damaged.

Lip grippers, such as the BogaGrip, have steadily grown in popularity, but their design often tempts anglers to support the entire weight of the fish vertically. Research has shown that doing so can cause debilitating injury to mouth parts, internal organs and skeletal structure, especially for larger fish. When using grippers, support the fish’s weight with a hand under its abdomen.

A 2009 Australian study of barramundi (20 to 40 inches in length) handled with lip grippers provides some perspective. Researchers lifted 10 fish vertically without any additional support—all the fishes’ weight was supported by the mouth parts. Eleven were lifted in a horizontal position with a hand supporting the belly of the fish. Lifting fish using grippers without support increased the severity of mouth injury and altered the alignment of vertebrae, which did not return to normal for three weeks.

Landing nets, used frequently for small- to medium-size species, offer many advantages such as reducing fight time, controlling fish movement to allow for hook removal and preventing the fish from being dropped. Yet landing nets also can potentially harm fish by removing the protective mucus layer, dislodging scales and damaging fins.

Recognizing this, most net manufacturers offer a knotless rubber model, some with the further modification of a flat bottom to prevent fish from rolling in the net and damaging fins. Another study of barramundi in 2008 showed that a landing net of this design resulted in significantly less fin damage and abrasions when compared with a traditional knotted net.

Pressure Drop

Many species most prized by saltwater anglers live near the ocean bottom, sometimes in extreme depths. Granted, we usually pursue them as table fare, so catch-and-release is not typically the targeted outcome. But in today’s world of restrictions on size, quantity and season, releasing reef fish has become part of our new reality—as are the challenges of ensuring postrelease survival for an animal pulled up from 20 fathoms.

Species such as snappers and groupers have air bladders, which allow them to make fine-scale adjustments in their buoyancy. However, when we rapidly pull these fish from the seafloor to the surface, an uncontrolled expansion of their air bladders can cause barotrauma.

Bulging eyes suggest this bottomfish suffered barotrauma. This fish was kept, but if the goal is live release, leave it in the water rather than hold it vertically. (Doug Olander / Sport Fishing/)

Most anglers know the symptoms: bulging eyes, stomach protruding from the mouth, a distended abdomen, and lack of equilibrium when returned to the water. When released, these fish can’t submerge, which makes them easy pickings for predators. In addition, prolonged barotrauma causes irreversible anatomical damage and extended physiological stress, often leading to death.

For many years, anglers have been advised to treat barotrauma in a fish by venting—puncturing its air bladder with a hollow needle. However, venting causes injury, creating additional stress and an opportunity for infection. If you choose to vent, be sure to do it properly. There’s no doubt venting beats simply discarding a fish with severe barotrauma, but there’s a better way.

An angler prepares to fasten a descending device to a Goliath ­grouper prior to release. (Adrian E. Gray/)

Several devices on the market now allow anglers to lower the fish to depth, allowing it to recompress, alleviating the effects of barotrauma (visible and nonvisible). Additionally, these devices return fish to an environment of optimal conditions while hopefully bypassing some of those hungry predators. Collectively known as descending devices, these products have proved to increase postrelease survival in bottomfish.

In a 2015 Gulf of Mexico study, red snapper returned to the seafloor with a descending device fared better than fish that were vented or untreated. Survival rates for descended fish rose during summer, when sea-surface temperatures exceeded those at the seafloor. Research has also shown the benefits of descending devices for Pacific rockfish, reef fish in Australia and even walleye in freshwater lakes.

Descending devices hold such great promise for improving bottomfish survival that the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council has requested the National Marine Fisheries Service make a rule requiring anyone who possesses or is fishing for snapper-grouper species have such a device on board. If approved by the Secretary of Commerce, this requirement will go into effect sometime in 2020.

Choice or Law?

Fishery management and catch-and-release fishing succeed only when a high percentage of released fish survive. Thanks to years of study and on-water experiences, we now have angling best practices that, when followed, maximize survival chances. The quandary becomes whether to mandate the use of some or all of these angling best practices or to rely solely on voluntary compliance. Not surprisingly, angler opinion is divided.

Government entities, conservation groups and the marine industry invest vast sums of money and effort in promoting angling best practices. In some jurisdictions and fisheries, these government entities mandate the use of some types of tackle and gear or disallow certain activities.

For example, circle hooks must be used for billfish, sharks, reef fish, and striped bass in some areas and situations. Federal regulations prohibit marlin or sailfish from being removed from the water, if the fish won’t be kept. Florida law also forbids anglers from removing tarpon over 40 inches from the water.

Whether by choice or legal mandate, anglers have the responsibility to use best practices and to advocate their use to others. This might mean changing behaviors and postponing the catch of the next fish for the benefit of the one in hand. After all, a fish that survives after release is a potential future catch. And we are always looking forward to that next catch.

Tagging Tales

Determining the postrelease survival of fish caught on hook-and-line gear can be daunting. The study methods themselves—taking blood samples, marking, handling, confinement—can mask or amplify the effects of the catch.

Ideally, the fish should suffer the least amount of additional stress and be released into the same environment from which it was caught as quickly as possible. Oh, and yes, the scientist must be able to determine if the fish remains alive or dies during a minimum of 24 hours—and, ideally, for weeks, if not months.

This was once thought impossible, but not anymore, thanks to technological advances in batteries, microcircuitry and satellite communications. Acoustic telemetry and pop-up satellite archival tags (PSATs) have revolutionized scientists’ ability to document the fate of hook-caught-and-released fish.

In a 2015 North Carolina study, researchers used externally attached acoustic tags to document the fate of scamp, snowy grouper and speckled hind caught from depths of 200 feet and treated with a descending device. Previous knowledge suggested that any fish brought up from those depths perished. However, this study reported a 50 percent survival rate after 14 days, showing that recompression can increase postrelease survival in deepwater species.

Read Next: U.S. Senators Cassidy and Jones Introduce DESCEND Act Companion

PSATs have been used in multiple studies of billfish and tunas, species that are notoriously difficult to study with conventional methods. One such project using these tags on juvenile bluefin tuna revealed almost 100 percent postrelease survival, and concluded that the recreational catch-and-release troll fishery for school-size Atlantic bluefins does not represent a significant source of fishing mortality.

Best Practices

For more information about properly releasing fish, consult these resources:

fishsmart.org

releasense.org

myfishcount.com/bestpractices

fisheries.noaa.gov (search “catch-and-release best practices”)

myfwc.com (click on “saltwater fishing,” then “fish handling”)

About the Author

Capt. Spud Woodward retired in 2018 after 34 years with the Georgia Department of Natural Resources serving in various positions from senior biologist to division director. He is the vice chairman for the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission and a member of the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council.

[scootoaster]

Releasing a caught fish isn’t as simple as tossing it overboard

Anglers release an astounding ­number of fish each year. Knowing how best to ensure their ­survival is key. (Adrian E. Gray/)

This story originally featured on Sportfishing Magazine

Thanks to a burgeoning conservation ethic, many saltwater anglers choose to release their catches. Others do so because of fishery-management rules, or because it’s required in tournament regulations. As a result, anglers release many, many saltwater fish every year. But just how many?

In my home state of Georgia, anglers released more than 1 million red drum during 2018, according to the Marine Recreational Information Program. For the entire United States, that number climbs to 18 million redfish released. The MRIP estimate for the number of released fish of all species during 2018 is an astounding 605 million.

While we optimistically believe that most of these fish survive, the reality is much more complicated.

Multiple factors, often combined, determine the fate of a released fish, such as how the fish was caught and handled, the fish’s environment, and ecological conditions—including predation. These interactions are unique to each species and situation.

Given the importance of the angler in this complex interaction, biologists and regulators have expended much effort to develop guidelines for catch-and-release fishing. These angling best practices, when used, markedly increase post-release survival. For many years, these methods remained simple and were based on common sense, such as handling a fish with wet hands.

Today, after hundreds of studies evaluating the effects of everything from hook type to handling devices, these best practices have evolved. The studies validate the benefits of some well-known techniques yet reveal that some methods and behaviors are more harmful than once believed.

The Point of the Matter

Hooking injury is considered a primary cause of post-release mortality. Ideally, a fish should be hooked in or around the immediate area of the mouth—lip, tongue, jaw hinge—or just inside the oral cavity. Most lures with single or treble hooks achieve that outcome. However, treble hooks also can injure a fish’s eye or result in foul-hooking.

Using circle hooks, when applicable, is one of many best practices anglers can follow to help improve the survival of released fish. (Jason Arnold / jasonarnoldphoto.com/)

Conventional J hooks, when used with natural or synthetic scented baits, can be swallowed deeply into the throat or digestive tract. Pulling on a hook lodged in such a location can cause injury to the heart, liver, gill arch, kidneys, stomach and intestines. Attempts to remove the hook only increase the severity of such injuries.

Research backs up the long-standing belief that removing hooks that are not easily accessible in the mouth region should be avoided. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, in its guidance for fishermen, references an agency study that showed four of 12 deep-hooked snook died when anglers removed embedded hooks, compared with zero mortality when leaders were cut and hooks left intact. Fish can dislodge, expel or simply render a hook inert, especially if it’s made of a material such as bronze, which degrades quickly from the combined effects of salt water and the fish’s body chemistry.

Happily, the number of deep-hooked fish has declined dramatically in recent years due to the revival of an ancient hook design. When rigged and used properly, circle hooks penetrate the lip or jaw-hinge area, causing minimal anatomical damage yet producing a strong connection point. Furthermore, studies show that inline circle hooks—those having the point aligned with the shaft—prove most effective at reducing deep-hooking.

In a 2007 South Carolina Department of Natural Resources study, researchers compared the performance of a J hook, an offset circle hook and an inline circle hook used on subadult red drum. Inline circle hooks attached in the jaw, tongue or inside of the mouth area in 90 percent of the fish. Offset circle hooks resulted in mouth- or jaw-hooking 80 percent of fish, and J hooks, 60 percent. Inline circles also generated the lowest rate of subadult mortality: 2 percent. Researchers found similar results with adult red drum, where the circle hook performed better than the J hook.

Despite these conservation benefits, circle hooks don’t work in every angling situation. When J hooks are needed, anglers should opt to use the smallest size—in length, width and wire diameter—to minimize fish injury. They should also consider barbless versions because removing a barbed J hook usually takes longer, thereby increasing handling time.

Time Matters

Fish lead active lives chasing prey and escaping predators. At the same time, they must adapt to varying extremes in their environment. Every species has its physiological tolerances, but those tolerances have limits.

Once a hooked fish starts resisting, a stress response begins that can interfere with normal respiration and alter the fish’s body chemistry. The longer the duration of the stress response, the more likely there will be long-term or permanent negative effects.

Research shows that holding fishes, particularly larger ones, horizontally and supporting their bellies improves postrelease survival. (Chris Woodward / Sport Fishing/)

A 2010 Florida study compared several stress-indicator blood-chemistry parameters in subadult and adult tarpon caught on hook-and-line gear with that of tarpon resting at a holding facility. Experimental treatments included holding the hooked fish vertically versus horizontally, and exposing them to ambient air for 60 seconds compared with leaving them in the water. In this study, the duration of time between hooking and landing had more effect than handling time and method on stress-indicator levels.

A fight of even short duration can exhaust a fish, impairing its ability to evade predators and carry on with life as usual. Research has shown that a significant source of postrelease mortality in tarpon and bonefish is shark predation. The time needed to recover full function varies from species to species and can be greatly influenced by factors such as water temperature.

Holding a lethargic fish in the water with its head into the current can help accelerate its recovery. Once the fish resists, release it.

The take-home message: Choose tackle that allows you to bring the fish to hand in the least amount time yet provides for the enjoyment of successfully angling the fish. When I target adult red drum, I plan to have them to the boat in five minutes or less. If you choose to use light tackle for large fish, do so with the recognition that you’re consciously increasing the chances that the fish will perish.

Landing Gear

Once anglers subdue fish, they have a responsibility to release them in the most expedient manner. Some species can be more sensitive to the effects of handling than others.

In contrast to the 2010 study on tarpon, mentioned above, a 2016 Virginia Institute of Marine Sciences study showed that removing white marlin from the water and exposing them to air had a more pronounced effect than fight duration on postrelease survival for that species. Research also has revealed that warm air can quickly dry delicate gill filaments, causing them to become nonfunctional.

If you must capture a fish, using a ­knotless, coated-mesh landing (Spud Woodward/)

If you choose to bring a fish into the boat before release, preferred options include the use of hands to lip grippers to landing nets—never gaffs. Wet, gloved hands or a handheld wet towel can effectively control small- to medium-size fish such as seatrout and bonefish but can be inadequate for larger, more vigorous animals. When using hands, always keep the fish in a horizontal position supporting its weight, and avoid any contact with the gills and eyes, which can be easily damaged.

Lip grippers, such as the BogaGrip, have steadily grown in popularity, but their design often tempts anglers to support the entire weight of the fish vertically. Research has shown that doing so can cause debilitating injury to mouth parts, internal organs and skeletal structure, especially for larger fish. When using grippers, support the fish’s weight with a hand under its abdomen.

A 2009 Australian study of barramundi (20 to 40 inches in length) handled with lip grippers provides some perspective. Researchers lifted 10 fish vertically without any additional support—all the fishes’ weight was supported by the mouth parts. Eleven were lifted in a horizontal position with a hand supporting the belly of the fish. Lifting fish using grippers without support increased the severity of mouth injury and altered the alignment of vertebrae, which did not return to normal for three weeks.

Landing nets, used frequently for small- to medium-size species, offer many advantages such as reducing fight time, controlling fish movement to allow for hook removal and preventing the fish from being dropped. Yet landing nets also can potentially harm fish by removing the protective mucus layer, dislodging scales and damaging fins.

Recognizing this, most net manufacturers offer a knotless rubber model, some with the further modification of a flat bottom to prevent fish from rolling in the net and damaging fins. Another study of barramundi in 2008 showed that a landing net of this design resulted in significantly less fin damage and abrasions when compared with a traditional knotted net.

Pressure Drop

Many species most prized by saltwater anglers live near the ocean bottom, sometimes in extreme depths. Granted, we usually pursue them as table fare, so catch-and-release is not typically the targeted outcome. But in today’s world of restrictions on size, quantity and season, releasing reef fish has become part of our new reality—as are the challenges of ensuring postrelease survival for an animal pulled up from 20 fathoms.

Species such as snappers and groupers have air bladders, which allow them to make fine-scale adjustments in their buoyancy. However, when we rapidly pull these fish from the seafloor to the surface, an uncontrolled expansion of their air bladders can cause barotrauma.

Bulging eyes suggest this bottomfish suffered barotrauma. This fish was kept, but if the goal is live release, leave it in the water rather than hold it vertically. (Doug Olander / Sport Fishing/)

Most anglers know the symptoms: bulging eyes, stomach protruding from the mouth, a distended abdomen, and lack of equilibrium when returned to the water. When released, these fish can’t submerge, which makes them easy pickings for predators. In addition, prolonged barotrauma causes irreversible anatomical damage and extended physiological stress, often leading to death.

For many years, anglers have been advised to treat barotrauma in a fish by venting—puncturing its air bladder with a hollow needle. However, venting causes injury, creating additional stress and an opportunity for infection. If you choose to vent, be sure to do it properly. There’s no doubt venting beats simply discarding a fish with severe barotrauma, but there’s a better way.

An angler prepares to fasten a descending device to a Goliath ­grouper prior to release. (Adrian E. Gray/)

Several devices on the market now allow anglers to lower the fish to depth, allowing it to recompress, alleviating the effects of barotrauma (visible and nonvisible). Additionally, these devices return fish to an environment of optimal conditions while hopefully bypassing some of those hungry predators. Collectively known as descending devices, these products have proved to increase postrelease survival in bottomfish.

In a 2015 Gulf of Mexico study, red snapper returned to the seafloor with a descending device fared better than fish that were vented or untreated. Survival rates for descended fish rose during summer, when sea-surface temperatures exceeded those at the seafloor. Research has also shown the benefits of descending devices for Pacific rockfish, reef fish in Australia and even walleye in freshwater lakes.

Descending devices hold such great promise for improving bottomfish survival that the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council has requested the National Marine Fisheries Service make a rule requiring anyone who possesses or is fishing for snapper-grouper species have such a device on board. If approved by the Secretary of Commerce, this requirement will go into effect sometime in 2020.

Choice or Law?

Fishery management and catch-and-release fishing succeed only when a high percentage of released fish survive. Thanks to years of study and on-water experiences, we now have angling best practices that, when followed, maximize survival chances. The quandary becomes whether to mandate the use of some or all of these angling best practices or to rely solely on voluntary compliance. Not surprisingly, angler opinion is divided.

Government entities, conservation groups and the marine industry invest vast sums of money and effort in promoting angling best practices. In some jurisdictions and fisheries, these government entities mandate the use of some types of tackle and gear or disallow certain activities.

For example, circle hooks must be used for billfish, sharks, reef fish, and striped bass in some areas and situations. Federal regulations prohibit marlin or sailfish from being removed from the water, if the fish won’t be kept. Florida law also forbids anglers from removing tarpon over 40 inches from the water.

Whether by choice or legal mandate, anglers have the responsibility to use best practices and to advocate their use to others. This might mean changing behaviors and postponing the catch of the next fish for the benefit of the one in hand. After all, a fish that survives after release is a potential future catch. And we are always looking forward to that next catch.

Tagging Tales

Determining the postrelease survival of fish caught on hook-and-line gear can be daunting. The study methods themselves—taking blood samples, marking, handling, confinement—can mask or amplify the effects of the catch.

Ideally, the fish should suffer the least amount of additional stress and be released into the same environment from which it was caught as quickly as possible. Oh, and yes, the scientist must be able to determine if the fish remains alive or dies during a minimum of 24 hours—and, ideally, for weeks, if not months.

This was once thought impossible, but not anymore, thanks to technological advances in batteries, microcircuitry and satellite communications. Acoustic telemetry and pop-up satellite archival tags (PSATs) have revolutionized scientists’ ability to document the fate of hook-caught-and-released fish.

In a 2015 North Carolina study, researchers used externally attached acoustic tags to document the fate of scamp, snowy grouper and speckled hind caught from depths of 200 feet and treated with a descending device. Previous knowledge suggested that any fish brought up from those depths perished. However, this study reported a 50 percent survival rate after 14 days, showing that recompression can increase postrelease survival in deepwater species.

Read Next: U.S. Senators Cassidy and Jones Introduce DESCEND Act Companion

PSATs have been used in multiple studies of billfish and tunas, species that are notoriously difficult to study with conventional methods. One such project using these tags on juvenile bluefin tuna revealed almost 100 percent postrelease survival, and concluded that the recreational catch-and-release troll fishery for school-size Atlantic bluefins does not represent a significant source of fishing mortality.

Best Practices

For more information about properly releasing fish, consult these resources:

fishsmart.org

releasense.org

myfishcount.com/bestpractices

fisheries.noaa.gov (search “catch-and-release best practices”)

myfwc.com (click on “saltwater fishing,” then “fish handling”)

About the Author

Capt. Spud Woodward retired in 2018 after 34 years with the Georgia Department of Natural Resources serving in various positions from senior biologist to division director. He is the vice chairman for the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission and a member of the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council.