Lets take care of these fish

[PT73]

Was up over the weekend, reefs, and steep breaks were all producing, 30-45ft, floating jigheads and rigs in the wind, hugged the bottom with lead in the calmer water. Leeches outfished the crawlers for us. Please don't overplay these fish, witnessed it a couple times over the weekend, watched a guy play your usual 22-23 for about 5 minutes out of 40 feet, take his sweet time unhooking the girl, throws it in, and complains it doesn't swim off, leaves it belly up, we motored over to it exchanging words with this group on the way, and worked it back into the fishery. The calm surface water does not have a lot of oxygen content.

[Rainydaze]

Valid points PT. Releasing the big fish only helps the fishery assuming the fish lives. Be careful with the fish, and if your snapping a few digitals do so quickly. Place the fish upright in the water until it swims on it own out of your hands. If fighting from deep water I personally say don't horse the fish up though. Bringing a fish up too quickly will kill the fish more so than taking your time. That abrupt pressure change will kill more fish than most anything else. As the average angler becomes more and more educated it is vital that we learn and understand the importance of a proper catch and release otherwise slots are very minimized in there overall effectiveness. Nice to see the concern.

RD

[Birdmasterfisher]

That is a very good point on taking care of the fishing up there and everywhere. I see it way to much around here where in the heat they throw the fish back and the fish dont swin away. Last year when we were up there, i seen a boat land a couple nice eyes bickering that they were not in the slot threw them back not even trying to revive them and the fish floated away. By the time I could catch up to the fish they were dead. Talk about unsportsman like. If I have to release them I would like to catch them again someday maybe. Think future!

[okfisherman]

Even us dumb okies have learned to be gentle with the fish up there. We never release a decent fish from deeper water without "helping" it a little. Good netting practices and fast pictures save lots of big fish for others to enjoy.

[fishmeister_86]

HEY GUYS,

THE D.N.R. IS DOING A STUDY (STARTED LAST YEAR) ON THE EFFECTS OF PULLING WALLEYES OUT OF THE DEEP. THE WAY IT WORKS IS THEY CONTACT A BUNCH OF LOCAL FISHERMAN AND ASK IF THEY WOULD LIKE TO GO OUT FISHING FOR A DAY, AND THE FISH YOU CATCH, YOU RAISE A FLAG & THE D.N.R. BOAT COMES, TAKES YOUR FISH AND RELEASES THEM INTO A HOLDING NET THAT IS STATIONED IN DEEP WATER, I THINK AROUND 70 FEET, THIS ALLOWS THE WALLEYES TO GO INTO THE BEST DEPTH OF WATER THAT SUITS THEM. WHEN YOU CATCH WALLEYES THAT ARE HOOKED DEEP, THE D.N.R. SAYS WHEN YOU CUT THE LINE...LEAVE ABOUT A FOOT OF LINE HANGING OUT OF THE FISHES MOUTH. THIS ALLOWS THE FISH TO RAPIDLY DISSOLVE THE HOOK...NEVER PULL ON THE LINE OR YOU WILL DECREASE THE SURVIVAL OF THE FISH. I THINK A MAJORITY OF THE FOLKS WHO FISH RAINY UNDERSTAND THE IMPORTANCE OF HANDLING & PLAYING FISH. IN THE 26 YEARS I HAVE BEEN FISHING RAINY, I CAN ONLY HONESTLY REMEMBER 2 WALLEYES THAT I COULDN'T REVIVE.

SINCERELY,

FISHMEISTER

[eyepatrol]

Right on Fishmeister. I've got a buddy who is working with the DNR on the fishing side of it. He's going to report back to me on how it went.

[CaptJohnWI]

They are still looking for volunteers to help with the deep waster walleye study. I am going to sign up for a few days.

My own opinion is a they will report extreme mortality from any fish caught deeper than 40 feet. Hope I am wrong.

On gut hooked fish, my own experience has been that hooks do NOT rust out. Most gut hooked fish die a lingering death if hook is left in. I have caught some sorry looking fish that had line hanging out of their mouths with hook still embedded. Line looked to have been there awhile and fish were in poor shape - skinny & lethargic. Hooks looked good though. I have caught a few fish with line hanging out of their mouths but hook had passed through their gut only to get stuck in their butt hole (ouch). Again hooks were in great shape so they didn't rust even though had gone through fish's entire system. These fish were in good shape.

In-Fisherman had an article a while back that had scientific studies of gut hooked fish. Bottom line was it is better to remove the hook. They showed a technique to get it out by inserting pliers through the gill flap rather than through the mouth. Also they have those little plastic gizmos that you slide down the line that allow you push the hook out and then cover the barb for easier removal.

I used to cut the line on gut hooked fish but no more. I now try to remove all hooks. Some fish will die right away but I think those that swim off have a much better chance of making it. I rarely use live bait so don't get a lot of gut hooked fish but just about every day there are always a few that try to swallow my jig or spoon.

[Rainydaze]

I have to agree with the fact that I have seen several hooks in fish with the fish looking pretty poor. I understand the alternative isn't good either considering removing a gut hooked fish may likely be a lose lose situation it appears.

Didn't we do this deep water study last year? I know I was going to help, but was unable to due to other obligations. Assuming it did take place were there any results?

RD

[uffdapete]

We started the study last year and are going to finish it this year, starting this Thursday.