Proper catch-and-release fishing is a process that maximizes the odds of a fish’s survival. It’s a course of action that begins before you even hook a fish and ends when you watch it swim strongly away.

HOOKING CONSIDERATIONS

How a fish is hooked has a considerable influence in the C&R process, both in how much damage the fish sustains, and the ease in which it can be unhooked – less time out of the water.

You can decrease fish’s injury with multi-hook lures (single hooks as well) by squeezing down the barbs with pliers. If you maintain constant pressure when playing a fish your numbers of lost ones won’t dramatically go up – after all the “bump” at the pinched-down barb is still present. But it will be much easier to back the hooks out of a fish without tearing it up.

Single hooks aren’t completely fish safe. Deep-hooked fish are relatively common when using live bait and as well as certain soft plastics like Senko-style sinking worms. Presentations that benefit from a degree of slack like, such as soft jerkbaits, can result in deeply hooked fish. The same can be said on the Ned Rig (a short worm profile fished on a leadhead jig) when using exceptionally light jigs. All are reasons to mash down the barb of single hooks as well, so deeply hooked fish can be unhooked with the least amount of damage.

PLAYING THE FISH

Angler-caught fish perish from a variety of factors. A gill-hooked fish pumping blood is an apparent reason. Many are not so obvious, often the result of a combination of stresses that add up to a dead fish. Over-playing them is one of them, particularly during times of high water temperatures like we’ve recently had.

During their exertion lactic acid builds up in fish’s muscular system, an overload of which is difficult to recover from. The stresses are amplified when the water is warm. Fish fight harder when the water is warm; and the water contains less dissolved oxygen.

The answer to this is simple: don’t under gun yourself. Use equipment that allows you to get the fish to the boat or shore in reasonable time without exhausting the fish.

In the case of temperature sensitive fish like trout or muskies, don’t fish for them when the water temperature soars. Even a quickly landed fish might be unreleasable under such circumstances.

HANDLING AND RELEASING

The first step in the handling process is how to land it. Do you net it, hand land it, or swing it aboard? Maybe keep it in the water for unhooking? The right answer considers not only the health of the fish, but the safety of the angler, too. The objective is to quickly unhook the fish without dropping it in the boat or on the bank and doing it without ending up being hooked yourself.

When using multi-hooked lures for species like bass and walleyes it’s wise to net all but dink-sized fish, which can safely be swung aboard while controlling both the fish and the lure. Hand-landing a decent-sized bass with a mouth full of hooks is asking for an unhappy ending. The recent trend of swinging fish into the boat, and then letting them flop around on the deck, is disturbing, one that’s commonly shown on YouTube videos by skilled anglers, ones you would expect to show a higher degree of respect for the fish they pursue.

Landing nets featuring rubber bags -- while not eliminating the fish and/or lure entanglement problem -- greatly reduce it. Even if the lure becomes intertwined you can nearly always reach in with pliers or hook removers to free the fish, dealing with lure-in-net issues after fish is back in the water.

Bass – both largemouth and smallmouth – can be held vertically by gripping the mouth – thumb on the tongue, forefinger on the outside of the lower jaw. It’s a good handle for securing a bass while you unhook it.

Walleyes – especially smaller ones -- can be cradled under the belly. Walleyes can also be held by sliding the forefinger inside the lower edge of a gill flap. Use your right hand for the fish’s right gill flap, left and for left gill flap. Putting outward pressure on the flap to open it a bit, slide the finger inside the flap, then in toward the mouth, making sure you don’t grab the actual gill. Use your thumb to pinch the fish secure from the outside.

Gut-hooked fish (single hook) -- bass in particular since they have larger mouths -- can often be successfully unhooked by using a release tool like the Baker Hook-Out Mini T. Put slight pressure on the line to expose the hook shank, grip the hook shank with the tool, slide the tip of the hook as far toward the hook bend as possible, and then simply twist your wrist. Nine out of ten times, the hook pops free without causing apparent tissue damage. If the hook is stubborn, or if treble hooks are involved, cut the hook with side-cutters, leaving as little in the fish as possible.

Finally, when releasing a fish that’s been exposed to a decent amount of stress, give it a hand, literally. Cradling it in your hands, lower it into the water, holding it upright. If you’re in flowing water point it upstream and allow the water to flow through its mouth and gills. In a lake, ever-so-gently move it back and forth, flushing water through its gills. It’ll tell you when it’s time to let go, often with a wave of the tail that washes your face.

Jeff Knapp is an outdoors columnist for the Butler Eagle