davestocker
Well-known member
When fly fishing for trout, and lure fishing for pike, I tend to fish barbless hooks and try and handle the fish I catch as little as possible. I rarely use a landing net, preferring to unhook my fish in the water. I bully fish when playing them, too, the better to get them in quick and see them swim healthily away. Because of these factors, I do lose quite a lot of fish when I get them under my rod top. And funnily enough I don?t really mind, especially in the case of lively Summer pike with their tendency to flare their gills, open their mouths and jump. I?d really prefer not to have to unhook them myself, if possible. If I used barbed hooks, played the fish a bit longer and tried to net them all, I?d no doubt be able to say I?d actually landed many more fish.
Here?s the dilemma; I hook a fish, play it hard on a barbless hook and don?t try and net it. It falls off at my feet. Can I claim it as a catch? Do I have to touch the fish for it to be truly caught? Does it have to have been lifted clear of the water to count? If I just touched the leader and the fish fell off would it be enough to claim it as being caught (I think the latter is considered to count when big game fishing)?
I fish for that wonderful moment of the ?take?, and rate my success - to myself - in terms of the number of hook-ups I achieve rather than landings. But when do you consider that a fish has been well and truly ?caught??
Here?s the dilemma; I hook a fish, play it hard on a barbless hook and don?t try and net it. It falls off at my feet. Can I claim it as a catch? Do I have to touch the fish for it to be truly caught? Does it have to have been lifted clear of the water to count? If I just touched the leader and the fish fell off would it be enough to claim it as being caught (I think the latter is considered to count when big game fishing)?
I fish for that wonderful moment of the ?take?, and rate my success - to myself - in terms of the number of hook-ups I achieve rather than landings. But when do you consider that a fish has been well and truly ?caught??