Fishing for Fun - or Glory?

[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.......

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 tactics.....
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/...ps-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?





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..... )




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.

[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.









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

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.

[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.



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





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]

continued......



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....




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.....

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...ies/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......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" on another fishing site........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....

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

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.....

[cowherder]

**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" on another fishing site........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....

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

ds you are hardcore! I like the part where you said chewing into little pieces first before swallowing. If I had to do that I would swallow it quick and worry about it later.
thanks for the story and pics really enjoyed it!

[plugcrazy]

Great story on the drum. Eating all those weird fish, not so much.

[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.









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

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....
This is what it looked like a day later......

[jigfreak]

to answer the original question if you can't fish for the challenge and it has to be about beating someone else maybe you should just stay home and play video games. My .02

[DarkSkies]

Good point Jig.
I wonder if any others have thoughts they would like to add....thanks.