RELEASE???

WELL? Should we?

Thanks for asking Robbollio....I've been on charters where I released a small lively shaker when my turn was up. The Captain had no problem with my decision. I appreciate that because it's what I do in my boat, when it seems right. I know some " professionals" have a numbers quota they must maintain and have every rational in the book for keeping everything that comes to the boat. It's common with the average Joe too. A touch of common sense tells me, that released king has a second chance at being one of the gear smashing brutes we all go out there to see.

In my opinion, you should catch and keep as many as you personally want to eat and share with your closest relatives and friends. My buddies always enjoyed smoked salmon for the Packer game, for example. But to load your freezer with 20 pounders? Catch and kill fishing? Pass. I think I'll stick to charter boat fishing once or twice a year. And yes, I do have a Lake Michigan boat for sale.

The damage done to a fish caught trolling is a lot different than the damage done to a fish caught still-fishing (i.e. from shore or jigging). If you were trolling and stopped the motor while you bring it in, then it would be the same as still fishing. Salmon also have a habit of fighting with everything they got, so the mortality rate is higher with them than it is with trout (not that trout don't fight hard, but they are not the same as salmon). Not that troll-caught salmon won't survive a release, but it is a lot worse odds. If handled properly and reeled in quickly, I wouldn't see why it wouldn't survive.

The little 15" shakers are the best eating! I won't clean them at the public cleaning stations becuase people will laugh but they are the ones that get cooked first.

Let's just let this one go or it will never go away. Most seasoned vets know what happens to 90% of released fish on Lake Michigan. You can't even make the arguement about the trout in the winter because it's a completely seperate arguement as the jigging guys will not see as high of a mortality rate when releasing fish, it's just different, but then again I have seen browns roll over and die as well. Dragging a 4 pound king in on a 10 color lead core is a far cry from catching a 5# brown on light tackle. cmon Let's be realistic. The only reason I have chimed in is because I do charter and catch a ton of fish every year as do most charters and yes, SHAKERS go in the cooler, Why? because its one fish closer to the boat limit......and I cant let it go because" MORE THAN LIKELY IT WILL DIE". I don't quite understand the whole 50% mortality rate arguement. So does that mean if you catch and release 10 fish we should be cool with 5 of those laying on the bottom dead? I do understand that it is a put/ take fishery so we can throw that arguement out the window too. They are put in to take out! Not put in to take out and put back in again. They aren't bass or walleye or bluegills. They are delicate. You can put them back and say you are "helping " the next guy in line to maybe catch that one someday, but it's just not true, The only thing you are doing is feeding gobies. As a charter captain, it is fun to say I caught a limit today. Shouldn't that be enough. We send the folks away with a smile and a ton of fish that will last them till I see them next season. What they do with them after that I don't know, but I do know that everything went into the cooler until that limit was reached, whether the customer wants to keep little ones or not. Tournaments have now changed rules to cut down the amount of "dead ones". Doesn't that say something? Just my 2 cents. Good luck and see you on the water.

As I said on the fish report thread. I fish out of a small boat were we idle the boat and fight the fish while not moving. the other 2 rods are reeled up. We aren't using light tackle. Normal dipsy rods with 30 pound braid and 30 lb test leaders. We get the fish in pretty fast. Most fish are kept but we do release some from time to time. I feel that every fish could be released if it weren't netted or touched. When we are catching we just take turns on each hit. Missed fish skips your turn. Drivebys don't count. Guides jig in dozens of fish sometimes and basically release most fish they catch jigging. The guides trolling seem to keep everything but lakers and browns. Whats the difference between a trout and salmon as far as release-ability? Im curious if anyone actually has some hard evidence of that. I would think we should be seeing dead salmon in the floating in the gaps after the guides catch a bunch jigging then if the salmon are so hard to release, especially on the light tackle and 20 minute battles. I don't think its gonna matter in the end anyway if its a put and take fishery and basically no natural reproduction in the southern half of the state.

I agree if you can release it without netting and handling it stands a much much better chance of survival. And I also agree that the trout have a better chance than the salmon. If I catch a little two lb. coho and it's bleeding and all the scales are falling off I gotta keep it. We read reports of 19 for 23 keeping a three man limit of 15, if they're running 9 lines its very possible they picked up the last four clearing lines. The way i understand the rules it goes like this: three guys running nine lines, the first guy gets his limit and they pull three lines. Now two guys are running six lines until there's one guy is running three until they finish up. I seldom have the problem that I'm catching too many fish so I can't say what I'd do but I kind of doubt the big fishing boats with the big gas bill are out there trolling three lines to finish up. J.J.

It all depends on the circumstances. If it's a quick fight and you don't have to touch the fish sure release it if you want to, but if it's faught hard and had to be handled then keep it. This is a put and take fishery so you are not doing it harm by keeping your limit. FYI carp are probably a lot harder to catch than a salmon is!

NO unless the fish is untouched by human hands . Use a gaff and barbless hooks. Like they do in BC. Or Canada. Many times I hear of someone having a 30 fish day , and its not multiple people . Thats just not right, these fish are not bass and have a high mortality rate when handled. If you catch a lake trout or brown release them . they can and will survive. Don't catch and release Salmon , go find some carp to practice on .