Hook wounding? Maybe next fall Bullet wounding. Catch and release deer hunting. F&G will study the effect of bullet wounds on hunted animals. Just stirring the pot a tad ! After a few beers at the Gathering listening to the hook wounding seminar as I was looking at the dozens of treble hook lures hanging on display "for sale" and I could not help to think what an "OXY MORON" !! To fish with any kind of sharp pointed cold steel 1,2 or 3 barbed hooks for every lure and not expect to stick the prey painfully ! I have a hard time wraping my mind around any real concept that can give one with out the other.It is inconceivable to sport fish and catch fish with out a hook and some type of hook damage to the fish. I can except... Be a good sewart of the lake and handle the fish you intend to release with the future of the fish at hand. To be more blunt than anyone here, with all this hook wounding chitter chatter !! What some are saying if your catching and releasing many fish try to be a good dooby and don't stay on them and beat them up!!! Try not to be about putting up big numbers but more about the enjoyment of our great fishery.
I think the comments you speak of 24/7 were about runt salmon... if you get on a school of runts, move away from them, as they are much harder to avoid major damage when unhooking. Everyone I know and fish with practices that simple safety precaution. Who wants to be hooking little runts anyways?
Obviously hooks are going to cause wounds... what everyone is worried about is the mishandling of fish while dehooking that causes EXCESSIVE damage. Be gentle in the removal of the hook and the damage sustained to the soft tissue of a salmons mouth will be much less. Go yanking the hook out with no care in the world and the lips will sometimes pull right off a salmon. People aren't being whiny, they're looking out for the future of our fishery. If you read the past several years of netting results you'd know we are on a downward slide in fish quality. I, for one, would like to see the quality go up. Taking an extra few seconds to carefully remove a hook is an easy way for all of us to help eachother enjoy more or larger fish in the future.
I found it best to support the jaw with a few fingers of one hand and remove the hook with the other, a one hand job will damage the mouths. Believe it or not it's a 2 person job to do it right. try it
You can't hold the body with one hand and remove the hook with the other without possible hook damage.
Hey Craig, they are fishing in your back yard, I'm coming up.
John S.
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Replying to:
I think the comments you speak of 24/7 were about runt salmon... if you get on a school of runts, move away from them, as they are much harder to avoid major damage when unhooking. Everyone I know and fish with practices that simple safety precaution. Who wants to be hooking little runts anyways?
Obviously hooks are going to cause wounds... what everyone is worried about is the mishandling of fish while dehooking that causes EXCESSIVE damage. Be gentle in the removal of the hook and the damage sustained to the soft tissue of a salmons mouth will be much less. Go yanking the hook out with no care in the world and the lips will sometimes pull right off a salmon. People aren't being whiny, they're looking out for the future of our fishery. If you read the past several years of netting results you'd know we are on a downward slide in fish quality. I, for one, would like to see the quality go up. Taking an extra few seconds to carefully remove a hook is an easy way for all of us to help eachother enjoy more or larger fish in the future.
