gills accentually give the fish a big breath of oxygen and a good chance of survival. Circle hooks maybe you should use them if your re not already. I know that it is not always possible but when possible put them in use. The circle hook is designed to add in effective catch and release. These hooks are used with live or natural baits, and because of their design are much more likely to hook a fish in the lip rather than the esophagus. I am sure you can see how this will help you to better CPR your catch, by decreasing de-hooking time and minimizing the chance that you might need to leave the hook to rust away. That bring us to leaving the hook, if the fish is gut hooked it would be a good idea to cut the line as close to the fish as possible. By trying to remove the hook we are causing damage to the fish that is gut hooked, but if we leave the hook there is a better chance that the fish will be ok in time. Of course we need to make sure we are use the right hook for this to work best. Steel and or bronze hooks work best for this by rusting and deteriorating faster than stainless steel, cadmium, or nickel plated hooks.
Remember this when you hook your fish they are fighting for their life. I am sure you have all heard the “Tug is the Drug”, and that is true; for the fisherman, but the exact opposite for the fish. Working in emergency medicine for years now I have learned a few things about the human body but I have never translated it to the fish. After putting this article together I now see that there is a lot of similarities that can translate to the death of the fish just like us. Stress is a big facture in the overall survival of your catch. The quicker you land the fish the less time there is for them to build unsafe levels of adrenaline and muscle lactic acids. This can lead to increase stresses and elevated heart rates which can lead to heart attack just like we can have and we all know this can lead to death. So yes the fight is fun, for us but it is life threating for the fish, tight the drag and land it sooner for a better chance to have a successful CPR session with your catch.
Finally true fish CPR; if the fish does not immediately swim away or seem s lethargic you may need to perform resuscitation. If you catch seem to be lethargic you will need to make sure you place it in the water between your legs in front of you with the head of the fish point toward you. Now start kicking to help water move through its gills. (Note: never move a fish back and forth in the water, this will not let water move over there gill properly.) After a short time you should have a pretty health and active fish ready to be release. So there is so much more that we could talk about in proper Catch, Photo and Release techniques. There are many different tools that you can use to help properly release your catch, so we will try to tackle the tools of the trade in another article. For now please make sure you are doing your best to help and promote CPR when you are fishing. It can mean the difference between fish and no fish in the future.
By JBernier
Home of the Premier Swimbait
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