You may be killing released steelhead...and not even know it!

the gink and gas one is it. That's actually a well written article. No name calling or bashing, just good info. Thanks for sharing.
 
I read it too, just another reason to net your fish, or quit steelhead fishing...
 
So was the info in a paper by the researchers? I can't find anything on it. I'd appreciate a source if anyone knows.
 
Modest_Man said:
So was the info in a paper by the researchers? I can't find anything on it. I'd appreciate a source if anyone knows.
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I couldn't either but I e-mailed them asking for the experiment conducted that produced the information. Hope to hear back from them.
 
I would imagine all fish would suffer fatal head trauma from a head bang on a rock. This should effect all fish I think, not just steelhead or other salmonids. What about sturgeons, carp, or bass; they seems pretty tough but that article brings up a good point in that fish exist in an environment where hitting their head on a rock is near impossible so they probably have not developed much of a brain padding like terrestrial animals have.

Then again... what about migrating fish that have to jump up rapids and falls.. surely they hit their head sometimes, right? If it were that easy to die.. i don't think the soft-heads would be making up much of the gene pool.
 
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I agree with "Rain" in that I have caught a lot of steelhead that have seem to have been beat up on the head with lesions and cuts from rock's but still seem to survive. Maybe some are just tougher than the rest.
 
Rain said:
I would imagine all fish would suffer fatal head trauma from a head bang on a rock. This should effect all fish I think, not just steelhead or other salmonids. What about sturgeons, carp, or bass; they seems pretty tough but that article brings up a good point in that fish exist in an environment where hitting their head on a rock is near impossible so they probably have not developed much of a brain padding like terrestrial animals have.

Then again... what about migrating fish that have to jump up rapids and falls.. surely they hit their head sometimes, right? If it were that easy to die.. i don't think the soft-heads would be making up much of the gene pool.
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You bring up points that cross my mind when I read more and more about the supposed fragility of steelhead; that they have the fortitude of a snowflake in the Sahara. They undoubtedly must crash into rocks traversing falls and rapids. I once landed a native in the upper reaches of the Wilson that had several gouges the width of my thumb, all across its body like it had been mauled by a bear or sea lion and it was still strong and feisty. My buddy once hooked a native that was missing an eye in higher reaches of the Clackamas. I can't imagine they are really that delicate considering the dangers and length of their required travels?

Granted, I take care to leave a native in the water and let it resume its journey with as little jostling as possible once I realize it's not a keeper, but it seams these anadromous fish have to possess a fair amount of constitution, don't you think?
 
very believable... and disappointing-
 
corrected link

corrected link

You da man Skunk. Thanks for catching that; and posting the correct link. :peace:
 
Not that I don't agree with it, but did the "researchers" take into account it may have been their handling technique while implanting the tags, or how they implanted the tags that may have caused such wide spread mortality?
 
eat said:
Not that I don't agree with it, but did the "researchers" take into account it may have been their handling technique while implanting the tags, or how they implanted the tags that may have caused such wide spread mortality?
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Hence why I want to see this "study". Lots of red flags in that article. Especially this - "They determined that the least intrusive way to capture the fish was, well, the same way we do it. With a fly rod."

We pit tag cutthroats as small as 70mm (a bit less than 3") and it's a pretty fool-proof procedure and very standardized.
 
The article does sound a little biased for something that is supposedly based off of a scientific study - yet gives no source of the study. Like others have suggested, I'd be interested in seeing the actual research paper this is based on.
 
After re-reading that "report" I think it's either bogus or the biologists were incompetent in their handling of these fish.
How on earth did they determine "head trauma" as the cause of all these deaths ?

One would think that if they had the resources to make that determination, they should have been able to handle the live fish in a safer manner.

While it is always good to try to educate on the proper handling of native fish, IMO this "report" is agenda-driven and probably not exactly truthful.
 
I don't believe it.
 
I accidentally wasted about an hour of my life after reading the referenced article, searching and cross-referencing and searching again, but I never did find anything at all relating to Steelhead mortality via blunt-force trauma other than those injuries incurred while swimming through turbines (which is nothing but stupid and reckless behavior in my book). Rather than being sucked into pointless controversy I should have just mentally condensed the "study" (I have a friend that knows a guy, and he said he heard it is totally true) down to this: "Please handle fish with all consideration, and practice good catch-and-release principles as published for your knowledge like a billion friggin times already. Jeesh!".

"Oh, and if biologists use fly fishing practices, who are you to refuse our products?"

Off the record, I would like to know if the biologists continued with catching and releasing the GPS-tagged fish after they made their brilliant discovery on head injuries. Also, how many fish were involved in total in the catch/release phase and what percentage of that number were part of the "this is now a recovery mission" fatally concussed, bludgeoned, cracked, cocoanut shell-split, clonked, bopped and boinked victims. And did they eat them after the autopsy?

E
 
Thanks for the article, great info. I think the bottom line is we should all take as much precaution as necessary when hooking natives. I rarely see them in the rivers I fish but I've done a lot of reading on this subject and these fish deserve our respect and should be handled as carefully as possible. Think of what they have been through and how amazing they really are, if I hook a native its not leaving the water, I have enough pictures of fish anyway. They can die just from a good fight, so we need to do everything possible to preserve these wonderful fish. After all, think of all the joy they bring us :)
 
DirectDrive said:
After re-reading that "report" I think it's either bogus or the biologists were incompetent in their handling of these fish.
How on earth did they determine "head trauma" as the cause of all these deaths ?

One would think that if they had the resources to make that determination, they should have been able to handle the live fish in a safer manner.

While it is always good to try to educate on the proper handling of native fish, IMO this "report" is agenda-driven and probably not exactly truthful.
Click to expand...

I don't see what agenda might be driving this article. The "don't drag your steelhead onto the rocks" agenda seems a bit meek.

I think it's more improtant to demand to know why public employees are getting free fishing days!
 
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