Release of a Lifetime........Story and Pics......

[DarkSkies]

**

[DarkSkies]

To follow.....

[buckethead]

Look forward to the story dark.

[surfstix1963]

Well......

[bababooey]

The master of suspense what's up with the story ds are you using invisible ink?:laugh::HappyWave:

[surfstix1963]

It may be February before the story comes out when he stops fishing...

[DarkSkies]

Man you people are damn impatient.....:moon: :)
But just for the Crabby Old Basstard Surfstix....:HappyWave:
I'll try to get part of it up today....
Got limited time, have to do more cement and concrete work before the rain comes tomorrow....

[DarkSkies]

5-16-13 The Release of a lifetime...
We asked him if he wanted to keep her. He said "no she's going back."
And he did put her back, very quickly after making the decision.

[DarkSkies]

Unfortunately, he may not have known a lot about releasing big fish. We just assumed it was his fish and it was up to him to deal with the release.

We all went back to fishing and after congratulating him, didn't give it a 2nd thought. He had the fish hooked in the corner of her mouth with a curcle hook, so there wasn't any damage in taking the clam bait out.
We didn't really consider that the 10 minute fight may have taken everything she had. She seemed to swim off ok and as mentioned we went back to fishing.

[DarkSkies]

About a minute later, someone said "oops, looks like that fish won't make it, it's drifting on her belly"
I saw her, and a sad feeling crept over me...here was this fish, this magnificent trophy, and it was going to end up as crab food.
The fish was drifting with the tide, and a little too far out of reach to grab.......

[DarkSkies]

I saw her struggling to make it. It became apparent she would not...her pectoral fins were not moving, even though she was moving her tail and trying to breathe...the sight of that 23 year old fish (best estimate I could come up with according to scant data ( ie growing to 16" by age 3, and then 2" a year after that, on average)

[DarkSkies]

A few of us gathered around the area to try to save her.

We could not reach her and tried to snag her with poppers.
We had little success at that. Anyone who knows me.... knows of my general lack of patience with society and people in general....
I have to confess I was impatient here as well, but knew if she didn't get fresh oxygen circulating in her gills soon, she would no longer be struggling, she would be dead.....

[DarkSkies]

I acted impulsively and without regard to my safety.
I say this here not to show folks how brave I was, but to admit it was a careless move. :bucktooth: :beatin:

Me saving that fish, the way I first went about it, could have put myself in jeopardy.I chastize myself not only to publically admit my faults but to warn others that when the water is colder (that day it was 52 degrees), if you get in trouble out there you have at most 10 minutes before your body systems start to shut down.

[DarkSkies]

I have been in bad situations before, fishing alone by myself. I am probably one of the few out there in NJ to wear a PFD or wetsuit for some of the fishing I do at night....the reason for this paragraph here is to remind all who may read this, that we all can make mistakes in judgement....none of us is better than anyone else,,,,some may be more seasoned or experienced, and that is the main difference. It gets to me when internet critics judge others for their mistakes out there...we are all human and make mistakes....

I hope by posting this level of details, that some become more aware of how dangerous early-season fishing can be if you end up in the water. No matter what the air temps are, if the water is around 50 you could still be in danger if you fall in. I have also seen others die (the Father kayaking with his son in the Nissequogue in 2011) and know from seeing it first hand, that inattention to safety could be the last mistake you will ever make.
Please don't make a mistake, that could cost you your life. Thanks for reading this paragraph.

[DarkSkies]

Moving along.....I impulsively jumped in after the fish. As my waders filled with water I knew it was time to get back to solid ground. I did. Once I regained footing I continued to try to snag the fish. Finally I managed to hook her with a popper.

[DarkSkies]

I handed off my surf bag and rod to a fellow angler, asked him to put it back further on the beach as the tide was coming in. Then I set out to try and save this trophy fish.

[DarkSkies]

At first I was encouraged.

She seemed to be struggling but strong. You could tell she was exhausted from the fight, though.
I had my hands in her mouth and was trying to swim her in the shallows to revive her. swimming her back and forth to run water through her gills.

[DarkSkies]

After a few minutes, she seemed to respond, and got a bit stronger.
However, every time I went to let her go, she would end up on her side.

[DarkSkies]

I noticed her pectoral fins were not functioning.
This is usually the kiss of death when reviving a fish.
If she cannot stabilize herself she will not likely live.

I have some decent experience releasing fish as I have released a few thousand in my life. It's always been pretty easy to do.
However, this release, of such a large fish, was perplexing me

[DarkSkies]

I hatched a plan, not knowing if it would work:

1. I would walk the fish up and down the beach, in about 3' of water, and keep swimming her until she got enough oxygen in her brain, and systems stabilized enough, for her to swim off.
2. I would try to guage the strength of her tail movements and sense when she was ready to go back out.
3. As I have released thousands of fish successfully, I was fairly confident that it would be easy. Big mistake on my part.
4. 10 minutes into it, and it became apparent that she was in pretty damaged condition.
5. She would get fits of strength, and was breathing on her own, but those pectoral fish just would not function. Without those I knew she would go right back to swimming belly up, or sideways.

[DarkSkies]

This was a little depressing. The kid who caught the fish came by twice and asked if there was anything he could do.

**This is why I don't want enyone criticizing him here and will delete any post that remotely indicates criticism of what he did. There may have been some things he was ignorant of, but you could tell he really wanted that fish to live. We all may not have perfect knowledge when out there, and may find ourselves in this situation one day.

This is the reason for the "Catch and Release" thread contest....
http://stripersandanglers.com/Forum/showthread.php?3485-catch-and-release-tips-and-CONTEST!

[jonthepain]

sad story, dark. :(

[DarkSkies]

^ Gimme a break there, pal...it's not over yet...it does have happy ending...:) :HappyWave:
'

[J Barbosa]

^ Gimme a break there, pal...it's not over yet...it does have happy ending...:) :HappyWave:
'

My generation isn't very patient...out with it already!

pics please :kiss:

[jonthepain]

well it sounded like it was over...

[DarkSkies]

Continued.......

So those who don't know everything about C&R, will learn.
I will be the first to admit that of all that I thought I knew, it was very difficult for me to figure out how to save this fish..
If I had this difficulty, I can only think that others may run across a situation like this, and want to educate us all how better to handle and release the fish we choose to....doing any less is being irresponsible.

[DarkSkies]

For example, if you tell everyone you are a big catch and release fisherman, and are tossing them back in the water like rocks or clamshells, maybe you are not as great a guy as you say you are....because your mortality rate will be high.......

[DarkSkies]

I know of one club out there...whose members shared with me that of the fish a higher-up officer catches, many of them end up dead because of his poor release tactice.....
I say this, to let others out there know, that we are all capable of making mistakes.



**I have modified a thread started by plugcrazy to help all those interested in learning more about C#R
(Prizes to those who come up with the most helpful posts)

http://stripersandanglers.com/Forum/showthread.php?3485-catch-and-release-tips-and-CONTEST!

[DarkSkies]

When the water is colder, I have found strict procedures to be less important, because in my experience fish released in colder water do not get damaged as easily and bounce back quicker.....

However, this was not the case here...and it was very frustrating for me...
As some point in this whole process. my logic and reasoning went out the window.....I became a little obsessed with saving this fish.....As it seemed she was making the effort....and how could I fail her?

[DarkSkies]

I kept at it for almost an hour, with the guys who saw the fish caught coming by to see the progress....
We were all rooting for this fish to make it.

[DarkSkies]

Unfortunately, I was running into obstacles...
1. From walking in the colder water for so long, my legs were starting to cramp up.
2. I had no time to take my water filled waders off, so I was carrying an extra 20 lbs of water weight around.....what a freaking workout....
(and a Dillydock move.....:bucktooth: )

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3. I started feeling fatigue.


4. That the fish was still living was encouraging. Every now and then she would give a massive tail swipe causing me to think she was ready to go out on her own....but then when I would release her, her pectoral fins weren't fully working.


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[DarkSkies]

When releasing a fish you have to be careful to not touch it too much. That's why you concentrate on leading it around by the mouth. Touching the gills, or any part of the body can be very damaging to the fish as it can affect breathing, or the slime coat.


I know all this, and at the 1 hour mark I was losing hope. She wasn't dying anymore, but she wasn't living strongly anymore, either. She was just existing, albeit on a very subdued level.
Her pectoral fins had started to stabilize a bit, but every time I tried, she still couldn't swim.


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[DarkSkies]

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I made a decision that I would try anything I didn't try yet, to save this fish (Except for mouth to mouth) :kooky: :rolleyes:

Even though I knew it would mess up her slime coat, I took her by the tail, and while supporting her body, pushed her head back and forth in deeper water...as deep as I could walk in......while keeping her head down, and trying to change that up too, figuring with the time out of water maybe she had too much air inside her to balance herself.


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[DarkSkies]

This holding the tail, and pushing her body back and forth, eventually seemed to make a slight difference.
I kept at it this way for about a half hour.

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Another angler came by...asked about the fish, and how long I was at it....

[DarkSkies]

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He said:"Dude, no one can fault your effort, that is really admirable,,,but at some point you have to ask youself, if she is not dying, and not living, maybe you are keeping her alive for no reason?"
I thought that made a lot of sense,,,,and thanked him for the advice.....
I said I would keep up with holding her tail and moving her that way for 5 minutes more,,,,and would let her go...
If she lived, she lived.
If she died, so be it...it was in God's hands.....

[DarkSkies]

I'll try to come back and finish the rest of the story tomorrow....;) :HappyWave:

[jonthepain]

great story so far

[DarkSkies]

Thanks Jon...sorry for the delay....
continued......

17062

By that time I noticed the pectoral fins were stabilizing, and she had a touch more strength....
I gave her one last push, and sent her into the deep...she rose slightly, until she came close to the surface, and then, in what seemed like a miracle, she slowly swam away on her own power....after a few seconds it was apparent she was not in difficulty, as we could not see her struggling and she vanished slowly out of sight....

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It was a fantastic sight to behold,. She had gained her freedom, and her life back, with a little help....

[DarkSkies]

We watched the general area for another 5 minutes. She did not surface and there were no signs of her at all. We did this just to make sure she did swim away and all that effort was not in vain.....Hi-Fived each other...and went back to fishing.....:fishing:

[DarkSkies]

I looked at my watch...I had been doing that C&R Marathon for 1 1/2 hours....the longest it has ever taken me to revive any fish...
Went back to the guy who had caught her, Hi-fives all around....at that point the bite had diminished, fish were only at the furthest end of the cast. With the setup I had it was impossible to reach them.
Still, I felt grateful that I was able to give this trophy fish, maybe a few more years to live out her life......

[DarkSkies]

How I came up with an estimate of her age....
http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/huntwild/wild/species/blackdrum/

Weight....
I sent the pics to some of the best fishermen I know, and the general consensus was 65-80#.
It is hard to estimate the exact weight without a full pic of the fish and some measurements.

I did some checking.....the NJ state record black drum is 105 0r 106#, and was around 55" if memory serves me correctly.
This fish was estimated by a few of us there to be over 4", from 49" to 53"...so I think an estimate of around 75# is pretty accurate, and a fair estimate.

[DarkSkies]

**There may be some reading this, who may think that this site is all about C&R....:don't know why:..that's inaccurate....
we eat bass....I eat bass, though I do release most of them.

Drum are tasty eating as well...but most of us know that the smaller ones, taste the best.
At a size of 75#, they tend to be filled with worms.
Not a great problem if you want to boil all the meat before final cooking to kill the worms.,...or take each fillet and dig the worms out with a sharp knife.......
But why would you want to do that?

Catching and eating small drum, can be great. With the larger ones, it is such a chore to prepare the meat....that most of us who have been fishing for a long time know better....not worth the effort.









**I know these things because I have brought home and eaten just about every fish that is catchable out there....bass, bluefish, perch, fluke, flounder, american shad, skates, sea robins, bergalls, squirrel hake, conger eels, dogfish (that stunk up my kitchen with the ammonia smell because I didn't bleed them right when first caught)....and even false albacore.....taking one on the beach and eating as raw sushi, to the horror of other anglers out there....so much so that they talked about some "sick guy who ate raw albacore on the beach" :scared: on another fishing site....:rolleyes:....the stories I have of eating allegedly inedible fish....would be enough to fill a book......:)

And...on a dare from some commercial fishermen about who was tougher...eaten a whole medium sized peanut bunker...chewing it to pieces first before swallowing....:drool:

If you think that it is worth it to eat wormy drum fillets...... to each his own.......:thumbsup:

The kid who caught the drum got plenty of food for the day....he already had his limit of legal bass on the beach.....and he conveyed to us later that he was happy. Slicing that drum up would have been a chore that he wasn't into, and he was adamant about wanting to release her.......
So I'm glad to report I was part of the group that were there that day, and got to see such a great fight, beautiful fish landed, and successful release, his choice.........

Thanks for readlng.....:HappyWave:

[Pebbles]

You're a good man! :clapping:

[jonthepain]

well done, and well worth the effort.

[buckethead]

Very well-done ds.

[storminsteve]

When releasing a fish you have to be careful to not touch it too much. That's why you concentrate on leading it around by the mouth. Touching the gills, or any part of the body can be very damaging to the fish as it can affect breathing, or the slime coat.


I know all this, and at the 1 hour mark I was losing hope. She wasn't dying anymore, but she wasn't living strongly anymore, either. She was just existing, albeit on a very subdued level.
Her pectoral fins had started to stabilize a bit, but every time I tried, she still couldn't swim.



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17066


I made a decision that I would try anything I didn't try yet, to save this fish (Except for mouth to mouth) :kooky: :rolleyes:

Even though I knew it would mess up her slime coat, I took her by the tail, and while supporting her body, pushed her head back and forth in deeper water...as deep as I could walk in......while keeping her head down, and trying to change that up too.


Dude your hand is all bloody in the top pic.
Congrats on going above and beyond, awesome release!

[DarkSkies]

^Good eyesight, Steve....:HappyWave:
This is what it looked like a day later......

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[buckethead]

I really enjoyed the story and its happy ending.