[Chris Scoones]

Active day seeing bows, cutts, a nice sized brookie and what looked like a bull. Odd, only used to see cutts in this section. No complaints though of course. ~Chris

http://www.washingtonflyfishing.com/images/visitorpics/chris_sf1.jpg

 

[Dblhaul]

Chris,
Nice fish !!

Z

 

[Twilightman]

Nice dead, or soon to be dead, fish.

 

[Old Man]

What do I know---I'm just an old man

If you got that out in front of your house I'll be there in a heart beat. Nice sized fish for the forks. Wish it was me instead of you.
:THUMBSUP

Jim

 

[Chris Scoones]

Actually he's just fine. Thanks for your input, I guess.

 

[XstreamAngler]

Purty darn good fish for that water my man! Did ya really need to use an 8 wt though? HA! HA! Let's see more! :THUMBSUP :THUMBSUP

 

[troutman101]

I hope it tasted good!

Cone headed bunny leech?

 

[Chris Scoones]

Released him, always do. The water was clear and I was able to watch him for a bit. He was doing as well as any other fish I've release.

Forgot the net :AA , was having a challenge controlling him so I swung him onto shore. Sucks, but in that situation a fisheries biologist friend told me about some research that found the loss of fish slim wasn't as much an impact to survivability as too tight of a grip.

Ok, with the exception of comments like Twilightman's, what's your take on it. If you do have some background on fish survivability following handling I'd like to here it.

 

[DEREK]

As I posted recently I had a fish I was keeping in an aquariam that jumped out and lost ALL of his "slime" and survived. It has always been my hunch that it is not as critical as people have made it out to be.

I am no biologist, but I was under the impression that it's main function is preventing parasites and disease. It is certainly the case that removing the slime makes them more vulnurable to disease, and that this would have a long term effect on the fish - not something you would see in a half hour of watching.

While not something desirable, chances are it's not going to kill the fish.

That said, I NEVER take any pictures like the one you had because to many people would flick me crap about it when I used to. :BIGSMILE

 

[Brad Niemeyer]

Nice fish!
Well framed and composed photo...

Photography is an art... :THUMBSUP

 

[hikepat]

Nice fish. I feel that a fish can be kept out of the water long enough to photo as long as it is not a very small fish. Was on Goose lake on Mt Adams a week ago with its very clear water and I saw 4 dead fish. One had been stuck into the weeds on a strong fishing line and died. 2 had taken the bait deep and had been released and the other one I could not get to. I have found I do not have to touch most fish to take photos of them. I myself pick up the fish using the hook and set it down sometimes on a wet towel. This works without having to ever touch the fish so that it does not lose any slim or get held to hard. If the fish is really big or in current I do use a net. The only trouble is sometimes they get off the hook and flip back into the lake before I get the photo. Had it happen last Friday on my first Whitefish I have ever caught while fishing Bumping lake. I was hopping to get a photo of it because I like having a photo of each type of fish I have caught on a fly. I fished every day for the past two weeks all over Western Washinton and I would guess that not a single one of the fish I caught were killed even the ones I took photos of. I did keep all fish in the water until the camera was out and ready and lucky for me the spashing has not seemed to hurt the camera yet. Most of the fish I have handled this way swim away like they had never left the water. I feel but have no proof that the things that kill the fish are as follows. Keeping it out of the water to long, grabbing the fish to hard, trying to remove a hook taken deep, eye or gill hooked fish, pulling small fish out of the water at all ie trout under 8", releasing a fish in fast moving water. and of course cleaning and cooking it up. I maybe forgetting something on this list. One thing I have been told is to not touch the gills becase that is the weakest part of the fish for fungus to grow and kill it when the protective slim is removed. Well for what its worth that my take on it.

 

[flogger]

Hey Hikepat!

Welcome back! Where did you go? It sounded like you were gonna head for the OP. Did you do any fishing on the Skokomish? How was it (if you were there). I stopped by there a couple of weeks ago. Went up riverside towards the forks, not the ocean. Stopped at Browns creek but didn't have a bite, even nymphying. Tells us where you ended up visiting!


Tight lines!..........flogger

 

[DEREK]

I agree, a nice picture. Well framed and composed. Must be a custom built rod?

I have been leaving the fish in the water and throwing my rod in with it. The difference is slight, and sometimes the fish is uncooparative, but it can make for some nice pictures and I recieve no complaints :BIGSMILE