Fish handling and mortality. A review of the studies. Wet hands myth-busting.

[PennKev]

I always read these "killing fish by mishandling" threads and I mostly agree. I do handle with care. But, I always wonder if it's so easy to kill a trout why don't we see 10s of dead fish floating around and scattered on the stream beds? You'd think it would be carpeted with dead fish.

Predators/scavengers are very effective at cleaning up dead or dying critters. A slow trickle of dying fish would go unnoticed. It's why you don't see dozens of fish dead on stocked streams that get way too warm in the summer. A fish could die and be dragged off into the woods by a racoon or picked up by a bird before the following day. No one is ever going to see that dead fish. If that happens everyday for a year, you've really put a hurting on a fish population. Fortunately, I don't think the problem is that extreme because for most of the year water conditions make for very high survival rates. And, as I've already said, for the most part, not too many people are fishing most streams in the worst part of the year.

BTW, I have definitely seen dead fish on heavily fished streams. I can't remember the last time I found a dead trout on a stream with light fishing pressure.

 

[goose54cdd]

Predators/scavengers are very effective at cleaning up dead or dying critters. A slow trickle of dying fish would go unnoticed. It's why you don't see dozens of fish dead on stocked streams that get way too warm in the summer. A fish could die and be dragged off into the woods by a racoon or picked up by a bird before the following day. No one is ever going to see that dead fish. If that happens everyday for a year, you've really put a hurting on a fish population. Fortunately, I don't think the problem is that extreme because for most of the year water conditions make for very high survival rates. And, as I've already said, for the most part, not too many people are fishing most streams in the worst part of the year.

BTW, I have definitely seen dead fish on heavily fished streams. I can't remember the last time I found a dead trout on a stream with light fishing pressure.

Good points. I never gave any thoughts to scavengers cleaning them up. I've also seen a dead trout or two maybe even one every other fishing trip.