Cliff notes version of release mortality.
1) If you want it to be ZERO... don't fish.
2) If you choose to fish, regardless of how you fish (bait/lure/fly)... single biggest way to reduce mortality is to keep the hook from ever being taken into the mouth.
3) Once you hook up, fight 'em as hard as the tackle can stand.... translation = quick is good, slow is bad
4) When releasing, no-touch technique is best, but sometimes you gotta touch 'em (net or hands) to get that hook out fast.
5) Watch the airtime (gills exposed to air), translation = short is good, long is bad. This applies to extracting the hook as well as photo-ops
Photo-ops are NOT the end of the world. J F C .... you just intentionally skewered the critter with a potentially lethal sharp pokey piece of metal and caused it to violently struggle for its life for the past 5 minutes. Any potential harm caused by the 10 second photo-op while it revives pales in comparison... like pissin in the ocean
The regulation pamphlet states “…all salmon to be released may not be totally removed from the water.” We witnessed numerous other boats releasing chinook w/o netting, handling, and camera ops. One time occurrence, no problem. Multiple fisheries (B10, Willapa, Grays Harbor) over numerous years=pattern of behavior. I don’t care if you have 500 yrs of experience, well maybe 500; how many pictures do you need? We were using braid and 20# leader that was plenty strong to land the coho and release the chinook as soon as we knew it was not a target species via a release stick or the leader popped. I think, in instances when said species are not available for retention, it is irresponsible fish handling and that it borders on illegal. Cliff notes Part II, its much faster and you can pad your numbers even more if you do it in a more responsible manner.
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