Just an idea but do you think mobile camera phones have had a huge impact on catch & release these days?

Going by the amount of photographs now on the forums and websites etc a lot more fish have lived to fight another day thanks to mobile phone cameras.

They have taken away the need to kill fish to prove to others your skills as a fisherman.

Weather permiting i am going Pollock fishing on Sunday and the skipper on the boat tells me that it is catch & release, who would ever believe that sea fishing would be catch & Release?

Times are changing and possibly modern technology has helped play a part.

Sorry if this subject has been posted before.

dont know if its cameras ,i think its more due to the fact that people are realising that if we dont look after what we have now it wont be here at all soon ....

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WHEN YOU LEAVE THE RIVER, TAKE NOTHING, AND LEAVE ONLY FOOTPRINT'S!!!

THA CAN TELL A YORKSHIREMAN ,BUT THA CAN'T TELL HIM MUCH !!

A bit of both, and you are better with a nice curry than grilled rainbow trout.

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It is in truth not glory,nor riches, nor honours that we are fighting,but for freedom - for that alone, which no honest man gives up but with his life.(Declaration of Arbroath, 1320)

A few years ago i was fishing the Drum Dalswinton when an angler had got a really good peg and was rattling out the Fish.
his mate was at the other end of the loch when i saw him on the phone then noticed his mate walk up, where he let him in, he then did the same with his father, so know one else got on, and the manager was away for the day,
So mobiles are not always a positive thing.

I think you will find that sort of guy fishing was never going to let you in to the good spot, mobile phone or not.

I am sure that mobiles have resulted in many fish being released.

Regarding releasing a pollack or whatever pulled up from 80 feet down, well i don't expect that many would actually survive.. considering their swim bladder is bloated..

I have read that if you pop it with a knife they can survive, but i'd doubt it somehow..
So what is the point in releasing fish that will die.. That is simply waste, with the fish dying for no reason.. sorry for going off the point....

Cheers
JJ

Aye yer right.

For me C&R is now the only way. The sea trout in our rivers are still dwindling and I fear the day none will be left. It's strange but years ago I used to take fish, but to see first hand their demise year on year made me rethink my whole outlook on fishing. What was my goal, what was it that kept me fishing for so many years?

An epiphany? I don't think so, just first hand experience and the fear of losing what is ultimately my goal, the chance to fish for sea trout.

Whenever I fish now it is always with a camera in my bag. It has even spread to reservoir fishing for rainbows, I just can't see any justification for taking a fish. My own personal opinion of course and I'm not going to preach C&R to everyone I see, but if mobile phones help towards c&r (and provided they are on silent!) then I'm all for them.

20 Feet of water actualy but i agree with what you said.
I hate the thought of a fish or any other animal being wasted and i dont mean drunk...
If you kill it you should eat it.

I also dont like to see the deep sea trawlers pulling there nets in and throwing most of it back over the side to the guls.
Pointless!

Im all for catch and release,but can I put this forward to you as far as taking pictures of fish caught and returned.
After the fish has been hooked,played and then landed,then hook removed and held and a picture taken and then returned while we smile for the camera.How long has it been out of the water and knackered befor eit goes back?Surely the art of catch and release should see it done while in the water,results of all the handling by some ,not all,are plain to see and some fish can handle well and some not as well as others.
Just an observation and an opinion.

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Kevin