How to hold a trout?

Hello, and welcome to the board!
jennyferraynor said:
How should i be holding a trout. Should i put my thumb in its mouth or is there a different way
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Personally, I try not to hold a trout. I use a "Measure Net" and try to keep them in the water in the net to unhook if necessary; they often throw the barbless hook in the net. If taking a photo I get the camera ready with the fish still in the water, then lift the net just long enough to take a photo, then submerge the net again to look at the photo while letting it get upright and moving-swimming. Finally I tilt the net to let it swim out.
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If I have to hold a fish I wet my hand first and grasp lightly near the middle.
 
jennyferraynor said:
Should i put my thumb in its mouth or is there a different way
Click to expand...
Nope. That is only for bass (and some folks will argue that you shouldn't do it there either). Trout have weak jaws that won't support their weight if lifted that way.

If they are a decent size, just cradle them under/around their pelvic (front) fins and then with your other hand around their tail. If they are smaller, you can usually hold them with one hand. Just don't squeeze. And get those hands wet before you touch the fish.

Even better is to use a landing net. Even if you are going for a quick photo, the less handling you have to do to land/release a fish, the better.

Some good advice here:

 
jennyferraynor said:
How should i be holding a trout. Should i put my thumb in its mouth or is there a different way
Click to expand...

It depends.
Do you plan to release it or harvest it?
SF
 
Josh said:
I suspect nobody would bother to ask how to hold a trout if they were fishing for the grill/freezer.
Click to expand...

Maybe somebody new to fishing might.
SF
 
Wet your hands first to protect the trout's slime. I find that if I can get the trout lying on its side in my palm it doesn't thrash around. But as said above, I try not to handle them at all. I grab my barbless fly and manipulate it out of the trout's lip without touching the trout, if possible.
 
  1. Use barbless hooks, regardless of whether the regulations require it. Barbless hooks are much easier to remove from fish and humans. Barbs do little to improve your chances of landing a fish.
  2. Use a net. The fish will unhook themselves, much of the time. When they don't, you can usually just slide your hand down to the fly, not touch the fish directly and not even remove them from the net. Look up Adamsbuilt, for great value nets.
  3. If you must touch the fish, make sure your hands are wet. Flipping them upside down sometimes makes them easier to deal with. Forceps are also very helpful, for removing deep hooks.
 
I think most mis-handling comes from trying to get a nice picture. I take one picture each trip to make a record of my trip...most of the time it is not a magazine quality picture because the fish usually don't pose very well and flop right before you press the button. Over the course of the year I'll get a couple of nice photos but it is luck, not trying to pose a person or fish.
 
Maybe there should be a rule about starting a thread with your first post. Anyway there were some good posts, and it's always good to think about how you treat your dance partner.
 
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