Part 6
Catch & no release
There may be times when you will decide to keep a fish for eating. The hook may have damaged it badly. It may be a small fish in a large population that would actually benefit by having the population thinned. Or you are just plain hungry for a trout.

If you do decide to keep the trout, treat it with respect. Rap it sharply on its head with the edge of your net or a rock to kill it quickly. Take it a long way from the water to clean it. (I’ll talk about whirling disease later.) Use a sharp knife to open its belly, and remove all of its innards. At the top of the body cavity you may see a line of dark material running underneath its spine. If so, scrape this away with your fingernail.

If you will be able to cook it or refrigerate it within 2-3 hours, you can put it in a plastic bag in the back pocket of your vest. If not, put it in a chilled creel or in a cooler with ice. If you allow the fish to spoil, you will have both wasted the meat and taken the life of a beautiful creature for nothing.

A creel is a wearable container made specifically for carrying the fish you have killed. The traditional ones are made from woven willow branches, like a basket. You line them with wet grasses to keep the fish cool via evaporation. The modern ones are made of canvas, which you wet to get the evaporation. If you decide to buy one, canvass creels are much more practical. The willow ones are purchased more as a home decoration than as a tool.

One warning about keeping a damaged trout – you can’t do it if you are fishing in waters that the state has designated only for catch & release fishing. It seems a shame to return a damaged trout to the water, knowing it will die, but it is the law in C&R-only waters and it actually has some benefits in the grand scheme of the water’s ecology. You won’t be eating that trout, but some critter will.