Warm Blooded Hands Kill Fish

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Scott Callis

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On a recent trip to my local Carp lake i was in the transaction of returning a carp to the water. The owner of the venue arrived and gave me a right earful about the way i handled the fish. You must return it in a net he said. Why i asked? Your warm blooded and they are cold. It's like someone pouring acid over your skin. I was shocked and felt really bad if this is the case. I then packed up and have never returned since. I then thought about all the picturers you see of anglers proudly displaying there catches, i thought he must be wrong? I have looked into it and to-date find nothing to validate his claim. Was he correct?
 
GrahamM

GrahamM

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Scott, he had a point but didn't put it across too well by the sound of it. What you need to do is make sure your hands are wet.

As for returning the fish via the net then he must make sure that is stated in his rules. Was it?
 
W

Wolfman Woody

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I think the association with "acid" was a bit strong.

Like the Guv says, try and make sure your hands are wet, but few angler do that even. They might touch on a wet net to dampen them, but that's about all.

What you might end up doing is removing some of protective mucous from their scales with dry hands. Other than that, which they replace very quickly, all you tend to do is shock them a little. In human terms, think of grabbing a hot-ish plate, but without actually burning yourself.

Whatever you do, DON'T be tempted to handle them with a wet towel (old wives tail). That's even worse.
 
B

Big Swordsy :O)

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The bloke was talking absolute shite!

fish have a totally different way of sensing pain than we do, I have caught fish with deep cuts caused by herons, pike and cormorants and they have been quite ok to feed, my hands are far less dangerous to a fish than a razor sharp beak inflicting bone deep wounds and anyone saying otherwise is an idiot!
 
C

Cakey

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what gets me is the number of people lifting fish out in a net and plonking them down on a unhooking mat thats been out in the sun for hours and is now red hot!
 
C

Chub King

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How can a fishery owner be so ignorant in this day and age? Wet hands is the most considerate way to handle fish (small bucket to hold water next to an unhooking mat is a good idea - can also be used to wet the mat).
You've done the right thing Scott - don't go there again. Owner sounds like a bit of an idiot to me. No point in being short with less experienced anglers, they need encouraging and educating.
 
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Joskin

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I have heard many times now that fish do not feel pain. so in that case wouldnt an unhooking mat need to be pretty hot to cause damage in that way. I would have thought that the dryness of an unhooking mat would be far more likely to cause damage to a fish than the mats temperature.

can anyone say for sure?
 
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Wolfman Woody

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That they don't feel 'pain' as we do doesn't mean that aggresive heat won't harm them. Think - cold and wet - and try to match it as close as you can.

Your hands can't be described as "aggresive heat", but they are warmer than what the fish is used to even after wetting them. Therefore, when you hold them for the first time there is a reaction when they feel the temperature difference, but that isn't pain. It's just a reaction, nothing more.
 
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Wolfman Woody

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btw, my experience doesn't necessarily come from fishing, but keeping pond fish for 40 years.
 
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madpiker

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the temp of the ground can be a lot more than the air temp,hence why an unhooking mat gets so warm,make sure that it`s kept in the shade and wet when a fish is placed on it.
 
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Ric Elwin

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I wish I had a pound for every time I heard the word 'pain' used in the same sentence as 'fish'.

These will always be spurious arguments.

Pain is a human sense. Fish may be (in our words) stressed, damaged and fearful. There is no proof that they feel pain in the way we do either being caught, or in their natural environment.
 
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madpiker

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i`m sure that fish don`t feel pain as we do.if they did,thensurely injuries sustained on fish by predators,ie,deep slashes by cormorants etc,would result in death by shock.
i once caught a small pike (8lbs)that had its` intestines hanging out of a gash caused by a bigger pike,i pushed them back inside hoping that water pressure would keep them in place,at least it would have a chance of asurvival.the same fish was caught on a lure some six months later,the wouonds had healed.i can`t imagine a warm blooded animal that feels pain surviving,the shock would have killed it.
i don`t imagine that they feel fear or terror as we do either,otherwise they would never get caught again!
 
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Wag

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Fish starts to cook at temperatures above 40 C - try it with a piece of trout in cold water in a pan and slowly heat the water until it starts to change colour.
In strong sunlight the ground temperature can easily be above 40 C, so a fish laid on an unhooking mat that has been in the sun for any length of time can easily start to cook, and at best the skin and it's protective mucous layer will be damaged, possibly allowing infection in.
Please make sure anything used as an unhooking mat is both COOL and WET before laying a fish on it.
 
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