Thanks, Steve. That's the second piece of encouraging -- if counter-intuitive -- news on C&R mortality that I've read lately.

STS's Feb-Mar edition mentions a study done fish mortality using barbed vs. barbless hooks. This study compared the results of 11 other studies (on trout, not steelhead or salmon) and concluded that barbed flies and lures combined killed 4.5% of the fish hooked vs. 4.2% for barbless hooks. The authors concluded that this difference was so slight as to be meaningless for practical purposes (mentioning a natural mortality rate of 30-65% p.a. in trout streams in any event). Their conclusion was that barbless vs. barbed hook usage was more a social than a practical issue -- a nice way of saying that the fish preservationists should find another issue to worry about.

Is anyone aware of rigorous studies done on fish handling (dry vs. wet hands/ gloves and slime removal) and survival? I've recently heard from a fishing buddy (w/o details) of a study that purported to show no difference in mortality in trout when they were handled w/ dry vs. wet hands provided that they weren't out of the water for more than 10-15 seconds before going back. I'd be interested in reading more about this topic, esp. as it applies to steelhead/ salmon.