"Imagine you just ran the hundred yard dash at full olympic speed, and at the end someone dunked your head under water and held it there so you could not breath. This is what I say to folks on my boat, or on the stream: I started C&R fishing at the age of 12 for freshwater species. Now, regarding pictures, catch and release, etc from my mostly trout fishing back ground. There is excellent research showing a significant survival rate on released rock fish when done at depth. I purchased one of those release tools they sell, but have used the upside down hook on a weight also. That way you can take the weight off during travel so it isn't bouncing all over the place.Ĭlick to expand.FOMEN- Excellent post, thank you for making it. I would also tie on a snap swivel to the weight.
I hope and pray you guys will utilize this technique to preserve this valuable resource.
When you reach this depth, gently pull up and the barbless hook will pull out from the top lip, and the fish is free to live and grow up. When you drop the fish down 70-100', the swim bladder will totally recompress and the fish will be capable of making it's way back down to the bottom. It will cost you a total of $3 to $4 to make, and it lasts forever. When you do that you're only reinforcing what the environmentalists already accuse us of. If you're a recreational boater or kayak fisherman, and you're targeting rockfish, you have no excuse to let the smaller ones die on the surface. #2- back in 2008 I posted a thread regarding making a homemade device for releasing rockfish suffering from barotrauma. If you want to avoid catching smaller rockfish, use bigger hooks and bigger bait. Unless you have a device to recompress the swim bladder, you should ALWAYS keep the fish. I'm sure it's very uncomfortable for the fish. Take a swim bladder that is 1 cubic inch under pressure, and allow it to expand 7x's it's capacity by the time you get to the surface, you're going to have an inverted stomach and bulging eyes. As you quickly peel the fish up from the bottom, the swim bladder (and any other organ that has air trapped in it) rapidly expands. At several hundred feet, the pressures can be 7-10 atmospheres greater than they are on the surface. The reason they state that is because they know that rockfish brought up from depths in excess of 100' will more than likely suffer from barotrauma. #1- There's no such thing as an undersized rockfish. Someone on the thread made mention of what a shame it was to be on a sportie and see the swath of death trailing behind it when undersized rockfish suffering from barotrauma were tossed back. I was just reading a thread in the Bay Fishing forum about C&R, and keeping fish out of the water too long for picture or video ops.