Actually Treasuring the Fish

Catch or release? That’s the question every angler must answer when a hooked fish is finally in hand. For local striped bass fishermen, the answer today is likely “release” because fish larger than 28 inches, New York State’s regulatory minimum possession size, have yet to move into neighboring waters in substantial numbers, if at all. But with a mixture of inevitability and good luck, larger bass will reach the East End soon, and fishermen will have to decide whether their catch lives or dies. Or is it that simple?

Catch and release is a conservation practice in which after capture the fish is unhooked and released back into the water. It was first utilized on a voluntary basis a century ago by fishermen in the United Kingdom to sustain a variety of species in heavily fished waters. Here in the United States, catch and release was first introduced in 1952 by the State of Michigan as an effort to reduce the cost of stocking hatchery-raised trout. However, more than 15 years earlier, Lee Wulff, a celebrated fly fisherman, artist, and writer, penned the now famous line, “Game fish are too valuable to be caught only once,” which caused many anglers to consider the merits of freeing their catch. Sport anglers who target game fish such as trout, salmon, billfish, shark, tuna, tarpon, and striped bass are usually the loudest supporters of catch and release. They believe the practice is integral to the enduring vitality of a fishery. 

A sport fisherman’s commitment to catch and release can be tested when a trophy-size fish is landed. Should the fish be killed for a wall mount or released for a fellow angler to pursue? Modern taxidermy provides an easy answer. Release it. Taxidermists today can create a wonderfully life-like fiberglass replica of the big one that didn’t get away simply from measurements and a photograph supplied by the angler. It’s a win-win for both fisherman and fish. 

Catch and release regulations often surface where a specific fishery is economically important to a state or locality. This was the motivation for the 2013 State of Florida regulations, which made its valuable tarpon and bonefish fisheries exclusively catch and release except where a tarpon is captured in pursuit of an International Game Fish Association record or a bonefish is transported live to a tournament scale and then released. A University of Miami study found that a single bonefish contributed about $3,500 to the Florida Keys economy in the form of goods and services purchased by anglers pursuing the species. Similarly, New York State imposes catch and release restrictions on segments of the famous Beaverkill River, which flows through Roscoe, N.Y., where trout fishing greatly contributes to the area’s financial health.

While not every fishery is governed by strict catch and release restrictions, just about every fishery has possession and size regulations, which effectively are a more permissive form of the same thing. Under these rules anglers can keep some of their catch for the table or other purposes, but must release the rest. 

But here is where children must leave the room. Not every fish that’s freed under catch and release rules, restrictive or liberal, survives. In fact, a shockingly large number die. According to the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s 2015 Striped Bass Assessment Update, of the nearly 7.3 million striped bass caught by recreational fishermen in 2014 from Maine to North Carolina, an estimated 9 percent, or 655,000, died after release. In New York State, about 726,000 were landed and 65,000 perished. 

While one can argue about the assumptions and science behind the study, it’s indisputable that many fishermen treasure fishing more than they treasure fish. We don’t use safer circle hooks, replace treble hooks with single hooks or crush hook barbs when possible. We don’t take the time or have the correct tools to properly extract a hook from a fish. We don’t resuscitate a fish after a long fight. We don’t handle a fish properly to avoid injuring it. How many of us rip a stubborn hook out of a fish, rather than simply cut the line and allow the hook to dissolve in the fish’s mouth, because we don’t want to re-rig or lose a lure? Clearly, all anglers must adopt fish handling practices that increase the probability that a released fish not only swims away, but survives. Let’s start now.

Local fishing took a slight step backwards as a result of steady winds from the east and a cold rain last week. Paulie Apostolides at Paulie’s Tackle of Montauk reported that even schoolie bass have become a little picky due to the cooler weather. There are a couple bright spots for the hardiest fishermen. Ken Morse at Tight Lines Tackle in Sag Harbor said that keeper bass have been taken under the bridge to North Haven in Sag Harbor and in the South Ferry slip on parachute jigs, big swimming plugs, and tube lures. Morse believes that relatively warmer Peconic Bay waters are holding fish that otherwise would be moving east into Gardiner’s Bay. 

This theory made sense to Steve Sponzia at Wego Fishing Station in Southold, who reported loads of striped bass around Jessup’s in Peconic Bay. He suggested anglers look for feeding birds and use a diamond jig with a feather teaser. Steve said that last week’s porgy bite has slowed but likely will pick up again when fair weather returns. Harvey Bennettt at the Tackle Shop in Amagansett reported some early morning bass on tins at Amagansett beaches and said squid jigging has been productive in Fort Pond Bay. 

Steady east winds have also made it difficult for some pound trap fishermen to twine their sunken poles and for others to check their gear. Kelly Lester said lots of porgies and small amounts of blowfish, fluke, and squid are showing in some traps. 

Fishermen looking for a little adventure should consider hopping aboard the Viking Fleet’s Far and Deep Exploring New Grounds multiday trip, which departs Montauk on Wednesday.