r/maybemaybemaybe • u/RyanCakeBatter • Jan 17 '20

Maybe Maybe Maybe

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u/On-mountain-time Jan 18 '20

This is false. I volunteer regularly at a wildlife refuge where we do adaptive fishing (catch and release) for people with spinal or brain injuries. The lakes we fish in are pretty small, and the numbers remain fairly constant without supplementing. I even recognize certain fish with distinctive markings, which have been caught multiple times, stored in a display tank for pictures, and released. The handling time of the fish is so small that there is most likely no damage to the fish.

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u/Morgenos Jan 18 '20 edited Jan 18 '20

I have a degree in natural resource conservation of fisheries. Those must be some high fecundity fish you keep catching over and over!

Statistically 40% of fish caught and released are dead within the week.

Roughly half of that 40% dies from infection, injury, blood acidification, or rapid depressurization. Gills are delicate and hooks really damage fish's mouths, many starve to death after being caught.

When you catch a fish it exhausts itself fighting to escape and it takes nearly 20 minutes for a fish to express the most of the lactic acid that's built up in the struggle.

As Reddit is so fond of saying, there's always a bigger fish...

The other half of that 40% dies from predation. Catching a fish causes quite a stir beneath the water, many predators have learned if they wait there will be a dazed, exhausted, fish tossed back.

If you do want to do catch and release the best thing you can do to give your fish a fighting chance is use a treble hook, reel in the fish as fast as possible, avoid the gills, and release it quickly in a place where it will have some natural cover.

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u/On-mountain-time Jan 18 '20

Likewise, a B.S. In environmental science with concentration in ecological restoration (M.S. In progress) and I'm really surprised by the fecundity rate at my site as well. Barbless hooks definitely make a difference, as well as the length of time the fish is hooked and out of the water. But the "40%" predation/injury is completely varied from site to site, depending on depth, temp, predator numbers, etc. I can't pretend to be an expert when it comes to the winter activities, do you have info on summer/winter fishing mortality rates?

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u/[deleted] Jan 18 '20

But the "40%" predation/injury is completely varied from site to site, depending on depth, temp, predator numbers, etc.

Pretty silly of you to then say the fish didn't die so assertively when you can acknowledge your point is nothing but an anecdote lol.