Do you feel it is fair to stress C&R fish more than need be, by setting up a photograph with fishing tackle?

Its probably a lot fairer than banging the fish on the head and bringing it home

I agree with that I'd sooner see them returned, but I also beleive ASAP. Quite a lot of water in South of England are insisting you don't even handle the fish if possable and use a release tool.And there is also concern over pike on a fly, with too light tackle too many are going belly up afterwards. It nice to have a photo, but we must not loose sight of the fishes welfare don't you think?

Hi Sweaty.

I for one agree with you on this, that is why i purchased the stress free fishing companion off ebay. It is a set of 6 wooden fish, from 8oz up to 2lb, on one side is painted a brown trout and the other is a bow.

You catch a fish (barbless hooks) and as you are playing it you determine, species and approx weight, you then try and shake said fish loose, when the fish has been safely released,you then pull from your bag the wooden fish closest to your prediction, lay it on the floor, making sure you have the right species facing up and take your photo. Job done and the real fish does not know that he has been pulled out the water, and had his photo taken.

Now then my kit cost £12.32 (8oz-2lb) but you can get the Delux set with wooden fish up to 8lb but that is £19.47, and i know for a fact that a lot of people on hear have the Delux model, but they are good anglers, or they are telling fib's.

Hope this helps all the best T.K................

Can I go one further. A guide i know in NZ (David Murray Or www.mataura.co.nz/) Snaps the hooks off the flys so he doesn't have to play the fish. His buzz is stalking them and getting the rise.

WoW that is the coolest way to fish C&R without the C.....

Is that him on the web page with the Trout, nice fish

I think fish are a lot hardier than we give them credit for, they dont just shrivel up and die as soon as they are pulled out of water.

Good photo's can be taken without taking the p*ss provided you plan it well and don't mess about- if the fish aint cooperating don't push it, if you use a net you can always hold it for a couple of minutes.

Yep that's him, obviously he wasn't using one when he caught that. But he hates playing fish, it's all about stalking... that's NZ waters for you!

Some fish have to be held in the stream after a hard fight,a lot of fish that are just unhooked and left to there own turn belly up, ive seen it quite a lot on stillwaters people poking them with their net to get them to swim away,as someone has already said they are probably hardier than you think just watch salmon bouncing of rocks when trying to go over falls

Actually I believe it is the inability of many anglers to play fish that causes most of the stress and exhaustion. Farmoor 1 contains a lot of well above average sized rainbows, and I have often seen anglers playing these fish with their rod tips barely bent. They take ages while the fish does pretty much what it wants and will only bring the fish in to the net when it rolls onto its side totally played out. These are the fish most likely to die. They swim off sluggishly and disappear into deep water from which they are unlikely to return.

Why anglers take so long to land fish I do not know. It could be inexperience, but is most likely to be fear. Fear that by putting on plenty of strain the leader will break - it won't if you've used a reasonable brand and it is up to the task. Fear that the hook will pull out - it might, but playing the fish for a long time isn't going to lessen that risk. Fear that the rod will break - it won't. Even cheap carbon rods can take a whole lot of bend without breakage.

If you're going to take photos then I agree with others that the process needs to be planned and set up in advance. It's no good fumbling around in your bag for your camera while the fish flaps about on the bank. Get it all set up first, then catch your fish, take your hero shots and get the fish back in a whole lot less than two minutes. Of course, you're going to feel a bit of a plonker setting up your camera ready for that ten pound fish and all you can catch is a half pound scrote, but that's the risk you take!