To Kill or not to Kill .....That is the question .

[mackmauler]

Dasher, get hold of a grants guide and he tells you what is rubbish and what is not, trigger fish in the mans words are detested bait theifs. hope that helps.

[Daintreeboy]

I'll raise a point here. It is known that fish die after being caught no matter how well they are being treated during capture. So is it better to catch and release or kill the fish to eat, making sure you when you reach your bag limit? While I catch and release on certain occasions, I keep most of my fish when they're within the legal requirements and enjoy eating them. It is debatable which method is better for fish stocks if you stop at your limit. I can't remember the last time I kept fishing once I'd reached my limit.
My point is, nothing wrong with C&R, but keeping your fish is not a crime and people shouldn't be criticised for doing so (hasn't happened on this thread, but seen it before).
Interesting to see C&R folk 'encouraging' their way of life to all and C&K folk simply stating what they do.
Cheers, Mark

[NQCairns]

Yeah, you fellas are right, probable is quite improbable.

For another angle on handling, I understand a fish with a high O2 demand (from the fight) has less 1 minute to be returned to the water before some degree of brain damage occurs no matter how well it was treated above water.
I always cringed at Rex hunt for his extra long blabber to camera with fish in hand.
Would be nice if one of our country's fishing celebs would look into this and if it stands up run with it on show within their normal fish in hand piece to camera.

How long is bi-catch on the typical trawler sorting table?

[Boxhead]

Daintreeboy,

Mate, agree 100%... Good point...

Nath...

[landbasedtossa]

Daintreeboy, you make it sound like a bad thing that the C&R 'encourage' others to think about releasing fish. Let's see - released live fish vs dead fish. Good to see you have an eye on the future, not.

[Daintreeboy]

I tried as hard as possible not to make my post point any fingers in a bad light. That part was merely an observation that I find quite interesting. At this point the C&K fishers are a little bit on the back foot with C&R being the supposedly environmentally friendly way of the future.
If you look at some groups like PETA though it is C&R that is the target for their protesting and banning.
I was just trying to say that there is nothing wrong with keeping your fish for food. We are regulated pretty heavily with bag limits, max and min size limits, closed seasons, closed areas, tackle restrictions and so on. These regs are 'the future' in my books so no angler should be criticised when they stick to these boundaries.
For the record I have a few species I set my own size and bag limits on as I believe the ones in place aren't quite right. Fingermark for example so I'm not exactly a murdering B*astard that kills all and sundry.
Last point, to elaborate on on thing I said. If two blokes go out and catch 14 Coral Trout then go home compared to the two who stay and catch 20 odd from 60 feet of water before heading off. That was the type of example I was on about in my post.
I'll shut up now.
Cheers, Mark.

[Remo]

Different people have different beliefs, but I personally having coming from keeping every legal fish to only keeping the odd one or two for the table.

I find this more satisfying to watch the fish swim away after a couple of photo shots.
All my trophy fish are realsed as I feel that the fish must have done something right or very lucky not to be caught, with all the fishing pressure applied.

Cheers
Ray

[Boxhead]

Remember "Fish are food, not friends" [smiley=chef.gif]

Nath...

[macca]

I'm with Remo

In ten years of freshwater fishing, all catch and release.

Photo for me and watch it swim away.

I fish for sport and relaxation. Too much hard work killing them, my opinion.

Far too many pictures of dead fish in our local Fishing Mags, Again my opinion,

Macca

[banshee]

People that practice C&R,in my opinion,have no business condeming those that keep within the law,wether they take a feed or a bag limit they are acting within guidelines imposed by people that have monitored the fish stocks.I personaly practice C&R on a host of species but there are some species that find the ice box real quick,personal choices are exactly that,personal choices.

[DICER]

I'm not a 100% C&K&eat person, but for those of you who are only C&R, why not just set up a video camera on the bottom and watch the fish come into feed? Surely this is better off for the fish??

[dasher]

Dasher, get hold of a grants guide and he tells you what is rubbish and what is not, trigger fish in the mans words are detested bait theifs. hope that helps.

Ya right there Rob, but they're easy to catch once you know they're around. Long shank hook and a couple of metres off the bottom and hold on. [smiley=2thumbsup.gif] The problem is Grants don't list them as poisonous either. ??? ???

[jeffo]

i tagged a few hundred fish in the maroochy river about 6-7 years ago. of those few hundred i had about 16 re captures (all in the maroochy). i didnt think that was to bad at all considering 99% of my tagging was done right at the river mouth. appart from deep water fish i feel that the majority or fish released survive, provided they are treated properly when caught (wet hands,minimum time out of water).

[dazza]

hi all,
i think there needs to be alot more education regarding catch and release. i believe fish released properly, ie wet hands, placed into water, no major damage/injuries have a pretty good chance of survival. unfortunatley there is not enough info for the general member of public to educate them about c&r. i would hazzard a guess that the thought of releasing a (legal) fish does not even enter their mind
same as fish meant for the table. treat it with respect ie; kill it in a humane manner, bleed and ice immediatley etc etc

i release about 90% of estuary fish i catch and probably 50% of offshore fish, which is 90 and 50% of f#&k all

cheers
dazza

[kc]

Guys there really is not a lot of benifit disecting fishing into C & R verus fishing for food (not catch & kill).

It is pretty clear a lot of rec fishers practise both (myself included)

The problem we will be faced with in the very near future is an attack on C & R by the ultragreens....to whit...how do you justify C & R when you are just inflicting pain?? /injury on another animal for your own pleasure??

Balance/balance/balance. It is easy to justify fishing as a food gathering exercise and quality family time...it is more difficult if it is just a blood sport with no gain other than personal pleasure.

The end message is we are all recreational fishers...brothers in arms...and the war has already started in the public & political arena.

KC