Help wanted releasing fish

[hunter armytage]

Over the last couple of weeks, I have had a little bit of luck and finally caught my first threadie and subsequent to that I have followed it up with a couple of others as well. This was all great as I had been trying for a while to catch one however, the down side of this is I have been unable to release two of the fish and while this makes my girlfriend very happy as she loves eating fish, it is not the reason that I go fishing and I actually feel really bad when i have to take one home in the esky. The last threadie we caught we tried popping the air bladder with a small incision behind the pectoral fin which seemed to work as a lot of air came out of the opening however the fish would only do small circles then float back to the top.

I am aware that threadies are about to spawn and I am considering not fishing for them durring this period as at present I dont want kill another however as i mainly fish live bait it also precludes me fishing for jewies, I have also had the same problem with a jew around the 85cm mark. so what I am asking is for some advice regarding procedures that will ensure that i can release the fish in the same state I found them, such as popping the air bladder and releasing them with weights and so on.

If any one could help I would be very appreciative

Thanks

[elops]

Heres a link to an exellent article by nadders on the subject.

The method described can be used for all species of fish suffering from barotrauma.

www.thetightline.com.au/

[nadders]

Hi mate,

i've put up a bunch of info on this, what you need is to get yourself a release weight (i ordered mine from wellsys tackle, here: http://www.wellsystackle.com/sunshop/index.php?l=product_detail&p=1175 go to 40oz )

you also need to outline good release practices which is written in the article steve just posted you, but will re-write them here

1- use an enviro-net instead of a knotted net

2- de-hook the fish boatside while the fish is in the water

3- get your camera ready while the fish is still boatside

4- lift the fish into the boat either in the net or with one hand in the jaw and one hand cradling the belly with most of the weight on the belly hand

5- take your photo and get it back in the water ASAP, good time frame to aim for is 20 seconds out of the water

don't let it touch dry carpet, dry towels etc, dont drop it and always support the weight with a hand under the belly

If it needs to be sent back to the bottom on the drop weight, hook the barbless hook in from the top of the top lip (as per the photo in the tightline article) while the fish is in the water next to you. its easier to have someone hold the handline while you're doing it but you can rest the handline next to you if you give it a bit of slack line

hold the fish+weight in one hand in the water and grab the handline quickly with the other, then release the fish and weight and make sure the line is free to come off as the fish drops back down

try not to go popping the bladder it can do more harm than good

well done on your great attitude towards the spawning salmon too my hat goes off to ya

cheers

Dan

[hunter armytage]

Thanks Nadders and Elops , really appreaciate the advise.

Cheers Hunter