# Catch your limit, limit your catch



## wyogoob (Sep 7, 2007)

Catch and release of Kokanee Salmon in the hot summer months is not recommended:

http://content.govdelivery.com/accounts/WYWGFD/bulletins/1109e35

Instead of catching and releasing the small kokes, just keep them. Their survival rate during hot weather is poor.

.


----------



## neverdrawn (Jan 3, 2009)

I'm curious to know if the device they sometime use on Lakers and Ocean fish that deflates the swim bladder would help in these conditions? I don't remember the name of the device but it seems to be a needle on a plastic cylinder that you poke into the bladder and release the air. Perhaps someone could enlighten us on this. I know the warm water is hell on all fish this time of year with lower levels of dissolved oxygen.


----------



## LOAH (Sep 29, 2007)

If a fish is born without holes in the air bladder, it's probably best not to add any, expecting them to survive upon release. My thought is that people think the fish survive, but instead of going belly up on the surface, they die and sink instead. Just a theory.

Still, it's probably better to feed the ecosystem of the lake (sinkers) instead of birds though (floaters). 

Not saying releasing doomed fish is good though.


----------



## DallanC (Jan 13, 2009)

LOAH said:


> If a fish is born without holes in the air bladder, it's probably best not to add any, expecting them to survive upon release. My thought is that people think the fish survive, but instead of going belly up on the surface, they die and sink instead. Just a theory.


Exactly my thoughts as well.

-DallanC


----------



## wyogoob (Sep 7, 2007)

neverdrawn said:


> I'm curious to know if the device they sometime use on Lakers and Ocean fish that deflates the swim bladder would help in these conditions? I don't remember the name of the device but it seems to be a needle on a plastic cylinder that you poke into the bladder and release the air. Perhaps someone could enlighten us on this. I know the warm water is hell on all fish this time of year with lower levels of dissolved oxygen.


A fish reeled up quickly from deep water is going to have barotrauma. It's stomach will be sticking out of it's mouth, maybe it's eyes bulging, and returning a fish in this condition is usually fruitless.

We use to use needles on deep-caught fish bladders in the Great Lakes and offshore in the Gulf. As-a-matter-of-fact it was a law (until 2013) in Federal waters in the Gulf of Mexico to carry and use deflators on fish with barotrauma.

Some agencies and biologists say deflating is taboo, others say only use it on floaters, and then there's those that always do it. Love it or hate it piercing an air bladder is still a common practice. The device is called a "deflator" and they can be purchased everywhere.

Venting fish by Auburn University:





Venting a saltwater fish...I just grabbed one of a million YouTube fish deflating videos on the net:





Venting a largemouth:









http://www.petethomasoutdoors.com/2011/09/proper-way-deflate-swim-bladder-rockfish.html

The deflator thing is off-tract here. The point that my friend Robert Keith, the southwest Wyoming Regional Biologist, is trying to make is; stop culling your fish in hot weather on the Gorge. Keep all of the kokes you catch, big and small. Get your limit if that's what you must do, and then stop purposely fishing for kokes.


----------



## 30-06-hunter (Sep 22, 2013)

All I can say is the small pan sized kokes we cooked up for dinner last Friday tasted just as good as a fillet from a 3 pounder, if not even better. In other words, we kept what we caught. The surface temps hovered right around 70 in the deeper portions and reached almost 73 in shallower sections, it's not hard to understand the effect it has on a fish coming from where the water is 20 or so degrees cooler. For the same reasons I do not use a live well, the flesh of a fish at 55 degrees needs to go straight into a cooler full of ice, I will never understand why some people do not realize this when they toss a fish into a live well where the water can easily reach 75-80 degrees.


----------



## wyogoob (Sep 7, 2007)

The Wyoming Game and Fish crew out of Green River Wyoming manages the Wyoming part of Flaming Gorge. They do a bang-up job at the lake and the river above for that matter. The kokanee salmon "hole" from the Pipeline up to Buckboard is the most popular fishing spot on the reservoir, especially with the folks from Utah.

The Game and Fish crews hold numerous open houses and/or give presentations throughout the year. One recent presentation at a TU thingie was on fish mortality in Flaming Gorge presented by Mr Keith. Boy, I learned a lot, a lot about some of the errors in my ways in the past.

Hey, another presentation we had was given by the High Uintas fish planting pilot. Wow that was a hoot!!

Uh...happy fishing, slack lines, and all that other stuff fishing people say.

.


----------



## fishingfan57 (Nov 25, 2011)

I seen this on another forum. maybe this guy has a better way of releasing fish. 


Every year about this time the Wyo G&F put out the recommendation, while they are good recommendations, that's all they are. There has never been a study done, on the mortality of kokanee that have been caught and released on the gorge. Since these recommendations have no scientific facts behind them. We are left with logic and common sense. 

Now logic and common sense tells me that if you want a released fish to survive, that it has to be released, in a way that will be in favor the fish. Too many times I have seen fisherman catch a fish ,reel it to the boat ,grab the fish, rip the hooks out, and throw the fish back in to the water.
This does not happen on my boat,nor does it happen on the boats of the other people that I fish with. 
This does not help the fish at all, and kokanee are not a very hearty fish ,they can't handle rough handling. 

This is how I and others that I fish with release our fish, I'm not saying that our way is prefect, but we do feel that it gives the fish a better chance of survival . In the early part of the season before surface temps get to high, a caught fish is reeled along side of the boat, while leaving the fish in the water, I take my hemostats and pop out the hooks, never touching the fish, and it swims away. When surface temp are high, like they are now, or any fish being caught at 50 foot or deeper,this time of year. We net the fish ,pop out the hooks, and with the fish still in the net, we put the fish back into the water.

The fish is worked, in a back and forth motion to get water going through the gills. When the fish is ready to leave, it goes from the net on it's own. If after working the fish ,and it won't go, that fish goes into the box. Using this method I feel and so do others, that we have given the fish a better chance of surviving. Again not saying this way is perfect, but it is a lot better then ripping out the hooks, and chucking back in the water hoping it survives. 

Now I see others talking about "first caught" I 'm assuming and maybe I'm wrong. That this means that all kokanne caught,have to be kept. Regardless of size. Then when you have a limit either you quit fishing,or go fish for another species? The trouble that I see with this is, especially on the gorge. To many times while fishing for other type fish, you will catch a koke. If first caught is in play,then I'm to automatically release the fish,if I already have a limit of kokes. Thats great if the fish is worked and swims off ,on it's own. But what happens when it don't swim off on it's own? Then I just had to release a dead koke,that now has become a floater.I don't like that idea at all.We all know that in nature nothing is "wasted", dead fish feed others on the food chain. But that is no reason to not give the fish a fighting chance to survive. It's been said on this board before, that if fisherman really cared about the fishery, they would give up fishing. Well I'm not going to quit fishing,but I do what I can to help released fish have a better chance to survive.


----------



## 30-06-hunter (Sep 22, 2013)

fishingfan57 said:


> I seen this on another forum. maybe this guy has a better way of releasing fish.
> 
> Every year about this time the Wyo G&F put out the recommendation, while they are good recommendations, that's all they are. There has never been a study done, on the mortality of kokanee that have been caught and released on the gorge. Since these recommendations have no scientific facts behind them. We are left with logic and common sense.
> 
> ...


This is how we do it too, every fish that is caught stays in the net and is not touched by human hands unless we are keeping it. If it swallows the hook or is hooked through an eye we keep it regardless of size, just makes sense to do so. Not to mention those little ones are pretty dang tasty!


----------

