Catch and Release

When I was a kid and somebody actually caught a fish, the standard practice among my peers of the time was to stomp on the fish and immobilize it underfoot; probe, twist and pull as necessary; and possibly "chimprovise" and use a tool such as a stick to provide extra reach or leverage.  Hook extracted, the fish may have been strung up, released or purposelessly tossed up on shore.  I learned pretty early on that pre-snelled hooks could simply be snipped off in the fish and my "leader" extended with pre-tied loop-to-loop knots.  This made for easy releases, but I wasn't a 10-year-old made out of money, and so that wasn't a practical long-term solution.  We didn't catch a lot of fish, and some were kept for the table, but the carnage still piled up.  Not like the frog and bird hauls that could be accumulated quickly with a BB gun (largely the interest of another set of kids), but I'm sure we weren't exactly fostering our fisheries.

Now "The Pond" had bass, and they're fun to catch, so-called "sport" fish.  They're also not so spikey, have big mouths, and provide handy grips with their rubbery, sandy lips.  They were available in limited numbers, I had a long future ahead of me, and they taste pretty much like swamp gas.  So they made perfect candidates with which to practice catch and release.  I'm glad I caught onto this, because I recycled the bass in The Pond, which I otherwise could have easily over-fished.  As it worked out, I caught many of them multiple times.  While there were others that I encountered less frequently, these were large enough to be interesting, and they were released in the hope they'd re-appear later, and larger.  They often did, until the winterkill of about 1981 - 1982, when The Pond revealed them for the last time, along with several GIANT bass that had quietly eluded me for years.  The mystery of those few giants instilled new interest in me for these habitats, the fish, and the sport itself.

Early season catchin' and releasin'

Striped bass have many of these same attributes, and I'd like to say that I can see for myself that catch and release practices on these fish are effective.  I've caught previously tagged and released bass, and just this season I'd say that about 10% of my captured stripers showed obvious signs of having been previously hooked and released.  With such a vast ocean, the stripers' big migrations, so many places to hide and my puny efforts in their capture; if I can detect some evidence of catch and release effectiveness...imagine the importance of these practices on smaller waters.  Perhaps the primary reason I've stayed with fishing is that I released those Pond bass; and was able to catch them again.  Let's face it, catching fish is more engaging than simply fishing, especially for a child.  If I'd caught these fish just once, perhaps I'd have moved on to other activities out of boredom.  A basic tenet of environmental protection now is re-use of materials; I was doing that with my Pond long ago, unwittingly; but effectively and convincingly.

Stripers are made for catch-and-release.  Note the circle hook!

I'm not against legally harvesting fish for the table or as trophies, but I usually don't.  I don't necessarily enjoy eating them, and I get too much of a kick from reviving a worthy opponent, feeling his recovery, and witnessing him swimming away.  I'm motivated, too, by the possibility of catching him again.  Or perhaps another kid will catch my fish, and I'll catch somebody else's generous releases.  And while I have bittersweet feelings about running away from active fish, there have been times when I've been more concerned about limiting my catch, as opposed to catching my limit, just because of possible mortality associated with unsuccessful releases.  Not all fish are as amenable to catch and release as my bass.  These fish have been left alone, rather than risking unwanted mortality.

I'm convinced, catch and release is important for certain game fisheries.  I'll respect your informed opinions, but please consider the use of circle hooks with your bait, follow all regulations, make good use of the fish you keep, and take a kid like me (or at least like I was) fishing with you every so often.

36 inches of striper swimming away - Thanks, Captain Patterson!