Fish handling

[Tom Butler]

So I think I got a system that works. I net from below and behind, so the fish is facing upstream. As I tuck my rod away I can grab my phone and with 2 pushes shoot a quick burst. Fish often drops fly by then. Drop phone in pocket and grab forceps right there if needed. Remove fly and drop forceps.. Wet hand, lightly under belly drop front edge and fish will swim away when ready.

 

[_WW_]

I don't have any fish pics. I don't take them. I even have an interest in photography but fish isn't a subject of interest. Why would you want to be all "professional photography included" for a Zen quiet activity? Because you have a giant fucking ego/inferiority complex and living in the moment is simply not as important to you as documenting your stunning and likely unearned fish greatness for the approval of others who blow you via the internet. Maybe they will "follow" you and give you the validation your disappointed or absent father never did? Either way the photograph every encounter/selfie crowd are about as hollow and souless as the rubes who idolise them and blow them via social media. It's all so dumb. I cannot fathom degrading a firsthand first person experience for the documentation of said experience. Shit, that's why great explorers always farmed that job off to some underling who stayed quiet and documented without getting in the way. I know it's a hell of a rant but this mentality has wrecked so many things. Stay home and record yourself playing videogames if you need validation that bad. I hear that's an actual thing too. At least you won't be actively fucking up something I enjoy to do without a throng idiots choreographing the next great Instagram post with a chrome slab dub from the primordial sick ass amusement park rainforest of the Olympic peninsula.

#gydelyfe
#egodriven
#slab
#unearnedfish
#meaninglessachievment
#followmebro
#daddyissues
#fakelife
#sparklyjeans
#prostaff
#ieatpautskeesmyself
#ihavetenthousandbeadsonboard
#pleasenoticeme
#trustfindguide
#unemployablesoidothis
#dubshit
#tenlbslookslike20tome
#gonnagetmine
#intagramconservationist

I'm not sure I know how you feel.

 

[_WW_]

This thread reminds me of why I retired from steelheading after 2009. Thank you!

I thought the crowd was looking a little light.

 

[Paige]

If you think thats bad, there's a youtube influenceer that thinks its ok to use a trout spey out on the coast where there is legitimate chances at 30# steelhead..
I called him out, but he had every excuse to justify his actions. Just becaus a rod can cast a certain grain window doesn't mean it has the same fish fighting power or lifting power!

 

[skyriver]

If you think thats bad, there's a youtube influenceer that thinks its ok to use a trout spey out on the coast where there is legitimate chances at 30# steelhead..
I called him out, but he had every excuse to justify his actions. Just becaus a rod can cast a certain grain window doesn't mean it has the same fish fighting power or lifting power!

I don't even like my 7wt Chromer switch for fish much over 10. Trout spey... that's cute.

 

[Salmo_g]

Hmm, I mighta' been mentioned in an above post. I don't make a habit of telling others what to do or how to do it. But when I saw a steelhead amateurly netted and kept in the boat while the anchor was lifted and the boat rowed to shore, it had to have been a minute. Having been told to shut up and fvck off, I now know that my voice carries all the way across the Skagit River. And for the record, I did NOT shoot anyone nor call Backhoes R Us.

But to WW's point, there are people monitoring the fishery. And the decision on whether we have a season or not isn't made by anyone at WDFW. Policing ourselves while we're out there fishing is one of the most important things we can do.

 

[FinLuver]

As someone who hasn’t caught his fair share of steelhead, the only hooked and landed (10 lb hatchery hen) so far in this lifetime…there was no whoopin’ and hollerin’. It was more of an internal conversation of sorts… Oh F*#!!!, Stay on!!, No, don’t go down there!!, Holy S@$#…did you see that?!?!, …
Bring it in and my whole body is shakin’ uncontrollably, as I marvel at the bright fish.

 

[Tom Butler]

As someone who hasn’t caught his fair share of steelhead, the only hooked and landed (10 lb hatchery hen) so far in this lifetime…there was no whoopin’ and hollerin’. It was more of an internal conversation of sorts… Oh F*#!!!, Stay on!!, No, don’t go down there!!, Holy S@$#…did you see that?!?!, …
Bring it in and my whole body is shakin’ uncontrollably, as I marvel at the bright fish.

First, last, that internal conversation comes out of my mouth loud and clear. Bad Grandpa.

 

[clarkman]

heard some hootin' and hollerin' from some trout folks while fishin' on a musky lake yesterday...

 

[O' Clarkii Stomias]

As someone who hasn’t caught his fair share of steelhead, the only hooked and landed (10 lb hatchery hen) so far in this lifetime…there was no whoopin’ and hollerin’. It was more of an internal conversation of sorts… Oh F*#!!!, Stay on!!, No, don’t go down there!!, Holy S@$#…did you see that?!?!, …
Bring it in and my whole body is shakin’ uncontrollably, as I marvel at the bright fish.

After you catch 100+ of them that internal conversation will be the same, you'll just have a better poker face.

 

[Tom Butler]

So that internal dialog came out loud today. I got in about 10 minutes after a spinner fisher left the tailout after being blanked and hooked up with this beast. The spin fisher had left the next pool down and was on his way back by and said he heard me yelling, something like "come back bitch", when he saw it's tail breaking the rocks at the end of the pool and I was up high, "no, no, no" as it tried to leave upstream then came back down, and "just fuckin' come to papa" because I couldn't quite get it in from about 10' out. He offered (or did I ask?) if I needed help, and it's the first fish he netted for someone. Told him not to worry, fin. Really nice kid, he paid a lot of attention to the fly rod, and we talked a bit. I may need a 7wt.

 

[FinLuver]

So that internal dialog came out loud today. I got in about 10 minutes after a spinner fisher left the tailout after being blanked and hooked up with this beast. The spin fisher had left the next pool down and was on his way back by and said he heard me yelling, something like "come back bitch", when he saw it's tail breaking the rocks at the end of the pool and I was up high, "no, no, no" as it tried to leave upstream then came back down, and "just fuckin' come to papa" because I couldn't quite get it in from about 10' out. He offered (or did I ask?) if I needed help, and it's the first fish he netted for someone. Told him not to worry, fin. Really nice kid, he paid a lot of attention to the fly rod, and we talked a bit. I may need a 7wt.

That’s a BE-UTE!!!

 

[Tom Butler]

I know I post a lot of fish in net picks, but often I just get 'em close then try to dump them. First or nice ones get a portrait, or maybe if I have to net them. I don't like to leader land them because I have too many breakoffs and too many lost flies, maybe pieces of leader, that way.

 

[RCF]

I do not post many fish pics. Most of the ones I do post are still in the water, still at a distance, and under "control' on the rod. Usually some slack line let's them to swim away. If not, a quick flip of the fly releases them. As a last resort is a net. Usually then the flopping around let's the fly loose. So far high sticking has not broken a rod. Guess I am lucky for 50+ years...

 

[speedbird]

Poor fish handling for the sake of a photo disgusts me, but I take photos whenever I can if it doesn’t hinder a release. Off a boat it’s a photo with the fish in the water, and on the bank it’s the moment immediately before I unhook or if I get it in a net. It’s definitely not an ego thing for me, it’s more to have something to look at after a bad day to decompress, remember fun times, and decompress. I imagine most people have the same reasons and simply don’t realize how fragile fish are, but I have met enough of a certain type of angler to know that many people seem to think that each fish you catch correlates to an extra inch added to your dick.

I am also guilty of hooting and hollering at the most inconsequential hookups pretty much all the time and apologize in advance to anyone sharing a beach or river run with me.

I have to disagree with the folks saying Steelhead bring out the worst in people, only because I think that title belongs to their semelparous cousins, particularly pinks and chums for some reason

 

[RCF]

With the limited chance of landing a steelhead, I can understand the desire to take a photo. My memories are etched in my mind. My memories are more important than sharing, especially with strangers.

'Pictures or it didn't happen' never applies IMHO...

 

[Divad]

I’ve gotten pretty good at self netting or tailing, all while keeping the fish in the water and managing a photo. I usually tail and photograph, and sometimes set my phone to video and place it on a rock or even halfway in the stream if both the bank and fish allows me to.

Gives the fish a couple seconds to regain strength, never removing it from the water. Always no gloves. Sometimes the location or fish won’t allow a picture and that is fine by me, it’s a memory for myself anyway.

The clout chasing, poor handling folk aggravates me.

 

[RCF]

My memory is diminishing as I get older. But my memories of special times fishing has not. As far as I can remember...

 

[FinLuver]

My memory is diminishing as I get older. But my memories of special times fishing has not. As far as I can remember...

THIS^^^…
or so I think.

 

[Bambooflyguy]

With the limited chance of landing a steelhead, I can understand the desire to take a photo. My memories are etched in my mind. My memories are more important than sharing, especially with strangers.

'Pictures or it didn't happen' never applies IMHO...

I don’t own a cellphone or camera…..but that doesn’t mean I’ve never caught anything…..