[Guest]

If you are fishing a lake which has a size/slot limit, and you catch a "return to water immediately" fish and it is obvious it will die,

What do YOU do?

If your reply is to immediately take the fish to the nearest DOW officer, even if it ends your day of fishing, and report it as an "undersized/unkeepable but would not survive" your full of it.

 

[Guest]

I throw it back. The law is the law and I do not feel keeping an illegal fish is worth the ticket. Bernie

 

[Guest]

I give to the pelican.

chooch

 

[afishman]

i would release it. even if it dies, it will become crawdad food or any other animal that feeds on fishes food.

 

[left_turn56]

I would put it down Gotmuskie's waders!

 

[hooknline]

If the slot was none over 18 and it was 19 i would cut the tail. LOL ;D only messing

 

[afishman]

tony i like the way you think ;D

 

[gotmusky?]

Not down my waders. I only like them when they wiggle ;D

 

[NeWcS]

Wow, I don't think there is a right answer. Id say throw it back but maybe wait till im near a flock of birds that will eat it. I guess either way its going to get eaten anyways. But the law is the law.


[me=Jay_In_Parker] [/me]

 

[1eyered]

Throw it back

 

[silicone boy]

I would put it down Gotmuskie's waders!

Especially if it's a tiger muskie.

 

[das]

If you are fishing a lake which has a size/slot limit, and you catch a "return to water immediately" fish and it is obvious it will die,

What do YOU do?

If your reply is to immediately take the fish to the nearest DOW officer, even if it ends your day of fishing, and report it as an "undersized/unkeepable but would not survive" your full of it.

I eat it. Nobody can prove nothing this way. Except at Chatfield, they taste like mud there. There I just tie a brick to it and throw it overboard.
d

 

[idratherbfishing]

Ethically, there is a no win situation keep a fish that you are certain will die or relaese it and let it go to waste. There is only one answer and that is the legal one. Release it.

There is a difference between what is right and what is legal.

In this case you have to go with what is legal.

Dan

 

[thumper]

The way I look at it, releasing the fish is the only option.
It will not go to waste, something will eat it.

Thumper

 

[TimberlineArcher]

I have a pretty small pond that holds 19 trout at my house. I once caught one of them on a crankbait and I didnt have my forceps to get it out easily... I ended up accidently ripping like half its gill out when it started flipping. I figured it would die really quick considering trout are "so weak, if you look at them they die" as I have heard it. well... I released him, and 10 mins later I saw him belly up next to the shore, gasping. I said to myself, "after I am done fishing, I will gut him and take him up and eat him" well... 20 mins later I looked over as I was about to go up to the house... and I couldnt find him. He swam off. well... I figured he would turn belly up the next day or week... that didnt happen...

2 months later I caught him again! I could tell because half of his gill was hanging out. To this day I can watch him because he has a red spot (the gill) on his operculum. I thought for sure he would die, it turns out maybe trout arent as weak as I thought.

and my point is... is that just because a fish is bleeding, it doesnt mean it is going to die.

 

[silicone boy]

Being in the medical field, and especially having a strong background in wound healing, I agree with you Timberline. Before we had doctors, humans who sustained horrific wounds would often live simply by letting nature take its course. Animals are very much the same. It may take a long time to heal, but they often do. The times I have killed trout, it has been totally my fault. I wasn't patient enough with removing a deeply hooked fish, or I didn't use the right tools. Either that, or I failed to sufficiently revive the fish in the water after I caught it. Great example.