Went back to Strawberry today with two others - started at 7 am and quit about noon. Fishing was kind of slow for this time of year, we only caught 39, and of those 21 came on pointer minnows. Jigging was only marginally effective despite perfect conditions, though it is notable that we caught more than half of our jigged fish in water less than 10' deep, including the nice 24"er and 25"er pictured in about 6'. The deeper fish we could locate were not real active so we went shallow. Air temp to start was 17 and around 40 when we quit. Water temp is now at 42 degrees and we did see a little ice on a couple of weed mats and some very shallow (1' deep) and small bays. Search & rescue was out searching but had no luck when we talked to them while pulling out.
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Sounds like another nice day out. You guys caught some nice fish, even though it was a little slow. Thanks again for the report.
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Very nice, can't wait for the ice.
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Those are really nice fish!
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Isn't there a ratio of fish that die? I think its around an average of 1 in every 10 fish you catch that swims away dies. Especially in Reservoirs..........anyone else heard that? i know that trout can't rid themselves of the acids produced when they fight quick enough and end up killing themselves?
has this been proven one way or the other?
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[cool][#0000ff]It is impossible to make any rash generalizations or to come up with any exact ratios. There are too many variables. FISH is a generic term that encompasses many different species. Some are tougher than others. Some fish within the same species are tougher than their schoolmates.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Some of the other factors are water temperature, length of time of the "fight", how deeply hooked and method of hook removal, method of handling (netting, gaffing, lipping, leaving in the water, etc.), length of time out of water before returning, attention given to reviving a stressed fish...and probably a bunch of others.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]You hear all kinds of "theories" and hearsay statistics. What it boils down to is that there is bound to be SOME mortality, no matter how carefully you handle and release a fish. But, with some species...handled poorly (gut hooked, etc.) the ratio can be 90 percent mortality. Other species...quickly released with little injury or stress...may have a 99 percent survival rate.[/#0000ff]
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We were also there today, managed to get about the same number as yours, caught most of our fish in 25-35 ft of water, using tube jigs. We vertically jigged also, but we caught about half of our fish casting and retrieving slowly or doing a drag/pause on the bottom. Nice day out, hardly a ripple on the water at times. Also saw the Search/Rescue folks, the clerk at the marina suggested that we fish the south end so as not to interfere with S&R efforts. We fished from 9-3, with a bit more breeze blowing by the time we went home.
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Sounds like another great day with GLASSY conditions! A couple of beautiful fish as well. I have a question about fishing so shallow. The other day everytime I got shallower than 20 feet I got into huge weed beds and could no longer see anything on my fishfinder other than weeds. I was trying to find fish in 20 to 22 feet deep and everytime I got close I was in weeds that were like pacific coast kelp forests! Are you fishing right on the edge of weed beds, over the top of weed beds, or finding holes in weed beds that are holding fish. The places I looked on tuesday that would have been 6 to 10 feet deep were so thick with weeds that even if fish had been there it was completely unfishable..... any help or suggestions????'
17 degree's is getting down there pretty good. I have had ice fishing days warmer than that! Thanks for another great report!
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I agree with everything TD said. Just wanted to add that I'm sure there is a mortality rate of some sort but I know for a fact that a fish released has a better chance of survival than one on the stringer.[shocked]
Bodine
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Oh i hope no one thought i was accusing. I was talking with a fellow fisher an he brought up a valid point. I do agree there is no exact ratio. Great job though.....maybe I am just More jealous that i haven';t made it up to Strawberry to have that kind of day yet!
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Like the link says: [li]If possible, keep the fish in the water and use a pair of forceps or needle nosed pliers to remove the hook. [/li]
A good set of needle nose pliers and a little practice makes it easy to extract the hook without needlessly hurting or even touching the fish. Of course that may not help if you are bait fishing. Stick to tubes, flies, or lures and the survival rate of the fish will go way up; that's what works best on the Berry anyway.
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