Blowing Rock N.C

Blowing Rock N.C

Wednesday, September 7, 2011

FISHING ETHICS



To keep or not to keep.....some anglers keep every fish they catch, some keep none...and some keep only what they want/need. Some of us fish for sport, some for food, and some for both.
So what constitutes as an ethical angler? Do you keep a fish if it swallows the whole hook? What if you pull the line and hook out, but the fish is bleeding from the inside? What about if your only catching the smallest of fish, do you keep them still?
I was King Salmon fishing on Lake Ontario just out of Rochester New York this August. My cousin is a firm believer in catch and release of steelhead, for hopes they will move upriver and spawn. He caught several steelhead that day to let everyone of them loose but one...Did he keep the biggest one he caught, no. He kept the one that swallowed the whole spinner and was bleeding out on the deck of the boat. Most people say you can just cut the line and leave the lure or hook in a salmonoid and they will be just fine. If they are bleeding out, it's better to just add them to your daily bag limit and not let them be waisted.

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