Well, I did send you a pm and would have told you privately.....and since you *said* you want to learn ....Here it is.
Look at your right hand placement in pictures 2 3 and 4 ( right behind the pectorals)....look at the amount of upward pressure you are applying (weight of the fish) to the heart area in addition to the swim bladder and other internals. With a fish this size you are actually better to have your hand closer to the mouth (under the gill area*but not inside*) since it has more muscle and bone and she cannot breath out of the water anyway.
The best way is what I call " The Wickstrom" for FS founder Karl Wickstrom who was commenting on FS T.V. on release technique ...and it is best is to not remove a large fish from the water...and I've been doing it that way for a while now and it is actually harder to do and I've had some "mishaps" learning the best way with broken leaders and hooks in my fingers (thank God for pinched down barbs).
As far as keeping a limit of slot fish...conservation (spawning potential) wise...a limit of slot trout removed is infinately better than one true big breeder since as a % few ever make that size...and a female of that size is definately over 8 years old (probaly 10 or more) and produces well in excess of 1 million eggs per cycle where a 4 year old female( 15 inches) only produces about 15,000 eggs.
Another thing to take into account is water temperature. A trout that fights hard will have a big Lactic acid build up that can be very detrimental...coupled with low disolved O2(warm water) and fish handling stress...It can have a fish swim off what you think is strong...only to succomb or be easy prey for a porpoise later.
So, taking into account the low number of trout that make that size and the spawning potential differences....keep small trout to eat and release the big girls boatside....if you want to see the best chance at abundant fisheries....and don't we all want that?
PS...yes, I know I wasted alot of time reading up on this subject.
Originally Posted by duckmanJR
Well, I did send you a pm and would have told you privately.....and since you *said* you want to learn ....Here it is.
Reply With Quote
. I have a question though, for you. I was under the impression that slot redfish and slot seatrout were sexually mature fish and that those fish are capable to breed. Also I have read before that fish years 2-4 are the most abundant and therefore the most productive group and account for over half of the eggs released. I agree that the bigger ones reproduce at an exponentially higher rate but shouldn't we just practice more conservation as a whole. I can see a huge rebound in the seatrout over the past 15 years and I for one would be for smaller limits and not keeping a fish over the slot.
