Killing little blackmouth

I'm not the most expert at fishing the Sound. I've got the gear, and we catch some fish, so I think I've got the basics figured out. However, when we fished yesterday, we were simply beset upon by small, 10 inch or so, blackmouth. We caught about 10 of them. Unfortunately, I think every one of them died.

We were using coyotes on some of the rods, herring on the others. The poor little guys would just impale themselves on the gear. Three of them hooked themselves through their back. Another lost his eye. A couple got hooked in the gills, and at least one simply got hooked and towed until we brought the gear up and let him off. He floated away.

All of the fish were too small to trip the gear and let us know they were there, so we found them when we checked the gear, which was pretty often, due to all the eel grass that was there.

I was using good sized hooks, 3/0 and 4/0, singles, de-barbed, etc. And still, I killed, accidently, 10 fish that won't grow up.

How can one avoid that?

SH for the most part those were hatchery fish from the blackmouth enhancement program. This time of year it's doubtful if any were wold river fish given the size. Yes thats part of the game for that fishery....single barbless siwashes kills them....guess what trebles wouldn't as nearly all would be hooked in the lip...but the purists won't buy that....not busting on you SH at all....just fact. One thing we all must acknowledge is that irregardless of how we fish and what we fish with we cause mortality.

Goose, I would have to dis-agree on the treble, from what I see and do everyday.
Almost everyone I know uses trebles here in Elliot Bay from the piers. The trebles do just as much damage, hooks through the head ,eye,back etc.... I say from what I experience and see single and treble do just as much damage on these little guys. I say that happens evenly out on the boats too. It is that time of the year hear in the bay , where they have just released 2 pens. Rivers are a little different since I don't use trebles on them.

Yeah Divers Buzz Bombs do that don't they...I was speaking to downrigging....sorry if I didn't make that clear.

Having caught and released somewhere in the neighbohood of 30 or so "shakers'" over the last two days, I can relate to this post. I have found it is neccesary to set the release very shallow if using DRs and the line as tight as possible so that it will trip the little guys and I can get them off quickly.

It is also a must that you watch your pole and lin closely for the slightest change in action. It may be weed, or it may be a shaker. Better to be safe and check it out , rather than kill the poor bastages.

No matter what gear I used, we still caught them. I am happy that most were hooked in the mouth, with very view impalements anywhere else............

I gotcha, Gooooooose, and I agree. Even catch and release impacts fish. I just try to do my part and minimise the impact. I suspect yesterday was just a particularly bad day. I'd sure rather catch those fish when they are 27 inches long...

Another option is to pull up and fish another spot.

Correct me if I am wrong here.... If the pen rised fish are held for 15 or so months, wouldn't they be more in the 18-20" range. When Blackmouth hit 2 1/2 years of age, they generally are right at the 22" MARK (4#).

One thing that might help out with the spoons... cut the ring off the back and replace it with a split ring and barrel swivel then put a siwash on. This will help reduce the leverage place on the spoon and hook.

I am assuming your fishing for Silvers.... might want to try targeting fish a little deeper as the little guys tend to hang in the upper 40' or so...

Downriggin'

Oops Downriggen my mistake....you're right those penraised fish are larger....teach me to read twice then post. The smaller ones based on what I see here on the canal are all hatchery smolts. They can be a pest when your even down at 90 feet....I keep a constant eye for that little odd bounce in the rod tip....get them up and released as soon as possible. We also get shots of sublegals 18 to 21 inchers at times that can be annoying but are always looked upon as an indication of the good times to come .

We hooked three the other day, mostly when slowing the boat down to play another fish. I don't think depth matters too much, but try increasing your troll speed and for sure really tighten your DR reel - get a good bow in the rod so you can see the slightest twitch or increase in tension from a small fish grabbing on. Hope it helps...

My point exactly Mike.

As far as depth goes, that is a crock. I have hit them down to 200'. I hit the majority this weekend down at 110-150'. That is where we were catching the Silvers too, which seems a bit odd..........

I will tolerate two or three of the little guys and then I'll leave the herring strips off, go to bigger lures or plugs and if that does'nt put an end to the small shaker problem I will move. I've found that just leaving the herring off is usually all I need.

Just a couple of thoughts on this one. I am no expert, but I have caught lots of shakers and read a bit on the topic and talked to some fish biologists about salmon and their lifecycle.

First of all, these 10" blackmouth shakers are about a year away from being legal fish. I'd rather kill a blackmouth when it was 8-10 lbs instead of 8-10 inches. Also, they are not all hatchery fish, there are many resident wild chinook in puget sound despite the claims of others. Wild chinook are killed as shakers by anglers with barbless hooks.

I think the key here is to minimize hooking mortality of the shakers. There are a number of problems, proper handling and release techniques would help a lot. Salmon shakers are much more fragile than freshwater trout of the same size.

However, I think the biggest problem is downriggers. It is hard to release a live shaker after its been dragged to death clipped to a downrigger. I mainly mooch or troll cutplugs with 4 oz or less sinker although I will fish downriggers occasionally. I would say over 90% of the shakers we catch are released live in good condition and will likely recover fully. This is because we imediately detect the bite when mooching and catch and release the shakers promptly. With a downrigger the fish may be dragged for a half hour or more before being released. This is obviously bad for the shaker.

To minimize downrigger/shaker problems, I would only troll big lures or lures without the trailer hook when fishing downriggers. Almost all the shakers I've seen caught come on the trailer hook. For spoons, especially the coyote, I think they are shaker slayers. If there are shakers around I won't fish them.

Those are the facts as I see them

I agree with Mike that if you check your gear regularly and keep better tension on your rod, the "dragging issue" with downriggers is minimized. I am going to lighter rods that allow for even better detection of small fish. I did get a couple of fish hooked in the back, don't know what you can do about that and I agree, it is a shame. Most of my shakers swim away.

Tightening the rod down helps. Another thing to consider is using the longer 5' downrigger clips. This lets the rod tip "shake" a little more to telegraph the shaker. Another thing is not to handle the fish. I never touch or net a fish I am releasing. I grab the hook and unhook them. The WDFW gives out dowels with a cup holder scewed in the end of it. You can slide it down the line and pull against it with the line in the other. It is easy to unhook them this way with barbless hooks. I also use a short gaff to slide down the line to release them also. i very rarely ever kill a shaker, but it does happen.

Fishinnut, you typed my post.

I definately concur that the key to detecting shakers is a long lanyard on the DR clip - much more important than the rod.

And of course the proper use of a release stick is critical.

Key word.. "tend." I catch shakers at all depths however, I am trying to stress "minimizing" the constant catching if you target Silvers at little deeper than normal.

Downriggin'