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The Proper and/or Safe Way to handle all Species of fish


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After reading a previous topic, I felt compelled to start this one. Please share your tips on how you properly and safely handle fish that you are to returning to the water.

Here's mine: I've been fishing for over 40 yrs but just recently really got into ice fishing. This past winter, while fishing with a buddy and his son, we were catching n. pike. Temp was around 0. What never, ever occured to me was the comment my buddies son said..."let's quickly get 'em back in the water or his eyeballs will freeze..."

How many of us, while ice fishing, took a little bit more time to return the fish back to water for photos, untangling lines/reels, etc. It was all I though about on future ice fishing excursions.

So, when hard water fishing (or late fall fishing for that matter) let's get them back to the water as soon as possible.

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Those fish grips work very well!

Also learned about the eyeball and fin thing the hard way.

I know its a PITA, but having a oversized net and then keeping the fish in the water during unhooking and prepping for a quick picture works good too.

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