How delicate are Stream Trout

Are trout as fragile as fine china ,as tough as shoe leather or something in between?

Sculpin, I agree with you...those fish are very valuable. The giant fish that some of us chase from time to time would only be possible with good catch and release ethic hand in hand with good fish handling. I can't remember the number of fish I've caught with other people's flies in their mouths, or with old hook wounds, etc. I've also seen snag wounds which can happen with any flies or lures. For the most part, when I fish for trout, I use the fly rod, but I still have about an equal amount of snagged fish on the streamers that I do on the jigs with the spinning rod. I think it has something to do with the fish batting the smaller fish with their bodies, but I'm not sure....this is with me just drifting my streamers under an indicator...and I also have accidentally foul hooked more trout on small streamers than on bigger articulated flies. Either way, barbless hooks make for a safer trip for both fish and angler...Being a violinist, when I read Inland Sweep's account of landing int he ER after a 20+ inch rainbow buried a hook in him, I absolutely shuddered. That being said, there's only so much we as anglers can do. I've seen marabou jigs swallowed into the gullet immediately on the strike, I've had sculpin patterns lodged behind the gills, baby trout patterns barely half the size of the tiny trout that ate it stuck near the gills, etc. But if we love the sport, we still need to try our best to respect and be good stewards of the resource.

goh, No apology is needed.... I did not mean my comment as an attack. But I feel very strongly about protecting trout. To me they are far too valuable to catch only one time. I try to be careful with every fish I catch. I have no problem with an angler eating a few fish but I truly dislike those who stock pile them in freezers etc. or those who don't handle them well. I wish you tight lines! Sculpin

Sculpin, You are absolutely right. That was rather ignorant of me. There are many fine fly anglers out there as well who do their part. And there are many horrible spin anglers out there as well. Multiple treble hooks are hard on fish and angler alike. Did anyone else notice the In-Fisherman tidbit on single hooks for Rapalas in Canada? That looked really interesting for an option. Jig anglers also take really good care of their fish. However, again, Sculpin, you're right and I apologize.

The biggest difference between fly anglers and "most spin fisherman" is that fly anglers never use treble hooks. Of course most of us never use live bait or chub tails either. To make generalizations regarding the type of rod one fishes with is ignorant at best. Either an individual handles fish properly and respectfully or one does not. Goh, you really should be more careful making such huge generalizations.

I agree with goh, in that people often fight them for too long. I also think that they're a bit tougher than most people think, I've seen pictures and personally seen fish that have huge gashes on their sides from herons and other fish. I've also seen fish that apear to have a broken back that has healed. I just think that when you catch a trout you should keep it in the water as much as possible (as with any fish) and if you're doing CPR get the camera ready before taking the fish out of the water!

I grew up near the big pond and fished it as a teenager. I wouldn't have been surprised to have seen a turd trying to crawl out of the Milwaukee river in order to save itself during those days. As far as trout being tough or not, not decent sized fish does all that well being held up vertically. The gills thing is a point of contention that I don't know enough about to say anything about. However, suspending a fish vertically when it's of decent size doesn't do good things to a fish. Also, as far as taking photos of fish on soft and moist land, that has been proven to be fine. Taking pics on top of thorn bushes doesn't end well. But before people start talking about how tough a fish is, no fish is tough enough to survive a person fighting them until they're belly goes up from exhaustion. As far as I'm concerned, more well-meaning fly anglers kill more fish by over fighting them than most spin anglers. If a fish starts to get tired, in my book, you've already fought the fish too long. I think this topic has been beaten to death and is getting people waaay too bent out of shape. Just my two cents.

The ones living in the big pond swim amongst all the things your listed including sewage. That includes everything you've flushed down the toilet....