2 Nice tips -- to save a fish and preserve our waters

Hey Guys  , just wanted to bring a refresher up on some common practices that we should be using on the water and to debunk a few myths . over the last week I have Witnessed 2 things that will most surely kill a fish on the water . Here are a few videos and tricks that we should all be using  to insure we release the fish safely all the time .

1 . Proper Hook removal on a gut hooked fish ! do we cut the line and leave the hook in or can we get it out ?  (myth : cut the line the hook will rust out)  this is 100% false , now a days with the metals and material we use in fish hooks the hook will not rust out , making it so the fish cannot eat and it also pours acids down the fish into its stomach , causing death !!



2.  What do we do when we catch a Bass from Deeper water ? Do we just take the hook out and throw it back in ? Can a fish get the Bends ?  In fact a Fish can and will get a Inflated Swim bladder  from deeper water as we bring them up rapidly (similar to a diver if we come to the surface to fast) Fact a Bass can get the bends from 35+  of water and to tell if it has the bends is easy feel the fish is it rock hard and swollen when we caught it , when I go to release the fish is it swimming on its side ?


make sure you carry a good pair of needle nose on you and a bends mender on you especially if fishing deep  .

Link to a bends Mender if you have never seen one  : [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

Thanks for your time and for us all doing our part to help conserve our fisheries ,

WES

very good info, that they were posted i didn't know about the deep water savign technique thats really cool.

The Bends Mender really works quite well. I highly recomend to everybody who is serious about catch and release to have one on them while fishing. They are so easy to use and cheap. I think I paid 5 bucks for mine about 4 or 5 years ago.
Thanks for posting that Wes.

Very helpfull 411
Thanks for taking the time!

Thanks for posting Wes!
You are always on job.

Good stuff. I know the first video was made to help with gut hooked fish, but that second fish stayed out of the water much longer than it needed to.

Oh and wouldn't it be better to use a weighted clip to send the bass back down instead of puncturing the fish's swim bladder. Plus, it's safer than risking a shot act perforating something else besides the fish's swim bladder.

Glad you liked it guys ,

I just wanted to post a refresher up as I watched 2 bad situations last week on the water where a angler caught a nice size bass about 3.5lbs and he just ripped the hook out he had no idea that he injured the fish so badly . I did educate this gentleman and showed him the proper method of taking the hook out properly , Hopefully he will take it to heart and remember what I showed him.

The tips posted do work guys I have used them myself and I always carry my bends mender on me . just never know where the fish will be . Hopefully we can educate others on the water on proper release methods .

WES

Thanks for the tip, i learned that technique for hook removal a long time ago from a fellow angler but I use curved needle nose pliers it make the hook removal little easier for me.
On DVL I often catch deep fish and have to deflate the bladders so the fish can swim back down.

Very good thanks for sharing.
Bass in the Hood

Nice info. Barbless hooks are also better for the feeshys too. Course, makes it a little more challenging to catch 'em.

waxon67 wrote:Nice info. Barbless hooks are also better for the feeshys too. Course, makes it a little more challenging to catch 'em.

He lives, welcome back OG Tom!