What would you do

Monday I got a big trophy size northern. Very wide and deep as big around as your thigh. By the time I got the fish out of the net and unhooked he had been out of the water for some time. I opted to release it immediately worried it would go belly up from the trauma of being out of the water so long. So I skipped the measurements and photo’s and slid it back in ASAP. Would you have taken pictures and measurements on a widely feisty fish and taken a the chance it would die?

First off I don’t fish for pike or ski’s often…like almost never.

I do catch a fairly large (and sensitive) walleye once in a while. I’ve found that placing them back into the net then into the water anytime will give a person a few extra seconds/minutes with the fish.

Yeah it does rub off some slime coat but that seems to come back quickly.

The other thing I try to watch for is holding any big fish vertical with out the support of two hands. But then dad taught me to pick up pike by their eye sockets…I guess it didn’t matter in the frying pan.

You errored on the side of ensuring my kid would have a chance at that fish…Thank you!

Pictures are nice but,you did the right. Pictures are for your time of remembering a big fish. Down the road you will catch another one for sure!!!

Some years back I accidently killed a 42″ Pike due to stress and water temp during the fight. Now I don’t take the fish out of the water. I have a large net and once the fish is in the bag I stick the net handle through my Down East rod holder. This allows the bag and fish to remain in the water. I can then unhook and do whatever I want, photo, measure while in the bag. If it’s a big girl and another person is in the boat it might come out for a quick photo. Otherwise I’ll let it recover right in the net and then let it go.

Good job releasing the fish.

Real big fish;
I tend to net them, and leave the net in the water.
Grab camera, setup on a 2second time interval.
TUrn on scale, clear path for tape measure and have girth tape ready.

Then over the side of the boat the fish goes. Scale with fish in the net, then take out hook, then length/girth fish, then hold for a camera pic and over the side it goes.

When all your tools are handy and you’ve got a routine; you can do a lot in less than 1 minute’s time.
I know how fast i released a fish by how many photos i have to delete afterwards.

We released what could have easily been a 60 pound sturgeon or more up on the rainy without taking any measurements besides a quick length. Fish had gotten some line to the gills and was bleeding good. Just wanted to get it back to the waters.

You’ll catch another one. Maybe the same one

I try to release them in the net while it’s in the water. However some like this girl had the hooks really embedded in the throat needed to get it out of the water and use the spreader to even see where the bugger was hooked. If the fish is hooked in the lip I leave it in the net and just take the pliers and unhook it without it ever coming out of the water. I wish it was always that easy. Just decided to get one of those Ranger nets with the flat bottoms. Hoping this might help.

A fish grip works well (I like the plastic versions) to open mouthes. Grip the bottom jaw and you can easily open and keep control of the fish. Spreaders just make me cringe. Especially when used on NOT HUGE fish.
Sometimes that hook is just a pain; but for the most part having the ability to perform surgery quickly and maintain control of the fish is KEY.

FishBlood&RiverMud wrote:

A fish grip works well (I like the plastic versions) to open mouthes. Grip the bottom jaw and you can easily open and keep control of the fish. Spreaders just make me cringe. Especially when used on NOT HUGE fish.
Sometimes that hook is just a pain; but for the most part having the ability to perform surgery quickly and maintain control of the fish is KEY.

What are these fish grippers, how do they work? Where do you get a pair: say Cabelas, the Musky shop? Thank you.

Evert, 4 Seasons, Joes, Fleet Farm and Team Catfish all handle floating fish grips.

Yep, those ones

Here’s a pic in use

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Brian Klawitter wrote:

You errored on the side of ensuring my kid would have a chance at that fish…Thank you!

Very well said!

Ultimately, you took something away from that experience that doesn’t need a pic or witnesses… MEMORIES. Yea, its nice to have the bragging rights in a pic, but at the end of the day, you know what you caught and how big it is. AND, hopefully that fish will give someone the opportunity to have an equivalent memory.

Do people still use cradles or have they gone by the wayside?