This scenario has been on my mind for a while, and forgive me if this has been discussed in previous posts. Here goes. Let's say you catch a native/wild brook trout in a plunge pool on a mountain stream, and by the time you release the fish, it is now in another section of the stream, unable to get back to the original section of the stream where it thrived and was in the pecking order. You now release it into another section/pool of the stream where it has to adapt and develop a new pecking order with new competition. Does that make any sense? Over the past few years, I have been trying to release the fish in the same area/pool/run where it was caught. Many times I can, but if it is going to injure the fish or me, for that matter, I do not. Obviously, after catching it and trying to release it in the same area, the chances of spooking more fish are high. Just curious if anyone has had this thought.
Catch and release on small mountain streams
- Thread starter dcoffey
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wildtrout2
Well-known member
I don't think releasing a trout to the exact spot it was caught is all that important. It'll find another good holding location where it will prosper. I do try to get them back to where it was caught it, but if I can't for some reason, it doesn't worry me.
TimMurphy
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Dear dcoffey,
It's an interesting question, but probably not worth stressing over.
Let's say you caught a fish today and released it unharmed in the vicinity of where it was hooked. Overnight, or maybe on Saturday a torrential thunderstorm hits the stream. Can you be certain the fish will be where you released it. What if a few trees get pushed over in the rise and fall of the stream.
Fish have been fish for millions of years. If you handle them carefully, I think it's reasonable to assume that they will return to being fish not long after they are released.
Regards,
Tim Murphy 🙂
It's an interesting question, but probably not worth stressing over.
Let's say you caught a fish today and released it unharmed in the vicinity of where it was hooked. Overnight, or maybe on Saturday a torrential thunderstorm hits the stream. Can you be certain the fish will be where you released it. What if a few trees get pushed over in the rise and fall of the stream.
Fish have been fish for millions of years. If you handle them carefully, I think it's reasonable to assume that they will return to being fish not long after they are released.
Regards,
Tim Murphy 🙂
5footfenwick
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If you really ever see the spawn in the fall, even once…. You never worry about trout again in low water. A 30 inch trout can easily maneuver through 1”of water. Heck 20 of them can at once. Brook trout often jump across dry land. They are crazy. I worry more about whether or not I have released a trout in a spot where he will have a hard time hiding from predators. I think this is more important than anything.
6xAdams(Jones)
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As long as you don't release your fish into a hot skillet, it should be fine.
dudemanspecial
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Ah, the duality of man. We spend our leisure time piercing hooks through a 6 inch fish's jaw to violently rip it from it's habitat, yet we fret over placing it gently back in the exact same spot it was comfortably lounging in before we inserted ourselves into it's life.
I think it would do everyone a little good to throw a couple in a frying pan every now and then. Get back to the roots of the sport, if you will.
I think it would do everyone a little good to throw a couple in a frying pan every now and then. Get back to the roots of the sport, if you will.
hooker-of-men
Well-known member
I'm assuming fish travel upstream in ways we vastly underestimate, such as rocketing up surprisingly high falls or moving through little hidden tunnels of moving water in the banks. I've certainly seen fish do the latter and blast through tiny bank holes that I never would have realized were there.
If that isn't the case, wouldn't high water events and general downstream movement mean that all fish would eventually be pushed downstream over time? Stretches above big plunges would eventually, given enough time, be barren?
If that isn't the case, wouldn't high water events and general downstream movement mean that all fish would eventually be pushed downstream over time? Stretches above big plunges would eventually, given enough time, be barren?
Shawn_H
Well-known member
I can’t imagine it matters. But I’m scratching my head a little on how this could even happen. The brook trout I catch in mountain streams don’t have me doing a Brad Pitt and ending up somewhere downstream?? 😂
CinnamonJoe
Well-known member
I look at it this way:
Seems like there is some body of evidence/experience that the natives (mtn brookies) are capable of moving around a stream from location to location; sometimes in reponse to local stress, like low water or warm water: trying to relocate to better digs, if and when they can. There may scientific tracking studies that may also shed further light on the facts.
Joe
Seems like there is some body of evidence/experience that the natives (mtn brookies) are capable of moving around a stream from location to location; sometimes in reponse to local stress, like low water or warm water: trying to relocate to better digs, if and when they can. There may scientific tracking studies that may also shed further light on the facts.
Joe
6xAdams(Jones)
Well-known member
Many decades ago, my dad and his friends carried a 6-inch cast iron skillet on every back-woods fishing trip.
6xAdams(Jones)
Well-known member
I expect we can all agree that fry and parr don't hang out in the same section from which they spawn for their entire lives. Hot weather will push them toward colder/oxygenated areas and spawning seasons will move them to their birthplaces. Many other factors will make them tail-down or swim up current. Trout - wild or stocked - move all the time.
I try to release them where I caught them, but if not, oh well. If I cared about it that much I wouldn't go hooking them in the face and pulling them from their shelter.
sarce
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I only worry about it on super steep streams where it is not easy for them to go from pool to pool. Especially if it is a large brookie, they tend to only get large by taking over a prime pool so I try to put them directly back in the spot they earned. On flatter streams I agree with most here that it does not matter.
wildtrout2
Well-known member
I agree completely. That was my exact mindset when I caught this big native. It was in this pool, one of the only deep pools in this immediate stretch of stream.
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Bamboozle
Well-known member
I have a little empathy for the fish...
I once got "picked up" as we called it back then for underage drinking in my buddy's car in front of a local movie theatre before a show.
The cops drove us to the PD station which was several miles away. When the processing was done, I was adamant they drive us back to the theatre to pick up the car so we could get home.
Good thing they obliged my request or I may have ended up spending the rest of my life in Ridley Township, Delaware County, PA. 😉
I once got "picked up" as we called it back then for underage drinking in my buddy's car in front of a local movie theatre before a show.
The cops drove us to the PD station which was several miles away. When the processing was done, I was adamant they drive us back to the theatre to pick up the car so we could get home.
Good thing they obliged my request or I may have ended up spending the rest of my life in Ridley Township, Delaware County, PA. 😉
