Hi Guys.......I'm not a very active poster here however, I do check out this forum quite a bit.....a lot of good info.
This particular post did catch my attention, and I wanted to share some thoughts with you guys to get your info on it........
The treatment of the fish after it has been caught is always something that I have considered for a while because we all forget about one very simple but extremely important fact......fish are practically weightless in water........however we pull them out of the water, and then that's when the damage starts.......a lot of charter captains pull the fish on-board, this places a "huge" amount of strain on the vertebrae of the fish.....when the fish hits the deck, that can sometimes cause bruising to the fish muscles, but it also removes a coating of slime that protects the fishes skin from parasites/bacteria........and if that was not enough we take a picture........the fish is put on the knees of the fisherman........and in most cases the abdominal cavity of the fish is right over the knee, and once again the weight of the fish is placed onto the abdominal cavity therefore causing trauma to the internal organs.......
In a lot of cases the fish are "revivied", and it swims away "strongly"........that is a common effect for most animals due to the release of huge amounts of adrenalin its known as the flight syndrome........very similar to people walking away from a car crash safely, but once they are checked out they have broken limbs/neck/head.
The other factor that we all need to keep firmly in mind is........a "small" amount of blood, lets say from a gill injury, can be a lot of blood for an animal the size of the GT........and therefore the fish may not be able to recover from its injury........I think people get really screwed if they lose around 4 litres of blood (I think not very sure), we are warm blooded with a lot more blood in our system.
Have you guys noticed, that some parts of the world that have been very famous for big sized GT's.....you don't seem to hear from them anymore? yes we can say the fish are smarter....but we are talking about fish......and from my understanding GTs are territorial.....so where are they?
Guys......please don't misunderstand me........I like to fish just as much as anyone else on this forum........I actually build rods, so I'm really into the fishing culture.........but at the same time, I'm honest about the effect of "Catch and release"........if anyone has a different opinion/view/logical argument please post it.......because I really would like to have another view so it would make the idea of "catch and release" a bit more easier on the conscious........
