"Why you should use a net"

The subjet of "Why you should use a net" has come up before and I put
this together so here it is again.
I am on the board of the Fox Valley chapter of TU and 2 of our board
members (Jim Hlaban and Todd Hanson) were on the state C&R committee.
The final recommendation of the committee were adopted by TU national.
After working with these people you come to find out there they are
really committed to C&R and to spreading toe word about Proper C&R. I
know from my experience the following the steps out lined in CPR that
the fish I release do better then the fish I caught with out using the
proper C&R. I have little problem with fish getting caught on the net,
the net I use is a fine mesh and they don't get stuck on it. Once in a
great while a fish will catch a tooth on the net but it is easily freed.


I put the question to both Jim and Todd and here are there replies


Jim's..

> From: Hlaban, Jim
> Subject: RE: Why a net?
>
> It allows you to get the fish under your control sooner, before it is
> exhausted. It provides a soft wet buffer between you and the
> fish, you can
> suspend the fish in the water easier, preferably upside down.
> Ask her if she
> has seen our video. A demonstration of how to do it is
> valuable. That is why
> we felt the video was important.

Todd's

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Todd Hanson
> Subject: RE: Why a net?
>
>
> Steve,
>
> Feel free to send this to your friend....
>
> The CPR method was developed by a group of TU leaders in Wisconsin who
> relied heavily upon an exhaustive search of the C&R literature and the
> advice of one of the country's leading fisheries managers,
> Bob Hunt, of the
> WDNR, to develop the CPR steps.
>
> The goal was to develop something simple and memorable. They
> also wanted
> something that would apply to ALL types of trout fishers.
> (Your friend using
> barbless flies is a small subset of all trout anglers and can
> get away with
> some things that someone fishing with barbed treble hooks or
> nite crawlers
> simply cannot.)
>
> Given this, the CPR method works kind of like a doctor's oath
> -- it helps
> all types of trout anglers, plus it does no harm. Two points
> in the process
> apply here:
>
> 1. DON'T PLAY FISH TO EXHAUSTION.
> 2. HANDLE FISH IN THE NET.
>
> NETS ALLOW FOR QUICKER RELEASING = LESS EXHAUSTION
> With your hand you certainly can capture a fish or bring it
> to your hand to
> release a hook, but we hold that this is almost always done
> only after the
> fish is MORE exhausted than if it had been netted. If you try
> to counteract
> this by grabbing a fish while it is fresh, you still have problems --
> risking have it slipping back out of your hand, falling onto
> things, having
> to be captured a second time, etc. With a net, you get them
> under control
> just once and put them back fresher.
>
> Interestingly, next time you net a fish, notice how it "gives
> up" to its
> situation of having been captured. Once netted, fish seem to
> surrender and
> don't thrash about much (given you keep them the net bag in
> the water as, of
> course, you should). I don't know why this is. Maybe there's
> a lesson with
> those horse tamers who envelop horses in grain these days to
> restrain and
> calm them.
>
> A recent study a few years ago demonstrated that 80% of
> exhausted fish kept
> out of the water for 60 seconds and returned to the water
> died within a
> couple days, whereas just 10% of exhausted fish returned
> after being out of
> the water for 15 seconds died. Remember, those fish that
> scamper out of your
> grasp may still be "dead fish swimming" if they've been kept
> out of the
> water too long. Trout gills are fragile. If you use the net,
> you can get a
> firm but gentle grasp, get the hook/s out, and get the fish
> back in the
> water. In fact, you can do the entire process while the fish
> is still in the
> water, as I usually do:
> - get the fish to the bottom of the net
> - tuck your rod
> - reach into the water to turn the fish upside down
> - grasp the fish through the net fabric
> - poke the

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