HANDLE WITH CARE

Do your bit for fish preservation.

NOT ONLY is care essential to look after fish that we plan on returning to the sea to provide future sport – it’s imperative to the public image of our sport.

One picture of a few washed-up fish after a competition or a couple of fish left on a pier at the end of a session is all it takes for some to label anglers as callous. With the rising use of social media to spread news, now more so than ever it is in our interests to ensure fish care is made a top priority.

It really is quite simple to achieve. With a few basic and even household items, you can make sure your catches return to the sea in the same condition you caught them.

BUCKET

Thankfully, common sense prevails with most anglers, but there are a few who still don’t use a bucket for holding their fish until they are returned to the sea.

It’s somewhat obvious that fish need water, therefore once caught they should be placed in a bucket of fresh sea water. This not only gives the fish time to recover and recoup their strength, but also allows anglers time to find their unhooking and fish care equipment.

Fish should be stored in water until their release back into the sea. When doing so, tipping the bucket back in the sea is the best option for the fish, as physically handling them is very damaging. Water should be changed regularly to make sure oxygen levels remain high.

DISGORGER

One piece of equipment that I am never without on the beach is a disgorger – in fact, I carry several.

If you are not using them yet, buy some!

They make unhooking effortless, quick and less stressful for the fish. My preferred type is the Stonfo variety. You simply clip the line in the slot, guide it to the hook and with a quick push and pull, your hook is free.

The design of the Stonfo version prevents the hook point catching when exiting the fish’s mouth. They are ideal for hooks up to a size 2 and work on both flatfish and roundfish alike.

If you are lucky enough to catch a fish that warrants larger than a size 2 hook, then have a look at T-bar style disgorgers. This option

is still very effective and turns the hook point around once released from the fish.

Disgorgers can be fiddly to get the hang of, but are well worth the perseverance.

You will never be struggling to release a hook from a fish again.

HANDLING

By using a disgorger you can, more often than not, unhook fish without even touching them. Keeping fish handling to a minimum ensures a higher rate of survival.

However, on the occasion that you need to hold on to a fish, make sure that you do so with wet hands. There is some controversy over the use of wet towels and rags. Some say that you wipe off too many scales and too much slime from the body of fish. I am yet to see any research on survival rates of fish handled with wet rags compared to wet hands so I can’t comment. My advice would be to choose the option that allows you to get the fish back into the water as soon as possible.

RETENTION

If you plan to dispatch a fish for the table, do it quickly and humanely, and out of the public eye. A metal priest, as used by fly-anglers, is ideal for this. For bigger fish, you’ll see charter skippers often use a rounders bat or truncheon-type device.

Never take undersize fish or any species subject to a ban on retention, and only keep what you really need. Place the fish in a cool bag/box to keep them fresh.