Lifting fish by the gill plate
Submitted by Alan James on Fri, 2014-05-30 10:50
This seems to be an accepted practice by many of us with the understanding that as long as you don't get your hands close to the gills themselves it is OK. This practice has been questioned on another website and comments made that marine biologists are united that any hands (wet, dry or covered in a wet rag) inside the gill plate will damage the gills.
After a short search of the web I have been unable to find any conclusive evidence, either pro or anti from any creditable authority with respect to this practice. Any marine biologists or others out there that would care to comment.
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Paul H
Posts: 2104
Date Joined: 18/01/07
No marine biologist but I
No marine biologist but I would hazard a guess that it would be quite possible lifting the full weight of a fish by the gill covers would possibly tear or damage part of the gill organ inside so would be best not to do this if destined for release.
Boga grips (or hand/fingers) in the jaw and supporting the belly with other hand for larger fish would be best or ideally a good net (for the landing part).
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crasny1
Posts: 7006
Date Joined: 16/10/08
And some fish will give your
And some fish will give your fingers a workout getting that in the gill plates. Bloody Estuary Cod comes to ming with their rough as guts outer gills.
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bitten
Posts: 803
Date Joined: 07/04/10
you dont know about the cod
you dont know about the cod handle then :P
K1W1
Posts: 28
Date Joined: 16/09/12
I am a marine biologist.do it
I am a marine biologist.
do it if you are going to kill the fish anyway.
dont do it if you intend to release it.
DTrain
Posts: 486
Date Joined: 10/02/12
I'm not a marine biologist so
I'm not a marine biologist so can't comment on the long term survivability or anything like that.
But if your going to release a fish, then don't gaff it, don't pick it up by it's gill plates and don't pick it up using it's eye sockets. Lip grips and a hand underneath, or two hands underneath if you don't have lip grips. (Gloved hands are even better).
If your going to eat the fish, then do what you want.
mr_meks
Posts: 189
Date Joined: 11/02/11
With the gloves, if youre
With the gloves, if youre really want to give them the best chance make sure the gloves are smooth and wet. The more slime and scales you remove from the fish the more chance it's going to get an infection and be in trouble later on. We were always told, no gloves and wet hands.
Ben85
Posts: 442
Date Joined: 20/11/11
my 2cents- at the very least
my 2cents- at the very least make sure hands are wet or use a wet rag to handle fish. dryhand/rags ect do more damage by removing protective layer of "slime" from the fish.
Also don't have them sitting on the deck of the boat in the sun for 5 mins while frigging around.
surely picking a fish up by the gills can't be good for it. imagine if someone picked you up by the neck, cant see how its any different??
if you're going to eat it, then don't see any problem either way, always good to dispatch a fish as quickly as possible.
Rob H
Posts: 5818
Date Joined: 18/01/12
my take
I try to handle fish properly also for release, but to be honest I have seen many pelagics (tuna and mainly swords) that have survived healed and prospered with the most horrific scars.
One in particular was a sword that had the back part of its stomach cavity bitten out including butthole and had grown back with butt at 45 deg out the side and completely healed.
Also on several occasions blue sharks with a snapped off sword completely impaled and mostly healed in place.
Fish have incredible power to heal, though I agree that is different to an infection they may not be immune to
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Redfinman
Posts: 80
Date Joined: 18/10/09
My method for catch and
My method for catch and release is to the wet hands, hold the fish upside down, de-hook the fish,turn the fish up the into the normal swimming position, take a photo and then carefully release by immersing the fish in water and supporting the body weight until the fish has revived from the trauma - you will see/feel the body kick.
Make sure there are no predators waiting for a free feed
unless you are going to eat the fish then kill in a humane way and place on ice ASAP