Fish-Hawk.Net

Always wondered although its never happened. You land an out of season fish that dies while trying to release it. What would you do? and how does the MNR look at such a thing should they come along and you have it on the ice.

Down the hole it goes....even if its dead....

It has to float in your hole....or cut another and let it float there. The MNR will not accept the "but it died when i tried to release it excuse"

orrsey

like i said never happened but always wondered... what would i or should i do. Thanks for the advice guys

If it hasn't happened yet it will at some time. You can make every effort to practice good catch and release but all it takes is to hook one wrong etc and its over for the fish.

you have to put it back in the hole even if its belly up.


orrsey

orrsey wrote:If it hasn't happened yet it will at some time. You can make every effort to practice good catch and release but all it takes is to hook one wrong etc and its over for the fish.

you have to put it back in the hole even if its belly up.


orrsey

Anglers should have carbide side cutters or bolt cutters tucked away with their gear. It's far less stressful for a fish if you cut your hook (takes less than a couple of seconds) then release it as opposed to grasping it and spending minutes trying to pull a deep lodged hook out....

TMH,
Agreed, but I was more talking about unavoidable cicumstances i.e. hooks damaging gill when they take a bait deep etc, sometimes its unavoidable.

orrsey

It does seem like a shame, but there is no question in Ontario that the fish has to go back into the water.

And as somebody stated, if you fish long enough, chances are it will happen to you. I caught a big smallmouth several years ago while ice fishing for splake. He had inhaled the minnow to down his throat somewhere south of his belly button, fought like a prize fighter (I thought I had at least a six pound splake on the line!) and came out of the hole bleeding like a stuck pig out the gills. I did cut the line and left the hook in him, but I was sure I was putting him back into a watery grave.

Kaka happens..........

Doug

Roll up the sleeves, arm goes down the hole with fish, fish goes around the corner, arms comes back up with no fish.

End of story.

Is this really the MNR's stance on this...To put it back in the water dead or alive??? Wow. I can honestly say that as of today I have not had an OOS catch die on me yet during the winter. So do you call the MNR and report it or just let it be?? As for Crunchy...I would love to see how long your arms are if you can get it all the way down a hole, around the corner and release it. Usually I am fishing in 26-34" of ice...I would be up to my eyeballs in the hole

Crunchy...I would love to see how long your arms are

I'm 6 1/2 feet tall.... one long and skinny guy;)

It is a shame to see a fish go back when you know its going to die, however if the rule was that you COULD keep OOS fish that is dead due to fighting it then could you imagine how much people would abuse that? They would have fish laying all over and all they would have to say is, "it died...wouldnt swim away".

orrsey

orrsey wrote:It is a shame to see a fish go back when you know its going to die, however if the rule was that you COULD keep OOS fish that is dead due to fighting it then could you imagine how much people would abuse that? They would have fish laying all over and all they would have to say is, "it died...wouldnt swim away".

orrsey

so true!