Catch And Release Ethics 2024

OTR366 reply :

I was watching a show recently in which the host was reviewing the Rapala Shadow Rap (three treble hooks). They where catching small mouth and on one fish landing the center treble hooks where clearly hooked deep in the eye of the fish. The host was talking and IMO not paying attention to a careful removal of the lure. No question from my point of view the fish's eye had to have been permanently injured.

In a case like that I'm not sure its ethical to release a fish with an injury like that. If I ever get around to using a Shadow Rap I would likely remove the belly hooks.

Please tell me your thoughts.

flyfisher reply :

It happens and if it went right into the fish's eye, would careful hook removing prevent any problems? I am guessing it wouldn't. As far as keeping fish goes, i have caught plenty of fish with one eye over the years so to release it at least gives it a chance to survive.

BassinLou reply :

Unfortunately harm and sometimes death may occur to fish when its caught. As far as an eye of a fish being hooked, it is close to impossible to remove a hook that has penetrated right through the middle of the jelly, without losing the eye. Again, unfortunate, however the fish will survive and possibly live a full life. I have caught very nice bass where one of their eyes have been missing for quite some time.

K_Mac reply :

If you fish very long or very much you will injure fish. A fish with a damaged eye may live long and prosper. One kept and eaten, no chance. I agree that care should be taken when releasing fish, but I am not going to remove hooks in an attempt to eliminate injury. Fishing is a blood sport...

J Francho reply :

No fish can see well through hot oil! Release gives better odds of living than keeping.

ColdSVT reply :

Worry about your own ethics

You cant control other people's standards, morals or values

gardnerjigman reply :

If it's not a keeper fish then it's going back regardless of the injury. A fish losing an eye doesn't guarantee death, but as JF said, hot grease certainly does.

CeeJay reply :

Like others here I've caught a surprising amount of fish with an eye missing, so it doesn't necessarily mean death for the fish.

However I'm not crazy about multi-treble hooked lures. I always bend down the barbs and sometimes I'll just replace the trebles with doubles or singles.

No need for an entire lure to be covered with hook points.

Most of my inline spinners now sport a single hook in place of a treble after a rather gruesome (and bloody) incident when a Crappie engulfed a spinner.

OTR366 reply :

On 6/5/2015 at 1:07 AM, ColdSVT said:
Worry about your own ethics

I take great pride in my ethics, integrity and morals!! Simply curious is the reason I posed the question.

ColdSVT reply :

On 6/5/2015 at 1:16 AM, OTR366 said:
I take great pride in my ethics, integrity and morals!! Simply curious is the reason I posed the question.

As you should just dont expect others to share them with you

Ive never kept a bass in my life but i dont expect other to follow my example

scaleface reply :

Better keep it , or it will have 1 eyed babies and mess up the gene pool .

WRB reply :

Bass are a renewable resource, keeping a serverly injured bass isn't going to harm the fishery.

I can count on 1 hand the number of 1 eyed fish I have caught over my lifetime, very few. Yes, they can survive if desease doesn't get to them or some other predator.

It would have been better PR to edite that video!

Catch & release has become a cult with some anglers, it's good to practice within reason.

Tom

cdunlapb12 reply :

I basically don't fish treble hooks or crankbaits at all anymore because of that very problem. It really takes the fun out of fishing when you have to seriously injure a fish for sport. Plus it's not fun to have trebles stuck in the end of your finger.

MIbassyaker reply :

Most ethicists consider Ethics to be a matter of degree, comparison, and calculation. All else equal, it's more ethical to not injure a fish's eye than to injure it. It's more ethical to kill a dying fish quickly than to let it suffer. If the fish is not dying (or likely to die from injury), and you aren't harvesting for food (in which case the use of the fish as food balances the cost of its death, weighed against the effect of the loss of the fish to the fishery), it's more ethical to release it and let it live. Again, all else being equal. If you're concerned about ethics, weight the costs of each option (to all involved, including the fish) against the benefits of each option (again, to all involved, including the fish), and compare the net balance of the two.

OTR366 reply :

On 6/5/2015 at 1:28 AM, MIbassyaker said:
Most ethicists consider Ethics to be a matter of degree, comparison, and calculation. All else equal, it's more ethical to not injure a fish's eye than to injure it. It's more ethical to kill a dying fish quickly than to let it suffer. If the fish is not dying, and you aren't harvesting for food (in which case the use of the fish as food balances the cost of its death, weighed against the effect of the loss of the fish to the fishery), it's more ethical to release it and let it live. Again, all else being equal. If you're concerned about ethics, weight the costs of each option (to all involved, including the fish) against the benefits of each option (again, to all involved, including the fish), and compare the net balance of the two.

Well said...Thank you!! Like I said, after watching the show where the eye injury occurred I got to thinking how I would handle the same situation. I'd probably have fish for dinner so he or she would not get bullied is schools for being different....LOL.

I've yet to put a hook through the eye of a fish so ethical conundrum has been avoided to date.

CeeJay reply :

On 6/5/2015 at 1:24 AM, cdunlapb12 said:
I basically don't fish treble hooks or crankbaits at all anymore because of that very problem. It really takes the fun out of fishing when you have to seriously injure a fish for sport. Plus it's not fun to have trebles stuck in the end of your finger.

Yeah of all my lures, I toss cranks the least.

For me as well, few things can ruin a peaceful morning of angling on the water than a fish bleeding out all over my hand due to treble hooks lodged in a fish's throat.

Not much fun at all.

Catch 22 reply :

Bass with only one eye are more likely to be" blind sided"

I avoid lures with three trebs and /or will remove one of them.It is easier on me too.

C22

OTR366 reply :

On 6/5/2015 at 1:51 AM, CeeJay said:

Yeah of all my lures, I toss cranks the least.

For me as well, few things can ruin a peaceful morning of angling on the water than a fish bleeding out all over my hand due to treble hooks lodged in a fish's throat.

Not much fun at all.

Last time I used a multi treble hook crankbait I was the one bleeding before I even got the stupid thing in the water. Upper set of hooks got hung on the webbing of my pack a during removal the lower set of hooks went thru my thumb.....LOL.

Not fun at all is RIGHT!

OkobojiEagle reply :

Actually bass with damaged eyes are an evolutionary god-send as they are the ones who most willingly spawn with the ugly bass.

C0lt reply :

Ive said it in other threads, but I feel like a lot of people don't give bass enough credit. They are extremely hardy species. I have caught several fish missing an eye, and I have caught many fish that still have shards of hook (or even whole hooks) embedded in various places in their mouth and throat, and they had healed up just find, and obviously has not kept the fish from going about its business.

tomustang reply :

If a human lost his/her eye in an accident would you exterminate them?

HoosierHawgs reply :

On 6/5/2015 at 1:24 AM, cdunlapb12 said:
I basically don't fish treble hooks or crankbaits at all anymore because of that very problem. It really takes the fun out of fishing when you have to seriously injure a fish for sport. Plus it's not fun to have trebles stuck in the end of your finger.

Go barbless.

Turtle135 reply :

The largest bass I caught this past Saturday was blind in one eye. The injury had happened some time ago as it was completely healed over. The bass was in great shape physically so that one seemed to be making do just fine. I would release a bass with that type of injury and not give it a second thought.

I do tend to avoid treble hooked lures. One thing I like about being largely a jig fisherman is the one hook point and that for whatever reason largemouth usually do not get hooked deeply on a jig. Plastic worms often get vacuumed straight to the gullet so I go barbless with that presentation.

roadwarrior reply :

On 6/5/2015 at 1:04 AM, K_Mac said:
Fishing is a blood sport...

If you consider the fish to have a mortal injury it should be kept, eaten or given

away to someone that will.

Dwight Hottle reply :

I have probably caught between 75-100 smallies that were blind in one eye. The loss of one eye does not keep them from eating.

OTR366 reply :

Thanks fellas, I appreciate all you had to say on the matter. If you ever catch another one eyed fish it won't be one that OTR366 released.

Gotta go....fish tacos sound really good and I haven't had lunch yet.

Best regards and God bless.

the reel ess reply :

No offense intended. But if I cared about them that much, I'd probably stop sticking hooks in them at all and take up another hobby. I have caught a rather large bass that was missing an eye, had sores all over it and the sores were eating at its fins. Yet it still managed to get on my hook. I threw it back. Probably should have just clubbed it.

wnspain reply :

On 6/5/2015 at 2:46 AM, tomustang said:
If a human lost his/her eye in an accident would you exterminate them?

Probably not. Notice I did say probably j/k

KayakBasser reply :

Well I'm all about preventing injuries on fish, but I've caught several fish over six pounds that were perfectly healthy, so a bass can survive with on eye, it's just not ideal.

KayakBasser reply :

On 6/5/2015 at 2:46 AM, tomustang said:
If a human lost his/her eye in an accident would you exterminate them?

So humans are to be treated like fish!

OTR366 reply :

On 6/5/2015 at 4:27 AM, the reel ess said:
No offense intended. But if I cared about them that much, I'd probably stop sticking hooks in them at all and take up another hobby.

No offense taken friend.

It's not about feelings what so ever. I grew up hunting and fishing ( both considered sports) with my grandpa and we always harvested what we shot or hooked and I still do if I can. I would never consider releasing an animal while hunting that I clipped/winged in the hopes that animal wouldn't suffer or be able to survive.

These days in California I'm lucky if I catch anything let alone enough for a meal. So if I catch one or two I'll release.

I happen to like eating bass...BTW.

Brnnoser6983 reply :

Remove all hooks! Fish lives matter!

the reel ess reply :

On 6/5/2015 at 5:22 AM, OTR366 said:

No offense taken friend.

It's not about feelings what so ever. I grew up hunting and fishing ( both considered sports) with my grandpa and we always harvested what we shot or hooked and I still do if I can. I would never consider releasing an animal while hunting that I clipped/winged in the hopes that animal wouldn't suffer or be able to survive.

These days in California I'm lucky if I catch anything let alone enough for a meal. So if I catch one or two I'll release.

I happen to like eating bass...BTW.

Therein lies the reason I prefer fishing to hunting. There's no catch/release in hunting.

the reel ess reply :

On 6/5/2015 at 5:38 AM, Brnnoser6983 said:
Remove all hooks! Fish lives matter!

Fish are people too!!!

OTR366 reply :

So in closing....if putting out a fish's eye with a hook is no big deal....than why so many articles and videos on "how to properly hold a fish"?

Just say'n....

Best regards!!

Dwight Hottle reply :

On 6/5/2015 at 6:15 AM, OTR366 said:

So in closing....if putting out a fish's eye with a hook is no big deal....than why so many articles and videos on "how to properly hold a fish"?

Just say'n....

Best regards!!

Putting a hook in a fishes eye is an accident by the angler but holding a fish improperly is ignorance. You can educate ignorance but you can't really stop accidents.

MIbassyaker reply :

On 6/5/2015 at 6:15 AM, OTR366 said:

So in closing....if putting out a fish's eye with a hook is no big deal....than why so many articles and videos on "how to properly hold a fish"?

Just say'n....

Best regards!!

Well, frankly, the fact that some people catch otherwise normal-seeming fish with one eye does not mean putting an eye out is no big deal. There is still a risk of mortality from infection, for instance, as there is with foul-hooking generally. And, of course, you're only catching the fish that, in the end, find your bait -- any that don't, you won't know about because you won't catch them.

There are two issues here: first, there is the question of causing injury to the fish, and second, there is the question of what you do with a fish that is injured. Taking measures to avoid foul hooking and handling fish in ways that minimize injury speak to the first issue. The decision to release vs. harvest speaks to the second issue.

CeeJay reply :

On 6/5/2015 at 6:38 AM, Dwight Hottle said:
Putting a hook in a fishes eye is an accident by the angler but holding a fish improperly is ignorance. You can educate ignorance but you can't really stop accidents.

Yep. Very well said.

cdunlapb12 reply :

Noodling is the only logical alternative.

OTR366 reply :

On 6/5/2015 at 6:38 AM, Dwight Hottle said:
Putting a hook in a fishes eye is an accident by the angler but holding a fish improperly is ignorance. You can educate ignorance but you can't really stop accidents.

Well put Sir. Thank you for correcting my ignorance, although my previous comment was sarcasm.

Too bad there isn't a way to express that with just words.

Dwight Hottle reply :

On 6/5/2015 at 7:05 AM, OTR366 said:

Well put Sir. Thank you for correcting my ignorance, although my previous comment was sarcasm.

Too bad there isn't a way to express that with just words.

I wasn't busting your chops just making a point. I see your point about sarcasm. I'm guilty of the same thing. Some people get it and some don't. Those that don't generally try to ignore you. Lol.

Glenn reply :

And scene...

11041

Catch And Release Ethics 2024

related General Bass Fishing Forum topic

previous topic

next topic

most viewed General Bass Fishing Forum topic