A Buchanan Brothers Productions March 2011A small collection from a recent trip to some of our favorite NSW Fly Fishing waters. enjoy!I know this is long winded, but I have taken on the board the feedback because like all of you, I do care about the health of the fish I catch. I have tried to keep this short.It is easy to make the comment that "not using a net is killing the fish". But on the surface, a comment like this is completely underestimating all the factors that play a role in fish mortality during and after catch and release fishing. While not using a net has been commonly cited as the major cause in post release mortality, from what I can see, most scientific reports that look at the mortality of released fish are interested in more than just the impact of net use on the fish.The reports that I have looked at considered the time taken to land the fish, hook shape, the presence of a hook barb, the depth of hooking, affects of net type, air exposure and water temperature. Also of interest was that most papers reported that fish mortality is experienced some hours after release, even when the fish appeared healthy at the time of release.From the factors mentioned above, a study published in the Fisheries Research Journal 2007, found that the greatest influence on fish mortality is the time the fish spends out of the water (air exposure). Another paper published by the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources 2005, cited that "there was zero mortality in fish that were landed without a net while fish that were landed with a net experienced a mortality rate of 4 to 14%". It also when on to state that "it is recommended that the use of landing nets be limited as it is thought to increase fin damage, and remove the protective mucus layer, thus increasing susceptibility to disease".However, with this being said, I will concede that the use of a landing net will reduce the stress to fish by cutting the time taken to bring the fish to hand, even if this has not been cited as a major cause of fish mortality.From personal experience fishing small streams, the fish we have released (without the use of a net and after some pretty long battles) have survived, as we often observe them on return trips.Because of the feedback on this video, and my recent research, I will be considering the use of a landing net in the future. But it will not be the first cheap net I find; it will be one of knotless rubber construction and will have a shallow, wide base. It is these nets that cause minimal damage to the fish.Thanks again for all your comments and making it this far through my long winded post.
