Great Lakes Outdoors last nite

[hoffie1]

I caught a bit of great lakes outdoors last nite.They were fishing muskie on St. Clair.I've never fished for them but from reading some threads on here most people are pretty carefull with releaseing there catch.It seemed to me that the way they were releaseing the fish was a little rough.The caption gave them a pretty good toss.Is this the norm?

hoffie

[PencilPlugger]

No, it's not the norm! I was thinking the same thing when I saw that last night. We usually hold them at the side of the boat in the water until they are ready to swim away on their own. We've even circled around with a fully rigged boat (risking numerous tangles) in order to get back to a fish that is floating. I've heard of guys jumping in the water to try and help revive a fish before.

[scubajay]

I also saw the show and in my opinion the way that the charter boat captain threw those musky back into the lake was most egregious.

[Crusher]

I thought the same thing. Some of the fish accually float on
top of the water for a second or two before thay swam away.
I would think throwing them back like that would knock the
air out of them.

[ESOX]

I didnt see the episode, but when the water is warm the standard practice is to torpedo them straight down through the upper layer of hot water that has very low oxygen content, into the cooler water. Now if they were belly floping them off the boat, thats another issue.
Another thing that drives me nuts is the guys that dump fish headfirst out of the net onto the deck hoping to dislodge the lure without having to bother unhooking it. I cant even begin to imagine the delayed mortality that causes.

[FowlWeather]

No, they weren't being torpedo-ed to the depths. They were maliciously tossed ***-over-tea-kettle back into the drink. Big time belly floppers. I'm glad I'm not the only one who was concerned by his lack of respect for the fish.

[Rondevous]

What Charter was it?

[Steve]

Before anyone names a charter, I'm going to have to shut this guy down.