poor fish handling?

[Lord Paul of Sheffield]

Today watching an angler catch small silver fish and each fish was held in a small towel whilst unhooked
I always thought that this bad for the fish as it removes the protective slime on the fish

 

[sam vimes]

It is, towels are bad news for fish. A towel is fine to wipe your hands on after you've handled a fish, but handling a fish with a towel, even a wet towel, is not a good thing.

 

[Lord Paul of Sheffield]

That's what I've always thought Sam but wasn't sure
thanks

 

[mikench]

My view too! I try to remove the hook whilst the fish is in the landing net either with it resting on my knee or preferably on the unhooking mat I place at my feet or thereabouts( with great optimism) at the outset.

I handle small fish without the landing net! What do you do when a small perch swallows the hook and you can't remove it even with a disgorger/ pair of forceps. It is always perch, it seems to me, which do this!

 

[john step]

My view too! I try to remove the hook whilst the fish is in the landing net either with it resting on my knee or preferably on the unhooking mat I place at my feet or thereabouts( with great optimism) at the outset.

I handle small fish without the landing net! What do you do when a small perch swallows the hook and you can't remove it even with a disgorger/ pair of forceps. It is always perch, it seems to me, which do this!

It does unfortunately happen with small perch which can gulp down a hook.
If its so deep that I would damage and probably kill it trying to unhook then I flick it on the bonce and then do the abstraction.
Better to kill it humanely as such than risk seeing it in trouble and dying after returning it.
Most likely where there is one small perch there are loads, so no damage to the population.
They can be taken home to freeze as perch are good tough baits for old essox on sink and draw.

 

[greenie62]

.... What do you do when a small perch swallows the hook and you can't remove it even with a disgorger/ pair of forceps. It is always perch, it seems to me, which do this!

One of the local club ponds has some nice Cru's and Tench - but also greedy little Perch - who will gobble down almost any and all loose feed. When I've hooked the little guzzlers they've usually managed to swallow the hook deeply - and whilst removing it have puked up a handful of still-wriggling maggots/ sweetcorn / pellets depending on what I threw in!

The only way I've managed to stop them deep-hooking themselves, whilst still in with a chance of the target fish, is to hair-rig the bait.

If you have lost a hook in the depths of the fish - the consensus seems to be that if you snip the line off - the fish can either divest itself of the hook - or it will dissolve. I don't know how much of this is wishful thinking

 

[mikench]

As a last resort that is what I did when it happened to me!

 

[binka]

What do you do when a small perch swallows the hook and you can't remove it even with a disgorger/ pair of forceps. It is always perch, it seems to me, which do this!

Mike...

Try one of these, they have saved a fair few that I have caught, to go on and live another day...

Ex-Ceed Disgorgers | Ted Carter

 

[mikench]

Cheers Binka I will. I have a lanyard around my neck with two types of disgorger and a pair of forceps. I also have a similar one attached to my large bait bag just in case. One cannot have too many disgorgers: I just need a bit more skill in using one!

 

[steve2]

Any fish that I deep hook and bleed I put in the net and if they don't recover end up as pike dead bait. Small perch are alway the worst for this.
Some of the worst fish handling I have seen over the year seems to be with pike. If you are afraid of them don't fish for them.

 

[Peter Jacobs]

That's what I've always thought Sam but wasn't sure
thanks

If you think about it logically, the slime is here as a barrier between the fish and the water and acts to prevent friction as they swim as well as a parasite protection screen.

To loose that barrier can be fatal in the worst cases.

So, never, ever, use even a wet towel or cloth to hold a fish with. Even a dry hand is not altogether a good thing either.

Far better to unhook while still in the landing net . . . . . .

 

[Lord Paul of Sheffield]

I try to unhook in the net if I can

 

[flossy]

I caught an eel the other day whilst out chubb fishing ,my method of unhooking was too hold it firmly useing the wet mesh of the landing net while it was still in the water ,which worked really well and it went back safely without too much trouble.

---------- Post added at 12:16 ---------- Previous post was at 12:15 ----------

Sorry ,i was meant too add ,what have others found the best way to unhook an eel.

 

[w_world]

I caught an eel the other day whilst out chubb fishing ,my method of unhooking was too hold it firmly useing the wet mesh of the landing net while it was still in the water ,which worked really well and it went back safely without too much trouble.

---------- Post added at 12:16 ---------- Previous post was at 12:15 ----------

Sorry ,i was meant too add ,what have others found the best way to unhook an eel.

I havnt caught one for many many years, but a strange trick a chap told me to try, and it worked to my shock, put the eel on a sheet of news paper, stops moving straight away.

 

[slaphead]

Regarding deep-hooked fish, I was told by a fishing instructor on one lake I fished to cut the line as it was less dangerous to the fish.

The hook would then rust away not dissolve.

 

[flossy]

Wonder why that works ?.

---------- Post added at 12:35 ---------- Previous post was at 12:32 ----------

Regarding deep-hooked fish, I was told by a fishing instructor on one lake I fished to cut the line as it was less dangerous to the fish.

The hook would then rust away not dissolve.

Something I've done all my angling life ,and always wondered if i were alone here ,great too know i,m not ,thats pleased me no end

---------- Post added at 12:38 ---------- Previous post was at 12:35 ----------

Just to add to that i cut the line safely down inside the mouth ,as not too leave any line hanging out.

 

[nogoodboyo]

There's not a great deal of scientific evidence to support the idea of hooks dissolving in a fishes stomach. And it wouldn't be a great marketing strategy.
"Our hooks are super strong - but they'll dissolve if you deep hook a fish".

 

[flossy]

Can i just say ,deep hooking which only seldom happens ,i believe for the most is not bad angling either ,i recently deep hooked a chub when freelinning a lobworm i hit the take straight away ,and was shocked too discover the fish had taken it all the way down ,when normally i hook them around the bottom lip.

 

[thecrow]

Hooks left in fish can kill them, particularly predators such as pike, I believe that any hook will take a long time to rust away inside a fish. Has anyone ever experimented by putting a hook into something containing river water to see how long it takes to rust away?

 

[Lord Paul of Sheffield]

I also hate to see fish held for a long time for photos

if photoing fish you should have everything ready so the fish is out of the water for the shortest period