02-21-2014, 11:52 PM
[quote beavercreek]Outdoorsman 1
I have fished the local lake's for over 30 yrs. . but I'm new to mack fishing we have been up to flaming gorge several times in the last few yrs. fishing for mack's I've only been able to get in to pups nothing over 8lbs. I do know better then to stick my fingers into the gills. but my question is when I do get into a bigger fish one day that you drag from the deep what is the best practice in releasing it properly, so far is the air sack, netting it , keeping it out of the water for a picture ect. maybe there is others reading this post that will learn from it also.
I to have a lot of respect for a fish that has lived that long of a life. and would also like to have my son and grandson be able to catch a nice Laker one day.[/quote]
Keep it in the net if you must weigh it, hanging the bag from your scale, not the fish. Keep it out of the water less than a minute for photos. Support the fish horizontally, not hanging buy the head or gills. Don't drop it, hold it tight to your body. If its picture-worthy in the first place, you don't need to try and "straight arm" it out in front of you, which usually results in a drop. For a bloated one (infrequent, but happens if you catch enough), you need some kind of fish descender, ready to go, not stowed away. (Lakersaver, or comparable). Just be quick about what you do, keep the fish in the water, and try to have it released in a couple minutes from net to release. Make sure you see it swim away. Pull it forward in the water if it needs "revived."
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I have fished the local lake's for over 30 yrs. . but I'm new to mack fishing we have been up to flaming gorge several times in the last few yrs. fishing for mack's I've only been able to get in to pups nothing over 8lbs. I do know better then to stick my fingers into the gills. but my question is when I do get into a bigger fish one day that you drag from the deep what is the best practice in releasing it properly, so far is the air sack, netting it , keeping it out of the water for a picture ect. maybe there is others reading this post that will learn from it also.
I to have a lot of respect for a fish that has lived that long of a life. and would also like to have my son and grandson be able to catch a nice Laker one day.[/quote]
Keep it in the net if you must weigh it, hanging the bag from your scale, not the fish. Keep it out of the water less than a minute for photos. Support the fish horizontally, not hanging buy the head or gills. Don't drop it, hold it tight to your body. If its picture-worthy in the first place, you don't need to try and "straight arm" it out in front of you, which usually results in a drop. For a bloated one (infrequent, but happens if you catch enough), you need some kind of fish descender, ready to go, not stowed away. (Lakersaver, or comparable). Just be quick about what you do, keep the fish in the water, and try to have it released in a couple minutes from net to release. Make sure you see it swim away. Pull it forward in the water if it needs "revived."
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