Two fish limit and bait

[blacktop]

For the second time in the past month I had a friend watch two people in a boat land over 50 fish with bait on Chesterfield. They would stick the dikes down the fish mouths and pull the hook or cut the line. If a fish swallows the hook 90 percent will die. Bad form people. There is some terrific fishing in southeast Idaho and with the high water a big future for the fall and next years outlook. Chesterfield and Magic for example are with in a vertical foot of being full. We need to utilize our resources better. No fish should ever be released who are likely to die. If this continues these lakes will be forced to go to no bait restrictions. It would be a bad thing especially for the bank fisherman but a law could be instituted that stipulates that a fish that swallows the hook has to be retained for possession and it could be instituted. I think it would be warranted in a lake like Chesterfield where all the 6+ fall planters will be over 3 pounds in a year and a half after planting.
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[meancuznalfy]

That's , fish hooked deep like that rarely survive. Sounds like people need to learn new tactics, jigs, spoons rapals all work well and fish can be caught and released without hurting them.
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[obifishkenobi]

Education is needed for anglers, not more regulation which would be near impossible to enforce, there are multiple studies that show that the survival rate of deep hooked fish is significantly better for fish where the line is cut and the hook left in place. Here is an excerpt from one of those studies

"After 48h, 45.5% of the fish from the line-cut treatment group were able to expel the hook originally embedded in their esophagus, and at the end of the 10 day study, 71.4% had expelled the hook. Even with the hook left in the esophagus, fish were able to feed although at lower rates than controls during the first 48h of holding. By 10 days post-capture, there were no differences in feeding rates as evidenced by growth pattern" https://www3.carleton.ca/fecpl/pdfs/FR-F...al2009.pdf



The vast majority of fish survive if you simply cut the line another option that avoids deep hooking fish while bait fishing is the use of circle hooks, the fish sets the hook and it ends up in the corner of the mouth most of the time.
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[meancuznalfy]

That's some great information. I agree more education is needed. I myself refrain from using bait and throw jigs if there's a possibility of hooking fish I don't intend or want to keep.
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[MMDon]

They are put and take fish. Do you stick your nose in everyone's business that's doing something legally or just fishermen?
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[MMDon]

Thank you for your informative post.
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[blacktop]

I have no problem with put and take fish. If 90 percent of fish that swallow the hook live when released by cutting the line immediately 5 will die on a catch of 50 in addition to the two that were kept. How many fish released where the hook was not in the lip will die? Those are not that bad of numbers so lets at least cut the line. Chesterfield has an exceptional growth rate and I am grateful for the two fish limit.
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