Drama king thank you!
Ok You guys so what? This "this attention seeking, self proclaimed drama KING has spoken" and at least this fish is still alive. More correctly this will be the last thread I start here as posting to any other sub forum on a "fishing twitter forum" is pointless when in reality the whole point in even considering membership in this forum is the fact that I am very angry with what is going on all around us in the province. AND MOST PEOPLE ARE WALKING AROUND IN DENIAL SOME WITH THEIR HANDS OVER THEIR EYES, ANOTHER GROUP WITH THEIR HANDS OVER THEIR EARS AND THE WORST ONES OF ALL THE ONES WITH THEIR HANDS OVER THEIR MOUTHS AND EVEN THE MOUTHS OF OTHERS AT TIMES!
HERE I WILL PULL NO PUNCHES
For one, Ribby, at least consider an environmental sub forum for reporting invasive species encounters especially for those who catch Bass and the like in places where morons have illegally spread fish. Help spread the info to concerned anglers and pounce on the sites and have fish bashing festivals! At least then the environmental section of this forum would have purpose and a focus.
Being patronized and berated by anglers for starting a thread in the angling "FRESH WATER FISHING" sub sections that brings up the correct handling and treatment of stressed fish did make my hackles, feckles or whatever go up somewhat as again "the experts" jumped and completely distorted my advice. To which I reacted with A FART JOKE as is my fancy sir! (OE)
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And as far as wanting to star on an angling tv show GOES, the ones doing it already are just fine in this Province. What I am worried about is the fishing sheep demanding a BASS PRO SHOPPING MASTERS CLASSIC BC series. Where the guy with the fastest boat, the stickiest sharp BEAK hooks, with rattle trap wiggly monkey lures (which are just as deadly with steelhead BTW) wins all the marbles.
All this as the young BC wantabee bassmasters and steelheaders watch the BC master bass fishers yanking on the BASS to make it jump more than a few times when it gets to the boat. Then worse the kids watch as they yank the tank out of the water by the gills and throw it quickly into their live wells and repeat the process over and over again for statistical purposes and photo ops at the weigh in. Then even worse they are treated like expert fishing rock stars.
This is exactly what these idiots that are illegally stocking BASS are up to!
Like I said reality based fishing shows with someone like David Suzuki introducing it is more appropriate to this province. And why not include something like a real native steam pit dog fish shore lunch with REAL NATIVES, whose knowledge and skill and indeed fishing culture deserves respect and reverence for a change! Rather than blame for overfishing as many so called anglers still do to this very day in the Province of BC.
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So off topic from this thread but with an important point for the few who actually think about the issues and read this post carefully,
Here is what a fishing first aid attendant with electro-fishing survey experience does before considering a stressed dying fish to be food.
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A Modified Glasgow Coma assessment For Sport Fishing.
A simple five stage process for making a judgement call as to the state of a dying and stressed fish.
This method idea comes from the recommendations for dealing with fish that go into a reduced state of consciousness while being assayed by means of electro-fishing. It is an important part of obtaining crew leader status for the purposes of fish survey work, there are levels of consciousness in cold blooded animals, that the person(s) doing the work of reviving fish must understand. Shocking fish on a professional level is a skill, so is reviving them and knowing when they are safe to release. So from this experience these recommendation are made.
This recommendation comes also comes from the strictures of dealing with trauma emergencies. Where monitoring a victims level of consciousness is an important part of effective care.
Read and follow all the recommendations already posted on this site regarding the careful handling of your catch especially if the fish looks to be otherwise unharmed and YOU DO INTEND TO RELEASE IT after doing the least possible harm to the creature.
If your fish does not seem to be recovering then more drastic measures might help you make a more informed decision as to whether or not to consider getting ready for the fry pan alternative.
1. Is the fish breathing?
If not following a process might just help you to decide upon a course of action.
Take a soft grip of the seemingly dead fish with a wet free hand within your soft mesh net at the nape of the tail of the fish behind the adipose fin. And turn the fish slowly on its side and move the fish ever so slowly around so that the fish has a sensation of being taken out of the water or moved by the current.
All this time watch carefully for slow pectoral stabilizer fin movements as this is also an indication of life.
This process will illicit a survival response if the fish is at all conscious and the fish just might begin to breath on its own. If the fish begins to breath on its own keep a gentle hold of the fish or keep it in the net until it regains full consciousness and good breathing. This process alone can on many occasions save the fishes life.
2. If the fish does not breath try to make the fish show an instinctual "fight or flight response"
Do this only at first by rapidly moving your hand or other object in front of the fishes head without hitting the fish. And also making fast movements in the water along the lateral lines of the fish. Quite often if the fish is only drifting off into unconsciousness this will "wake the fish up" and you should feel movement right away. Keep trying several times at least before proceeding.
3. If movement in front of the fish elicits no reaction whatsoever after several tries, tap the fish gently on the snout. Again if there are no instinctual responses try several times again.
4. If all these measures have not started to revive the fish after several minutes chances are that the fish is already in cardiac arrest. So again wait until you are certain before humanely killing the fish and adding it to your daily quota.
Remember UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES is it sensible to use live wells to transport fish that you think may recover and be released later in the day even on the same body of water.
LIVE WELLS ARE A VECTOR FOR FISH DISEASES, PLANT MATERIAL, AND VEGETATIVE PATHOGENS and should never be used for the purposes of reviving fish.
5. This in a way goes without saying, never leave or transport to other places a dead or dying fish it can become a vector for disease especially in places where dead fish on the banks are not common. And especially if there is no immediate predation and a dry climate where there are water bodies that are largely spring water dependent. Rather as a concerned and true sport fisher consider this fish as a gift.
Always remember fish are a cold blooded animal and as such can and do go into long states where they sleep and their heart rate slows to almost nothing. Watch for stabilizer fin movement and the like with a fish that you think is dead as this is sure sign that the fish is not really dead it is just in a reduced state of activity.
Fish are amazing and their survival adaptions to a cold aquatic environment are a wonder, gentle correct care when reviving fish should be the first goal of all who fish for sport.
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CONCLUSIONS
1.
OFT TIMES fish truly are "just pining for the fjords" down deep and are not really dead yet, other times unfortunately the stress has killed.
IN SHORT YOU CAUGHT IT, YOU BOUGHT IT if you cannot revive a fish and it is legal to remove the fish.
Unfortunately under some circumstances leaving a dead fish is mandated by law, a current environmental policy that perhaps needs a more careful re-examination and perhaps some constructive changes. Like a sensible but expensive single steelhead tagging system for those places like the Bulkley and others where unfortunately many fish wind up dead from "sport fishing"
The recommendation here is if you kill a fish then you will have used up your one annual location specific tag and you must stop angling at that location and take your catch.
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2.
Eastern Bass, Perch, Carp, Pike, Green or Yellow and Walleyed Pike are another matter all together, they should garner absolutely no respect at least in this province and should be quickly and cleanly removed in unlimited numbers if caught in places that have been illegally stocked. Then removed from any and all aquatic environment and composted.
The shame here is that there is no effective and easy way to report this to local COs any longer and the number of hoops one must jump through before even getting someone who knows anything on the phone is ridiculous. So this is a huge political issue and needs to stay on the front burner at all times as it is at the core of the worst crimes being committed against our shared fisheries. AND THOSE IN POWER SHOULD BE DEEMED COMPLICIT, EVEN IF ONLY THROUGH NEGLECT! BOTH PROVINCIALLY AND FEDERALLY
Another one post wonder as much is discussed and concluded here, AT LEAST I HOPE SO. These truly are my views your mileage may vary.
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