Properly handling a fish for release means keeping it in the water as much as possible, supporting it gently by its natural handle, and never squeezing, dropping, or over-handling it. In this How 2 Tuesday I answer an Instagram question about fish-handling and lay out the principles that protect fish you plan to release. The whole point of catch and release is a healthy fishery, so I cover which fish you can hold by the mouth or tail, why you should never stick fingers in the gills or squeeze a fish, how to get a great photo with the fish still dripping, and why the best handling of all is no handling at all.
Listen now: press play in the player above and follow along.
Keep it in the water as much as possible, fight it to the boat quickly, and support it by its natural handle without squeezing. Lift it just above the surface for a fast photo, dripping water, then put it right back. Do not drop it on the deck, do not put fingers in the gills, and once you have your pictures, release the rest untouched by sliding your hand down the leader and shaking out the fly. Quick fights and minimal handling give the fish the best chance.
For a fish you intend to release, yes, if you touch the gills. On larger fish like a barracuda you can slip a finger or two just inside the gill plate without touching the gills to control the fish, but going further damages the gills and can also get your finger bitten off on toothy species. For most release fish, skip the gills entirely and use the mouth or tail handle instead, depending on the species.
Match the hold to the species. You can grip a tarpon, redfish, or snook by the mouth, but never a mackerel, jack crevalle, or barracuda, because of their teeth. Many fish have a firm tail handle above a boomerang tail, like a permit, mackerel, or wahoo. A cobia sits calmly supported in a landing net. For small fish like bonefish, baby tarpon, and mackerel, cradle them gently under the belly rather than squeezing.
Because time out of the water and rough handling are what kill released fish. The best photos have the fish held just above the surface, even partly in the water, dripping wet, which both protects the fish and looks better. Keeping it in or near the water also means that if it kicks free, it lands back in the water like a jump rather than slamming onto the deck, which is often the most damaging thing that can happen.
Once you have the photos you need, leave the fish in the water, slide your hand down the leader with your pliers or hemostats, grab the fly, and shake it out so the fish is never touched by human hands. That is the best possible handling. It is even better if you fought the fish quickly, because a fast fight plus a no-touch release leaves the fish far less stressed and far more likely to swim off healthy.
Squeezing can crush internal organs and break ribs, you can literally see it when an inexperienced angler grips so hard the fish's eyes bulge. Dropping a fish onto the hard deck of a boat can injure it badly, often the most damage it takes all day. Cradle, do not squeeze, and hold the fish low over the water so any escape ends in a harmless splash rather than a fall onto the deck.
There is a safe hold for every fish, but it is not the same hold for all of them. I run through mouth holds, tail handles, and the net trick for cobia, and which fish will bite you if you try the wrong one, in the episode, so press play in the player above.
Keeping a fish in or just above the water protects it and produces better photos, with water dripping off a fish that never gets slammed on the deck. I explain why a dropped fish takes the worst damage of the day in the episode, so press play in the player above.
The single best thing you can do for fish you catch in numbers is to stop touching them, sliding down the leader and shaking out the fly after a quick fight. I make the case for fast fights and no-touch releases in the episode, so press play in the player above.
Catch and release only works if the fish actually survives. Keep them wet, cradle instead of squeeze, never drop them, and let most of them go untouched, and you give every fish the best chance to swim off and keep the fishery healthy.
How 2 Tuesday is my weekly series where I break down one fishing skill at a time, from knots and casting to gear, tactics, and the habits that make you a better angler. Watch and listen to every How 2 Tuesday episode from Tom Rowland.
fish handling · catch and release · bonefish · tarpon · permit · redfish · barracuda · cobia · fish photography · conservation · How 2 Tuesday · Saltwater Experience
I'm Tom Rowland, a professional fishing guide based in the Florida Keys, host of the Tom Rowland Podcast, and the longtime host of the Saltwater Experience television show. On the podcast's How 2 Tuesday series I break down one practical skill or lesson at a time, from fishing technique and gear to the habits that make you a better angler, in short, focused episodes you can put to use right away.
Tom Rowland Podcast — Episode 47: How to Properly Handle a Fish for Catch and Release
In this episode: why fingers in the gill plate kill fish, the boomerang tail handle on a permit, why a cobia rides best in the net, how squeezing makes the eyes bulge out, the best pictures keep the fish just above the water, rolling a bonefish into a catatonic state, shaking the fly out without ever touching the fish — in the exact words spoken.
Tom Rowland: Welcome to how to Tuesday.
Got a message on Instagram this week saying, pretty simply, sounded like the guy was a little bit upset.
He said, hey.
How about doing a doing a, a how to Tuesday on proper fish handling techniques?
I'm tired of seeing all these fish getting getting manhandled on Instagram.
Okay.
Tom Rowland: So first of all, if, if you're gonna kill the fish, I don't really care how you handle it.
And so a lot of the pictures that you're seeing on Instagram, people do have their hands in the in the gills, but the fish is, you know, it's dinner.
So, I'm not concerned about that.
Proper fish handling techniques are very important for fish that you intend to release.
There are certain fish that are way more, hardy, way more durable than others, and some that you have to be very, very careful of, and some that you can, you know, they they can handle a little more, but not a lot.
Tom Rowland: So the whole idea behind catch and release, obviously, is that we're gonna catch the fish.
We're gonna let it go.
It's gonna go back living its life.
It's gonna spawn.
It's gonna create more fish.
It's gonna have, it's gonna contribute to a healthy, fishery.
That's the idea.
So you don't wanna do yourself a disservice by catching the fish, handling it improperly, and not doing that.
You're not really practicing catch and release if you're handling the fish in a way that you're killing it.
Right?
You might as well just throw it in the cooler.
So I think that there there is certainly a place for keeping fish within the limit, within the law.
Keep fish.
It's great.
We're fishermen.
We love to eat fish.
I certainly do, and there's certainly nothing wrong with that.
But then there are other species that we really try to release, and in order to do that, there are a couple of things that we can go over, in an audio fashion that may help you to to handle these fish better.
Tom Rowland: So first, one of the things that that I see a lot of times, is is people sticking their their hands, fingers up in the gills of the fish.
K?
So first of all, I wanna make sure that everyone is aware that I know that some fish can be handled that way.
Larger fish, you can easily get a finger, a couple of fingers inside the gill plate without ever touching the gills.
K.
Good.
I handle fish like that, like a barracuda.
That is one of the safer ways to handle a barracuda.
You just slip a a finger or two inside the gill plate, but not touching the gills and certainly not further in because he will bite your finger off.
K.
So there's a very, fine line.
Don't wanna stick it in there too far.
You get your finger bit off.
You don't wanna stick it in there, even a little further than that, because you will damage the fish's gills.
That's not what we're trying to do.
We're going to release the fish.
But if they're hooked in a certain way, sometimes it's necessary to handle them in that way.
So, for most fish for most let's just say this.
Tom Rowland: Every fish that we fish for has a way that it can be held that is safe for the angler and safe for the fish.
Not all of them are the same.
So for example, you can grab a tarpon in the mouth and hold on to it and have control over that fish, but you don't want to do the same thing with a mackerel or a, a Jack Crevelle or, a barracuda.
Why?
Because they're they're have a mouth that's full of teeth.
Obviously, they're gonna bite your finger off.
So you can handle some fish by grabbing them in the mouth, like a redfish, snook, a tarpon, other fish.
You definitely do not want to do that.
Some fish have a wonderful handle on their tail, a permit, a mackerel, a wahoo.
You can grab their tails very easily.
They have a boomerang tail, and there is a great handle right there above the tail where you can grab it and have complete control over that fish.
You use that when possible.
Other fish have kind of a a softer tail and will not really there's not a handle.
You can still grab them there.
Tom Rowland: Other fish traditionally are, gaffed like a cobia, but that particular fish, sits very well in a landing net.
A cobia of any size, if you net them and you, allow the net the netting of the fish to support their weight, they will sit motionless in that net, catatonic state.
If you pick them up and put them down on the deck with the net still around them, they will go crazy.
So it's it's my experience that if the cobia is still kind of has that net, all around them and is being supported by the net, they will lay still.
On smaller fish, like bonefish, permit, baby tarpon, things like that, mackerels.
Tom Rowland: One of the things that people that are inexperienced with with, handling fish do is just squeeze the dog crap out of them.
And they're afraid that the fish is gonna flop out of their hands, and so they are really squeezing.
So they may have their tail in one hand, and they may be squeezing like, I don't know, like a hand gripper with their other hand.
And it makes for a terrible picture because the fish's eyes are bulging out.
And anybody that knows anything about fishing knows that that fish is now probably dead.
I mean, you could be I've seen them I've seen people squeeze, rainbow trout so tight that I'm sure that they're breaking the ribs.
That's not good.
That's not what we want to do.
There's no need really to pick the fish up and have them over the top of the boat and take a picture of them like that.
Tom Rowland: The best pictures that you're gonna have are with the fish held slightly above the water.
Like, some of the fish still in the water, and you just pick it up just enough so that you you can get a picture.
And if the water's dripping off of it, even better.
Right?
You're handling this fish with care.
You have the handle, like the tail.
That would be where you would grasp the firmest.
Under the pectoral fins in the belly, you're just going to cradle it with your hand.
You're not gonna squeeze it.
You don't even need your thumb around the top of the fish.
You just want this thing to be sitting in your hand.
And you know what?
Some of them are gonna get away.
Okay?
Get away before before you take the picture.
That's fine.
Tom Rowland: But But in the case of, let's say, like a like a freshwater trout, you net that fish, which I'm an advocate of netting the fish because I believe that it cuts down the fighting time so much that the that the net, the damage that the net might do is not as bad as somebody fighting a trout, for a real extended period of time.
So, the guide nets the fish or you net the fish While you're getting the camera ready and everything else, the fish is just swimming in the net or or stationary in the net.
You get everything ready.
You turn towards the camera.
You reach down, grab the tail, and just cradle the fish underneath the belly.
You lift it up for a quick picture, and you put it right down, back in the net.
And then you take the fish to a place where the current isn't too swift, and it can have a nice little cushion to where it can catch its breath and take off.
Tom Rowland: That is not unlike the way to get a good bonefish picture.
You catch a bonefish, and let's just say you're waiting, and you get this bonefish to come into you.
If you turn a bonefish upside down, they go into kind of a relaxed catatonic state.
They just sit there, and, you can get everything ready.
Keep the fish in the water.
You can gently roll them over.
When you do, often, they kick, but you can gently roll them over and lift that bonefish partially out of the water.
Some of the best pictures I've ever seen, the whole fish isn't even out of the water.
Most of the tails in the water, you just lift this fish up.
There's water dripping off of it.
You get a great picture of this bonefish, and you've done no damage to it.
You're not squeezing it, you know, have your fingers in the gills.
You're you're you're just cradling it momentarily.
And you know what?
That's great for the first five or six that you catch.
Tom Rowland: And then, I don't know if you noticed this, but when you go back, and you're showing all your friends all these fish that you've caught, and you can tell the difference between one that's an inch bigger and the other one that's an an inch smaller, but they can't.
They all look the same.
Maybe it's your wife.
She's like, oh, yeah.
You caught that one a lot of lot of times.
Right?
The point is you don't need a picture of every single fish.
You need a picture.
Get get the picture.
Take the time.
Get out of the boat.
Take the picture.
Let the fish go, and then here's how you handle the fish the best way.
When you're when you're catching a lot of fish, you've gotten the pictures that you need.
Tom Rowland: The fish comes in.
Let's just say it's a bonefish or a redfish or something where you can catch a number of them on some of these trips.
The fish comes in.
You never touch it.
You just slide your hand down the leader with your hemostats or your pliers or whatever.
You grasp the fly, and you just shake it out, and the fish is never touched by human hands.
That's the best way to handle them.
That is absolutely the best way.
The only way you can make that better is if you fought that fish very quickly to you.
And that way, you're not stressing this fish out.
It's like, you know, run a 100 yard dash and, have somebody take a hook out of you and let you go, or run three marathons and then get picked up, slammed down in the bottom of the boat, and, and then let go.
See who see who feels better.
Right?
They might make it, but the purpose of catch and release is to take care of the fish, make sure that they're getting back out there, and, handling them properly.
Tom Rowland: So proper handling, you know, it's it's way too much to go over in a in a short how to podcast that is gonna be, you know, ten to twenty minutes.
This takes a long time to fully understand how to handle each fish.
But the most important things are to remember, keep the fish in the water as much as possible.
Fight them to the boat as quickly as possible.
Minimize any unnecessary handling.
Keep them out of the water as little as possible.
Get your picture.
Put them back in the water.
Do not drop them in the boat if if at all possible.
K?
That is that that could be the most damage that they take is when you're holding them up for a picture and it kicks out of your hands and drops them onto the deck of the boat.
That's why another reason why I think that the in the water stuff is better.
If a fish, you know, falls from a foot and a half, you know, baby tarpon, which you're not supposed to take out of the water anyway, but let's just say you do, and it kicks out of your hand, and it's a foot above the water, and it lands in the water, that's just like it just jumped.
Right?
That's not gonna hurt it.
Like, falling and landing on the deck of the boat would hurt it.
So minimize the handling.
Try not to drop them.
And, once you get enough pictures, then let the rest go without any pictures.
Just reach down, take the fly out, and and off you go.
And this will ensure that, you know, the fish that you're intending to let go, give them the best chance that you possibly can.
That's my 2¢ on this.
I'm sure that many people have lots to say about it, and I welcome it.
So let's have a discussion about proper fish handling techniques.
I I think this deserves way more than this small little podcast today.
But just wanted to remind you and just wanted to address that question.
Proper handling techniques.
Keep your hands out of the gills.
No squeezing.
No dropping.
Keep the fish in the water as much as possible, and let them go as quickly as possible.
Alright.
How to Tuesday.
I hope you guys get out there, catch a lot of fish, and let them go safe and healthy.
See you.
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