survival rate of bass??? and whiting! on release! + advise!

[rustyhookthomas]

just a thought!
with regular ammounts of school bass being caught on the east coast at the moment
how many recover on release? compared to released whiting!!!
i know i've had whiting that just swallow the largest baited hooks and they become
crab food on release.
i'm not catching schoolies to answer this.
just thought it might be interesting to know and also how to avoid deep hooking if you are
catching small bass.

[keith]

Nah the Schoolies are a lot tougher and go back much better, Whiting are way more delicate IMHO...

[donal domeney]

The bass are a hardy bit of stuff and go back without a problem
I've found for the other species is, before you cast out again, to gently remove the hook and place the fish in a bucket of water for a few minutes. This give the fish a better chance of recovery. When you are ready to return the fish empting the bucket into the surf and fill it up again for the next fish.

[dogfish]

Well put donal,the youth anglers who fish any competitions Have to bring a large bucket in order to ensure the survival of any fish caught, this is a rule for them and they do it with out a second thought, senior anglers could learn a lot from them.

[roger de dodger]

myself and eric hit the mother of all schoolie shoals not long ago and out of nearly 50 fish not one didnt go back and all where lip hooked ,i,d say only 40 % of the small whiting i catch make it to fight another day,sad as that sounds any fatalities are used for bait and some how i dont think the whiting stocks will suffer because of our sport p.s use a very short snood if schoolies show up 4 or 5 inch

[teacher]

Little bit off topic but when I'm lure fishing with trebles, unless I can remove the hook in less then about 20 seconds, I use a wire cutters to cut the hooks at the bends. You can remove the pieces with a needed-nose pliers. Does almost no damage to the fish.



You can put a replacment treble on in a few more seconds.

Also, I think avoiding handling the fish too much, in particular with cloths that remove a lot of slime, will help with survival.

[doggie3131]

would love to offer my experience in these matters thomas,but having NEVER caught either species,i dont think it would count:):):)