Quote Originally Posted by Stripercoast1 View Post
IWhen fishing from a sand beach never allow the fish to make contact with the sand. It will degrade the slime coating, and even washing it off prior to release will allow bacteria to take hold on the skin probably eventually killing the fish anyway. If for some reason you cannot avoid this, and the fish is legal, you might as well keep it, it's more than likely going to die anyway.

Good point Striper, and I would add that handling fish in such a way that it removes their slime coat could indirestly make them more susceptible to mycobacteriosis.
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