In addition to guiding clients to fish, I also conduct on-the-water sonar training classes, introducing sonar owners to their equipment and getting essential settings dialed in for them.
It was during one of these training sessions recently when, after getting a client’s Garmin LiveScope and Humminbird 2D sonar dialed in, that we began to look for gamefish and baitfish so he would know just what both looked like with well-tuned sonar.
We found what we were looking for after just a few minutes of looking and used his Garmin Force trolling motor to hold atop the fish we had located in about 43 feet of water.
I had a light spinning outfit aboard rigged with a 5/8-ounce chartreuse Maindelle’s All-Purpose Lure (MAL). I opened the bail to let the bait fall to bottom as we watched the lure’s descent on both sonar screens in the bow of his boat. I hooked, landed and released a small white bass and pointed out how multiple other schoolmates followed the hooked fish about halfway through the water column up toward the boat.
Seeing those active schoolmates behave in such a manner let me know we could repeat this success for my client. I handed the spinning outfit over to him, reminded him of what he had learned about the diameter of the sonar’s coverage and encouraged him to try to keep the lure within that sensed area as it fell back toward bottom.
As he began to retrieve the MAL upward, multiple white bass pursued, and one was hooked. Like the one I had landed, this fish was only about 7 inches long.
Seeing that the hook was fully inside the mouth of the fish, I offered assistance in taking the hook out, if needed. My client declined, stating he had some pliers and could manage the task himself.
Well, what I witnessed next was the reason for writing this article. What should have taken about six seconds and should have resulted in a cleanly released fish which would survive and thrive after capture, turned into a poorly executed mess which took well over a minute and resulted in a dead fish.
It is not that this fellow was careless. I am sure he was doing the best he could. The main problem was that he was not properly equipped to quickly remove the hook from that fish.
If you are a regular reader of this column, you will recall that around Christmas each year I run an “angler’s wish list” article, listing potential gifts for anglers ranging from $5 to $5,000. One of the perennial items on this list is a pair of 6-inch, curved-tip hemostats. Some folks refer to these as forceps. Whatever you call them, you really need to get a pair if you do not currently own one.
If you are serious about catch-and-release or consider yourself an ethical angler who tries to cleanly release under- or over-sized fish, you really must have this inexpensive tool at your disposal any time you are fishing.
Why are curved-tip hemostats so useful? There are a few reasons. First, unlike needle-nosed pliers (like the kind my client used) which are quite fat at the base and taper toward the tip, the diameter of the hemostats is much more slender along its full length. Thus, especially on fish with small mouths, you can reach in more deeply without the base of the tool bottoming out on the fish’s mouth.
Next, because the tip of these hemostats are curved (not straight as needle-nosed pliers are), you can maneuver the tip of the hemostats while still having a full view of the fish’s mouth and of what you are trying to grasp. With needle-nosed pliers, your own hand and the tool itself block your view, as there is no offset.
Additionally, the more quickly you can release the fish, the more quickly you can present your bait to other fish. When fish are schooled up and excited, getting a bait back down to them while they are still in that excited state is a big deal. If you spend unnecessary time using a poor choice of tools, the fish in and around the one you just caught can move off and/or cool down before you present to them again, thus leading to a missed opportunity.
Finally, hemostats are actually a form of clamp designed to pinch off blood vessels and/or surgical tubing. To accomplish this, they are designed such that the natural springiness of the stainless steel from which they are fashioned allows opposing sets of barbs on the thumb- and finger-holes to interlock, thus maintaining a forceful pinch with the tool’s jaws. This maintains a firm grasp on the target (your hook’s shank) without the user having to maintain pressure on the tool.
This feature is handy for clamping firmly onto the shank of a hook so the tool does not slip and poke further into the fish’s gullet or the roof of its mouth.
Simply grasping the shank of the hook (either with or without engaging the clamp), then pushing downward and simultaneously rearward (so as to disengage the hook’s barb if it had one) without twisting will cleanly remove the vast majority of hooks without causing gill damage or bleeding.
Even if some bleeding does occur, it will certainly still be less than that caused by using needle-nosed pliers. Getting the fish back into the water as quickly as possible is the next critical step.
Most of us would never select a hammer to remove a screw — it is just the wrong tool for the job. So it is with removing a deep hook with needle-nosed pliers.
A quick web search of the term “curved hemostat” will reveal scads of options, most of which are stainless steel, many of which are self-locking, and some of which are under $3. If you only buy one pair, get a pair which is 5½ or 6 inches long.
If something is worth doing, it is worth doing right! The future of your fishery counts on you being a good steward of it now.
"correct" - Google News
April 18, 2021 at 08:00PM
https://ift.tt/2OZpocJ
BOB MAINDELLE: Catch-and-release requires correct tools - The Killeen Daily Herald
"correct" - Google News
https://ift.tt/3d10rUK
https://ift.tt/35qAk7d
Bagikan Berita Ini
0 Response to "BOB MAINDELLE: Catch-and-release requires correct tools - The Killeen Daily Herald"
Post a Comment