Alright, I told Aaron Adams that I’d make this week’s posts all about handling bonefish correctly… so… that’s what I’m going to do. Monday to Friday will be dedicated to showing fish being handled and released well.
As far as the catching part goes, just fish as heavy a tippet as you can and have enough drag to make progress in getting the fish in. Don’t overplay the fish… that’s a pretty easy concept.
In terms of the release portion of the issue goes you just have to be aware that every little bit longer you keep the fish out of the water increases the likelihood that it will get munched on when it is released. These aren’t trout. Just because it swims away doesn’t mean everything is OK. If it swims away, but is tired… well… the odds that a cuda or shark will eat it go up a fair bit.
Here’s Dr. Adams…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SfbGI3DuFrI
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Tags: Aaron Adams, Bonefish and Tarpon Trust, bonefishing, catch and release, Conservation, fly fishing, Pirates of the Flats
Thanks Bjorn. Such a simple concept yet there are some horrible videos of people over-handling bonefish for the sake of a video camera. One only needs to check out You-Tube to see
how NOT to do things. A few of them are posted by travel companies who should know better! Hoping that Dr. Adams also has a short video on the proper way to get a photo. Requires a bit more handling but
can be done quickly with minimal damage to the fish. Thanks for dealing with this topic. FD
Very, very sweet. That’s how you do it!