wetting your hands- fish slime.

kildare lad

I recently seen a picture of a bloke holding a salmon. Id say the fish tried to jump from his hands and he held it into his chest. You could see that the slime went on to his jacket. Underneath the picture loads of people were giving out, unfairly in my opinion , that fish is gonna die now because all his slime came off.

Now I know facebook gives air to every holier than thou angler, but Ive heard that u are meant to wet ur hands if you're releasing fish as it protects the fish from getting infection. But ive hardly ever done it. Ive had repeat captures of different pike that dont seem any worse for wear from handling with dry hands. If you look at matchmen, who catch hundreds of fish in a session, they never wet there hand once, and yet hundreds of fish dont turn up dead a few days later. Are some fish more susceptible to infection it than others??

jme2010

I've caught old banged up fish with a few scales missing and scratches etc. prob been caught and poorly handled many times. I would like to believe they are hardier than what you read but I still treat them as the saying goes with 'kid gloves'.

You're also supposed to have an unhooking mat for pike and get in to the fecking water with the fish instead of land it and offer it a debrief counseling session after release :rolleyes:

If these holier than thou people are anglers too then the best way to handle the fish is not to catch the bugger if they want to get into an argument on handling.

My #1 tactic for keeping the fish healthy is not letting them gut hook themselves. Tell the young lads to strike quickly etc....

twin_beacon

I always wet my hands before handling anything, means less slime on your hands after.

I have an unhooking mat for pike/carp/tench. Very few pike actually end up on the mat, as most jacks are unhooked in the water, and I only ever really use if it if I'm unhooking pike over rocky banks, or fishing stands.

Bogwoppit

Some species are definitely more susceptible than others.
Coarse fish are generally pretty hardy when it comes to handling, salmonids (especially salmon) are not so hardy. The temperature and time of year are big factors in this too.

Low water temperatures mean bacteria are slower to take advantage of damage. Fish are also less able to fight off infection post spawning.

Pike are a good example, people say they never see pike with handling damage, but most people only fish for pike in the colder months when a fish is less likely to get an infection, in the height of summer it's a different story and laying fish on gravel and sticking your fingers in their gills could easily kill them.

Salmon are highly susceptible to poor handling. Yes the fish may swim off and look none the worse for wear but the damage may have been done. Poor handling might only manifest itself at this time of the year when the immune system is compromised as it pumps energy into growing eggs or milt, this allows bacteria and fungus which might have been kept at bay to get a foothold and multiply, severely compromising the fish at best.

Remember, the environment fish are living in is very different to ours. We might think we are exposed to bacteria and diseases constantly but it is nothing compared to what a fish has to cope with, most water is a soup of bacteria and fungus spores just waiting for an opportunity.

kildare lad

twin_beacon wrote: »

I always wet my hands before handling anything, means less slime on your hands after.

I have an unhooking mat for pike/carp/tench. Very few pike actually end up on the mat, as most jacks are unhooked in the water, and I only ever really use if it if I'm unhooking pike over rocky banks, or fishing stands.

a dry unhooking mat will take of a lot of slime too

twin_beacon

kildare lad wrote: »

a dry unhooking mat will take of a lot of slime too

it will indeed, but the mat is always wet as I lift the net onto the mat.
Probably only 20% if my pike end up on the mat anyway, only if its worth taking a pic of or a deep hooking.