12-23-2010, 10:17 PM
[quote doggonefishin]
1. While ice fishing, the water temperature is cool and uniform. This favors water oxygenation. One of the killers in C&R of trout caught in lakes during the summer is catching them in deep, cold water below the thermocline and dragging them to the warm, relatively unoxygenated water of the surface. It doesn't matter how lovingly you release some of these, you will lose many. The DWR goes so far as to suggest maybe not C&Ring some of these fish caught during the hottest time of the year. This is a problem you do not have to deal with during ice fishing! I am confident that the cutts I catch in Strawberry through the ice have a much greater survival than the ones that people are dredging up from the deeps in August, regardless of the method the August angler employs.
Strawberry is a high enough elevation, I am not sure how often the water temp gets above 75°.
Getting the fish in quick is even more important in warmer water. Fish are cold blooded and will always expend more energy in warmer water. So it makes sense that they will fight harder too. The harder they fight, the more energy they expend and the more lactic acid they will produce.
Besides building up lactic acid, a fighting fish uses up oxygen. They can become out of breath just like us. The quicker he's brought in, the less out of breath he'll be and the more likely he'll be able to swim away without the need to be revived. Some people scoff at this notion because fish don't breathe through their mouths (note that some species such as catfish are capable of breathing through their mouths). They don't think about the fact that fish have lungs and a heart just as we do. When we're out of breath, it's because we've used up a lot of oxygen. We breathe faster to take in more air and our hearts beat faster to get the needed oxygen replenished throughout our bodies. Fish are no different, but they are not as well equipped to catch their breath.
(Play fish quickly
Try to land your fish as quickly as possible and don’t play the fish to exhaustion. This is particularly important when fishing for trout in periods of warmer water temperatures (greater than 70 degrees F), but it is also true for coolwater and warmwater species, when water temperatures are relatively high (greater than 80 degrees F). Keep in mind that as water temperatures warm, dissolved oxygen levels in the water decline. Therefore, fish are subject to stress and exhaustion in a much shorter period of time at 70 degrees compared to 55-degree water temperatures.)
3. As a rule, it seems to be a rare occurrence to have a fish "swallow the hook" while ice fishing. (Yes, it can occasionally happen, but most of my fish are caught right in the snout). Most of these fish are much more easily released than a deep hooked summer fish.
Is this true also with multi poles? Where the fish has more time to suck that bait all the way in?
4. Obviously, common sense holds true that the same good C&R technique applies whether in summer or winter!
All the studies I have read state extreme hot and extreme cold are equally bad.
The hot thing keeps coming up as well.
For those that think they are NOT that fragile, I think they are.
They might be planters, but where do big fish come from?
AND those that prefer to eat their catch...what time is dinner?
[signature]
1. While ice fishing, the water temperature is cool and uniform. This favors water oxygenation. One of the killers in C&R of trout caught in lakes during the summer is catching them in deep, cold water below the thermocline and dragging them to the warm, relatively unoxygenated water of the surface. It doesn't matter how lovingly you release some of these, you will lose many. The DWR goes so far as to suggest maybe not C&Ring some of these fish caught during the hottest time of the year. This is a problem you do not have to deal with during ice fishing! I am confident that the cutts I catch in Strawberry through the ice have a much greater survival than the ones that people are dredging up from the deeps in August, regardless of the method the August angler employs.
Strawberry is a high enough elevation, I am not sure how often the water temp gets above 75°.
Getting the fish in quick is even more important in warmer water. Fish are cold blooded and will always expend more energy in warmer water. So it makes sense that they will fight harder too. The harder they fight, the more energy they expend and the more lactic acid they will produce.
Besides building up lactic acid, a fighting fish uses up oxygen. They can become out of breath just like us. The quicker he's brought in, the less out of breath he'll be and the more likely he'll be able to swim away without the need to be revived. Some people scoff at this notion because fish don't breathe through their mouths (note that some species such as catfish are capable of breathing through their mouths). They don't think about the fact that fish have lungs and a heart just as we do. When we're out of breath, it's because we've used up a lot of oxygen. We breathe faster to take in more air and our hearts beat faster to get the needed oxygen replenished throughout our bodies. Fish are no different, but they are not as well equipped to catch their breath.
(Play fish quickly
Try to land your fish as quickly as possible and don’t play the fish to exhaustion. This is particularly important when fishing for trout in periods of warmer water temperatures (greater than 70 degrees F), but it is also true for coolwater and warmwater species, when water temperatures are relatively high (greater than 80 degrees F). Keep in mind that as water temperatures warm, dissolved oxygen levels in the water decline. Therefore, fish are subject to stress and exhaustion in a much shorter period of time at 70 degrees compared to 55-degree water temperatures.)
3. As a rule, it seems to be a rare occurrence to have a fish "swallow the hook" while ice fishing. (Yes, it can occasionally happen, but most of my fish are caught right in the snout). Most of these fish are much more easily released than a deep hooked summer fish.
Is this true also with multi poles? Where the fish has more time to suck that bait all the way in?
4. Obviously, common sense holds true that the same good C&R technique applies whether in summer or winter!
All the studies I have read state extreme hot and extreme cold are equally bad.
The hot thing keeps coming up as well.
For those that think they are NOT that fragile, I think they are.
They might be planters, but where do big fish come from?
AND those that prefer to eat their catch...what time is dinner?
[signature]