While I have always been a strong advocate of catch and release where wild fish have been concerned, over the last 6 or so years I have moved to an exclusively catch and release approach to trout fishing even when fishing stocked stillwaters. This is a function of a number of factors chief amongst which are (i) my daughter Rachel will only fish with me if I promise to let them all go, except those that are injured and won’t survive, (ii) my increasing commitment to sustainability, including that of our sport and (iii) maintaining a diversity of affordable venues. Given the pressures on our marine resources we ought to appreciate the farmed fish we catch in the same way that we do wild fish as these are raised using fish oils and meals harvested from marine resources (a blog post subject in itself). A lot has been made in the fishing press of the number of trout fisheries that have closed in recent years with falling participation in our sport being one of the key reasons offered for the decline. In a simplistic sense I was of the opinion that practising catch and release would reduce the financial pressures on fisheries with anglers enjoying increased catch rates and the fisheries lower stocking costs.
However, reflecting back on all those fishing trips I was struggling to recall ever being asked if I knew how to actually release a fish safely when buying either a catch & release ticket or one that included catch & release after reaching your bag limit. In fact, I don’t recall seeing much in the way of signage or written advice at the waters edge either. This got me thinking about how widespread catch and release tickets are at present and what kinds of advice fisheries give to their clientele with respect to catch & release best practice. Having reviewed the websites of 80 of the UKs top stillwater trout fisheries (Trout Fisherman, 2016) the picture is quite clear, matches my experience to date and doesn’t cast the industry in a very flattering light.
I based the sorts of best practice guidance one might expect to see on a recently published review of catch and release best practice guidance [5]. This review focused on a range of best practices identified from the literature and included:
- Avoid barbed hooks to reduce fish injury [2]
- Avoid air exposure during landing [2]
- Use wet hands when handling [1]
- Reduce handling time/stress [2]
- Minimise injury with unhooking technique [3]
- Improve survival with release technique [4]
- Use specialised tools to improve release [3]
- Minimise fight and handling time during higher than normal temperature [2]
My website survey of UK stillwater fisheries websites found that 49% of fisheries insist on barbless hooks and a further 3% recommend barbless hooks. This is surely the simplest best practice that a fishery could implement when practising catch and release yet it is extremely poorly implemented. The second most widely implemented best practice is limiting air exposure through keeping the fish in the water during the unhooking process (21%). The remaining options were even more poorly represented: wet hands before handling (3%), no handling (5%), minimal or careful handling (8%), not overplaying the fish (3%), allowing it to recover before release (3%), dispatching injured fish that will not survive (10%) and the use of tools (5%) to minimise injury when practising catch and release. One stillwater had catch and release tickets only available in the winter owing to water temperatures. Some of the waters are known to close over the peak summer period although this has as much to do with Argulus spp. control as concerns over catch and release fish survival.
During the survey it was most interesting to come across data from a fishery committed to improving the sustainability of fisheries that supported the viewpoint that catch and release could indeed play a role in maintaining costs while increasing catch rate for anglers (Menteith Fisheries). Their data for 2004 to 2011 clearly illustrates the increase in catch rate per 8 hour boat session with rising levels of released fish given a similar stocking rate and mean weight of caught fish.
If you have a commitment to catch and release angling then review the commitment of your local fisheries to the sustainability of our sport and support those that share your passion. Then make sure that you are following best practice and doing your part. The YouTube videos below are two of the best on the subject (and I have watched a lot of them on YouTube) demonstrating the correct way to do things, including getting that photo for your album. It was only in researching this article that I realised that I was not necessarily following best practice and have modified my approach.
Tight Lines
Greg
References
[1] Pelletier et al., 2007 [2] Cooke and Suskie, 2005 [3] Muoneke and Childress, 1994 [4] Gilmour, 1994 [5] Sims and Danylchuk, 2017
