Welcome everyone to our fish handling guide! Knowing the right ways to handle fish, whether you’re an experienced angler or a beginner, is crucial for maintaining aquatic ecosystems and the sustainability of one of our favourite activities. This blog will discuss safe handling practices, equipment and methods to reduce fish damage, and some techniques to make sure the fish we catch and release have the best chance of surviving.

Let’s start with the equipment that will do the least amount of harm to a fish when caught. Firstly hooks, if you want to make sure that the risk of injury to fish is minimal, circle hooks are the ones for the job. They are designed to hook the fish in the corner of the mouth, which can reduce the likelihood of deep hooking and internal injuries. Barbless hooks or filing the barb on your hook is also another way to help the fish not get injured since the hook will be much easier to remove once the fish is caught. The last consideration should be to use non stainless steel hooks. Stainless steel hooks can take longer to dissolve in the water if accidentally left in the fish, causing more harm if the fish swallows it. Finally making sure you have the appropriate rod and line so that your equipment will not break when reeling in the fish. In our case the biggest fish we catch are pike so we recommend a 6.5-7 inch medium to heavy action rod, 30lb line and a steel leader.

Having the knowledge how to handle the fish is just as important as having the proper equipment to catch them, especially when taking a picture. The most important thing to do is to make sure the fish is in the water as much as possible! When picking up the fish make sure that your hands or gloves are wet, hold the fish with one hand behind the gill and the other hand under the belly, providing support along the length of the fish’s body. Make sure that the fish is held horizontally not vertically to avoid bending its jaw or spine at an unnatural angle and possibly damaging their internal organs. 

Unhooking a fish is the hardest part of the release process, that is why filing the hook is useful as mentioned above. When trying to get the hook out, using pliers is very helpful. It protects you from the fish’s teeth if they have any and it gives you more control than using your hands. If the hook is swallowed deep by the fish instead of attempting to remove it you should cut the line. If you are choosing to release some fish and keep others you should keep the ones that have swallowed a hook or are gill hooked since that fish will be more prone to infection or death after being released.

In the worst case scenario and the fish is dying there are some techniques to revive the fish. If there is a current, hold the fish in the water facing the current, if there is no current move the fish forward and back until gill movements are normal and it is able to maintain its balance, lastly hold the fish under the water until it starts to swim away.

We have been strong advocates for conservation for over 30 years. Our fisheries thrive because of this and also because of proper fish handling. Keep in mind while on your trip, if you want to have your master angler fish featured, be sure to hold the fish properly; held horizontally with no fish grips 🙂