Stressing trout in winter

[anglerdave]

John

P.S. I think trout, especially wild trout, and especially big wild trout, are a lot tougher than most people give them credit for. That's not to say that you shouldn't use good catch and release techniques.

John, I completely agree. After all folks, we are talking about a cold blooded fish for pete's sake. Now if you throw the thing on the bank in the snow and oogle and google at it while you take pictures then I would think that might not necessarily be good for the fish. But to hold it out of the water to get the fly out shouldn't hurt it one bit. And if you are fishing in temperatures so cold that there is instant freeze to anything wet, well then you ought to be indoors and drink single malt and read a good book.

Dave

[BSwan]

I think far more harm comes to our beloved trout when we fish for them in water that is too warm - 70 degrees plus.

[FishnDave]

As it relates to ice-fishing.... I've heard numerous credible stories from guys about how they would throw their bluegills and such on the ice while they were fishing. The fish would seemingly freeze solid! Then the fish would be put in a bucket of water once the angler got home, so the fish could thaw out and be soft enough to be cleaned/filleted. Lo and behold, the angler comes back 1/2 hour later to see perfectly healthy fish SWIMMING around in the bucket of water!
There's gotta be some damage somewhere, right? gills, eyes, BRAIN, right down to the cellular level...since cells contain water, and when water freezes it expands...that would/should BURST the cells when they freeze, effectively killing the cell. Right? It would seem so, but...I dunno.

[anglerdave]

I think far more harm comes to our beloved trout when we fish for them in water that is too warm - 70 degrees plus.

Good point and I would tend to agree with you.

[JohnScott]

I think far more harm comes to our beloved trout when we fish for them in water that is too warm - 70 degrees plus.

.... out of the last NINETY FIVE months that I have not caught wild trout in Idaho and / or Montana and / or Wyoming.

One of them was the month of August '07 when we were in the midst of a terribly long, hot, dry spring and summer in SE Idaho. I figured the water was so low and so warm that it just wasn't right to be bothering the trouts in the midst of all that stress from their habitat.

John

P.S. One of the best small river trout fisheries in the Central Mountains of Idaho took a real hit that summer. Based on my experience fishing that stream for several years before '07 and over the summer of '08, I can say with certainty that that long, hot summer of '07 decimated the fishery. It will likely be several more years before it gets back to what it was.

[Poke 'Em]

I have been told that catching and releasing trout in winter stresses them. I kinda thought the colder water would help them more than hurting when catching and releasing compared to the warmer water of summer. Thoughts or studies?

thanks

Catching and releasing them stressed them a lot less than catching and keeping them!

[8wt]

Thanks for the input. I'll be sure to keep them in the water when releasing.