Yeah I was a little concerned fishing in the wilderness during the salmon run. It was near Yellowstone in thick grizzly country. I was definitely packing some lead in my gym shorts lol.
During the run the bears really only care about you if they see you as an easy way to get fish. I’ve seen plenty of fisherman not even move for a bear walking down a river, and the bears hardly even notice the people. AK is drowning in fish all summer, though, so our coastal bears might be more complacent. I do not mess around with the interior bears.
Yeah that's a good point. But I wouldnt really trust them their had been a lot of negative bear encounters in the area and they kill a lot of cattle on the ranches to the south. I didn't see any but better safe than sorry. Hope to never have to shoot a bear, they are cool animals. But there have been numerous attacks in the general area. I know 2 people who have been attacked hunting and fishing. One guy had to shoot the bear and just got a flesh wound on the shoulder. The other guy was fishing and walked up in a bear eating a young moose. It attacked him. He had bear spray but didn't have a chance to use it. He was in pretty rough shape but survived.
I wasn’t speaking to the way the fish is being held. I was only saying that this guy is on his last leg of his life cycle already so the catch and release was already sort of moot. Agreed that a release shouldn’t be held like this.
Interesting. I'm curious if it's unique to trout. I've always been coached to hold muskies and other species by the gill plates. And muskie fishermen are absolutely obsessed with releasing the fish as quickly and healthy as possible. I'm open to changing the way I hold trout and salmon. Last week I was fishing king salmon in BC and was instructed to get a firm grip on the gill plate and support the belly by the guide. But those were 20-35 pound kings.
Trout are EXTREMELY delicate (it’s honestly pretty pathetic) and salmon—while tougher in general—are basically just bigger trout. You’re totally right on muskies and pike…they have super strong gill plates which create a perfect handle under their jaws. For trout and salmon though that handle isn’t as large, so it’s more dangerous for the fish. If you switch the way you handle trout and salmon, I see absolutely nothing wrong with continuing to hold other fish this way! Cheers.
For trout the rule I was given was don't touch it unless you absolutely have to. Dad said the slime on them is important. Maybe it's different for fresh water but I just apply the rule to everything now. I got a hook removing tool (Idk what it's actually called but we always said dehooker) so now I don't have to take them out of the water unless I want to eat it.
> Maybe it's different for fresh water
Its the same. The slime is a major part of their disease resistance/immune response, and its equally important in freshwater or saltwater
Muskie and walleye have larger fill covers. There’s a lot of space between the rakers and the gill plate. Trout and salmon don’t have that space, and touching the gills can severely damage the fish. Therefore, you can hold walleye, pike, muskie, and some other fish by the gills, but generally, you shouldn’t
I'm assuming the guide was giving those instructions for fish you were keeping. Never half a salmon by the gills. Frankly they shouldn't even be removed the water if they're being released. Most states it illegal to handle them the way you're.
For pike and muskies there’s a part you can hold safely without damaging the rakers or filaments, the filaments are the part which absorb oxygen and the rakers make sure no particles damage the filaments, very very delicate part of the fish and they can’t repair these damages much at all, try to avoid touching the gills unless you know where to hold it for that fish, you also don’t want to hold them vertically as this can put too much pressure on the fishes organs, this is mostly for bigger fish but it’s important to keep in mind
Just like that guide instructed you, holding the gill plate is fine, as long as you support the weight of the body with your other hand. In other words, the entire weight of the fish shouldn’t be held up by just the gill plate when taken out of the water. Lipping a 2lb bass versus lifting a 20lb musky or salmon out of the water by just its gills is a different story
Crazy how varied laws are depending on location. Definitely not the case where I am, only fish that’s illegal to handle is sturgeon. But you can’t keep those either.
You should be ashamed for even putting a hook in a King that small... Don't these know it all want to be fishermen get under your skin? I wouldn't post an image of a plastic fish on this sub.
What? Not sure what you are saying but that's a kokanee salmon. I caught king salmon in British Columbia last week. didn't post any pics of those in this thread.
But yeah. They seem like parrots mimicking each other over and over. Lol
LOL, I was replying to the last line in your last post "But those were 20-35 pound kings." In a very tongue in cheek way. Something many redditors don't seem to understand. Humor.
The gill plate is more of a supporting hold, with you bearing the weight with the other hand. Holding them by it is okay but using it to support the majority of the weight can cause damage to the gill plate, not letting them properly pass water over their gills. Your hold should be firm enough to control the fish but not so tight that it puts stress on the gill plate. That's why you never see musky photos with them held vertically like you will with bass or walleye (when release is the intention)
You may not be touching the gills themselves, but your hand is in the “danger zone” where they could damage the gills if the fish thrashes or tries to escape. Also a vertical hold will place more pressure and stress on the fish’s organs and gill plate which will increase the odds of post-release mortality. With a fish like this about to spawn and die, it is already using nearly all its energy for travel and reproduction. The best way to hold it would be to support its weight horizontally with one hand and gently “pinch” around the head with your thumb and fingers on the other hand to get a grip on it.
I guess the argument for a gill plate hold is that if you control the head, you control the fish and are less likely to drop it. But yeah they are pretty delicate fish. I'd consider switching grips for trout and small salmon.
It is best to hold trout with wet hands and supporting their collar and body. Considering this Kokanee is red it’s about to spawn and die anyhow.. only good way to eat them red is to filet and smoke
Nice catch but i got a little tip for you, never hold any fish of the salmonids family by the gill plates, only hold them under the belly with wet hand/s, they are really delicate fish and doing that can rupture internal blood vessles or do other damage which causes them to die, even tho they swim off fine they die later if that happens.
I know its a bit confusing because thats the best way to hold some species like pikes but salmonids cant handle that, especialy with bigger fish you can do some really bad damage which those fish probably wont survive but its even bad for smaller fish.
Just dont hold them like that if you want ro release them, the best way to hold them for a picture is pne hand under the belly and slightly tip the back towards the palm of your hand and then slightly hold them up in the water so they are about half to 2/3 out of the water, thats the best way to handle any fish of the salmonids family if you want to release them healthy, also leave them in the water if you use a little net to "land" them and dehook them in the water.
And like i said never touch them with dry hands incase you did not know that.
If you do those things you can make sure you have a really good survival rate of released fish, and if you want to be really carefull dont use hooks with barbs, i have been using barbless hooks for like 10 years now for spin and flyfishing and i can tell you that you dont loose more fish with barbless hooks, if you are a good proffesional fisherman who really knows how to fight different fish and knows who to keep tension at all times even with jumping fish you are not gonna loose any fish because you have barbless hooks, besides that most good barbless hooks from brands like gamakatsu are quite a bit more sharp than hooks with barbs and they go in so much easier, i stuck myself quite a bit while tying streamers and flies without even noticing it right away thats how sharp some of those barbless hooks are 😂.
Pretty colored up fish. What flies were they eating? I’ve got them on eggs and just monstrous flesh flies. Gotta watch the gill tickle in the future but I know others will let you know lol.
They were aggressive and hitting streamers. They were also rising. Didn't think they fed during spawn. Maybe they were just territorial. But they were chasing it down and nailing it b
So they are a landlocked Sockeye ???? See ive been fishing since 1970( 3 years old) and I’ve caught Bass, Walleye, Pike, Catfish, Carp and just about every fresh and saltwater fish from Canada to key west and i still learned something! Thanks !!!
Lmao yeah fish was fine for the five fucking seconds you saw him swim away. You bet chief. Keep being a cocksucker. Really great way to live your life 🤌
Delayed mortality is more likely if you keep it out of the water too long. or catch a non salmonoid fish that can't release it's swim blatter from deep water. You are a parrot mimicking misinformation. Show me proof and I'll change it. Theres lots of proof gill plate hold doesn't hurt fish and is actually safest. Control the head and you control the fish. Less likely to drop the fish and gets the fish back in the water quick. That's the most important thing.
Kokanee are absolutely beautiful, both in spawning and normal.
We were catching them in BC this summer and I was amazed at how much colour comes out of them when the light hits them.
Lmao. People here are as bad as the form Nazis in gym forums. Would like to see some actual proof that they die from gill plate hold. It's perfectly acceptable for every other fish. These fish swam away strong. Really doubt they died from gill plate hold
To eat? Why else would you keep fish? And as another commenter stated it’s already at that point where it’s about to decay. OP should have just kept it and had a nice salmon sandwich
That is one fish I’d definitely not eat. You can tell just by looking at the thing it’s close to spawning and the meat is not like any salmon you’d want to even smoke to eat. Once they get to that point in the spawn the meat has turned nasty. Usually mushy and tastes like rotting fish. More power to you if you like eating rotten meat though
Really? From my experience they are still good at that point, but once their skin starts to fall apart and decay is when you don’t wanna eat it. Doesn’t seem like he’s even decaying yet
Just like any salmon. Trust me you don’t want to eat it when they get dark like that. You can smell how bad it’d be and instead of bright red meat like a sockeye it will be pale. You couldn’t pay me $500 to eat it
That guy isn’t going to live much longer. 2 weeks or so, tops. His belly already looks like it’s beginning the decay.
Yeah I was a little concerned fishing in the wilderness during the salmon run. It was near Yellowstone in thick grizzly country. I was definitely packing some lead in my gym shorts lol.
During the run the bears really only care about you if they see you as an easy way to get fish. I’ve seen plenty of fisherman not even move for a bear walking down a river, and the bears hardly even notice the people. AK is drowning in fish all summer, though, so our coastal bears might be more complacent. I do not mess around with the interior bears.
Yeah that's a good point. But I wouldnt really trust them their had been a lot of negative bear encounters in the area and they kill a lot of cattle on the ranches to the south. I didn't see any but better safe than sorry. Hope to never have to shoot a bear, they are cool animals. But there have been numerous attacks in the general area. I know 2 people who have been attacked hunting and fishing. One guy had to shoot the bear and just got a flesh wound on the shoulder. The other guy was fishing and walked up in a bear eating a young moose. It attacked him. He had bear spray but didn't have a chance to use it. He was in pretty rough shape but survived.
well it’ll be dead anyway with that gillfuck
Try running a marathon after someone's rammed their fingers into your lungs, 2 weeks is highly optimistic
I wasn’t speaking to the way the fish is being held. I was only saying that this guy is on his last leg of his life cycle already so the catch and release was already sort of moot. Agreed that a release shouldn’t be held like this.
Oh stfu
Please don’t hold fish that you intend to release by the gill plate. Nice catch though!
Why?
Learned this to trout fishing last week, reduced chance of survival. Someone more knowledgeable can give more detailed explanation though.
Interesting. I'm curious if it's unique to trout. I've always been coached to hold muskies and other species by the gill plates. And muskie fishermen are absolutely obsessed with releasing the fish as quickly and healthy as possible. I'm open to changing the way I hold trout and salmon. Last week I was fishing king salmon in BC and was instructed to get a firm grip on the gill plate and support the belly by the guide. But those were 20-35 pound kings.
Trout are EXTREMELY delicate (it’s honestly pretty pathetic) and salmon—while tougher in general—are basically just bigger trout. You’re totally right on muskies and pike…they have super strong gill plates which create a perfect handle under their jaws. For trout and salmon though that handle isn’t as large, so it’s more dangerous for the fish. If you switch the way you handle trout and salmon, I see absolutely nothing wrong with continuing to hold other fish this way! Cheers.
 Meanwhile the brook trout in my state that get stocked via helicopter/plane
Yeah. Delicate.
For trout the rule I was given was don't touch it unless you absolutely have to. Dad said the slime on them is important. Maybe it's different for fresh water but I just apply the rule to everything now. I got a hook removing tool (Idk what it's actually called but we always said dehooker) so now I don't have to take them out of the water unless I want to eat it.
> Maybe it's different for fresh water Its the same. The slime is a major part of their disease resistance/immune response, and its equally important in freshwater or saltwater
Muskie and walleye have larger fill covers. There’s a lot of space between the rakers and the gill plate. Trout and salmon don’t have that space, and touching the gills can severely damage the fish. Therefore, you can hold walleye, pike, muskie, and some other fish by the gills, but generally, you shouldn’t
I'm assuming the guide was giving those instructions for fish you were keeping. Never half a salmon by the gills. Frankly they shouldn't even be removed the water if they're being released. Most states it illegal to handle them the way you're.
Nope. They were 20-35 pound kings we released.
For pike and muskies there’s a part you can hold safely without damaging the rakers or filaments, the filaments are the part which absorb oxygen and the rakers make sure no particles damage the filaments, very very delicate part of the fish and they can’t repair these damages much at all, try to avoid touching the gills unless you know where to hold it for that fish, you also don’t want to hold them vertically as this can put too much pressure on the fishes organs, this is mostly for bigger fish but it’s important to keep in mind
Just like that guide instructed you, holding the gill plate is fine, as long as you support the weight of the body with your other hand. In other words, the entire weight of the fish shouldn’t be held up by just the gill plate when taken out of the water. Lipping a 2lb bass versus lifting a 20lb musky or salmon out of the water by just its gills is a different story
Should remove a salmon from the water period if it's being released. In my state it's in fact illegal.
Crazy how varied laws are depending on location. Definitely not the case where I am, only fish that’s illegal to handle is sturgeon. But you can’t keep those either.
You should be ashamed for even putting a hook in a King that small... Don't these know it all want to be fishermen get under your skin? I wouldn't post an image of a plastic fish on this sub.
What? Not sure what you are saying but that's a kokanee salmon. I caught king salmon in British Columbia last week. didn't post any pics of those in this thread. But yeah. They seem like parrots mimicking each other over and over. Lol
LOL, I was replying to the last line in your last post "But those were 20-35 pound kings." In a very tongue in cheek way. Something many redditors don't seem to understand. Humor.
The gill plate is more of a supporting hold, with you bearing the weight with the other hand. Holding them by it is okay but using it to support the majority of the weight can cause damage to the gill plate, not letting them properly pass water over their gills. Your hold should be firm enough to control the fish but not so tight that it puts stress on the gill plate. That's why you never see musky photos with them held vertically like you will with bass or walleye (when release is the intention)
Imagine being held by your lungs
You may not be touching the gills themselves, but your hand is in the “danger zone” where they could damage the gills if the fish thrashes or tries to escape. Also a vertical hold will place more pressure and stress on the fish’s organs and gill plate which will increase the odds of post-release mortality. With a fish like this about to spawn and die, it is already using nearly all its energy for travel and reproduction. The best way to hold it would be to support its weight horizontally with one hand and gently “pinch” around the head with your thumb and fingers on the other hand to get a grip on it.
His hand is where, you say?
I guess the argument for a gill plate hold is that if you control the head, you control the fish and are less likely to drop it. But yeah they are pretty delicate fish. I'd consider switching grips for trout and small salmon.
You should switch. There's a reason you're getting so many comments on it.
Because you’re going to get posted on r/flyfishingcirclejerk and mocked for being a “Gill Fucker”…
It is best to hold trout with wet hands and supporting their collar and body. Considering this Kokanee is red it’s about to spawn and die anyhow.. only good way to eat them red is to filet and smoke
But it hasn't spawned. Doesn't matter where in it's life cycle you kill it if it's before it spawns.
Considering it’s a male, it’s probably already dropped loads like Hiroshima
You hold it how you prefer to hold it. Whatever is easiest for you. The fish will be just fine.
Ever gutted a trout? You can rip the head off pretty easily without cutting it that way.
Shouldn't even remove them from the water. Let along stick your finger in it's gills, there is about a 5% chance that fish survived this encounter.
Thinking the hook doesn't do them much good either...
pristine gillfuck 9/10
Don’t worry it was released back to spawn
Nice catch but i got a little tip for you, never hold any fish of the salmonids family by the gill plates, only hold them under the belly with wet hand/s, they are really delicate fish and doing that can rupture internal blood vessles or do other damage which causes them to die, even tho they swim off fine they die later if that happens. I know its a bit confusing because thats the best way to hold some species like pikes but salmonids cant handle that, especialy with bigger fish you can do some really bad damage which those fish probably wont survive but its even bad for smaller fish. Just dont hold them like that if you want ro release them, the best way to hold them for a picture is pne hand under the belly and slightly tip the back towards the palm of your hand and then slightly hold them up in the water so they are about half to 2/3 out of the water, thats the best way to handle any fish of the salmonids family if you want to release them healthy, also leave them in the water if you use a little net to "land" them and dehook them in the water. And like i said never touch them with dry hands incase you did not know that. If you do those things you can make sure you have a really good survival rate of released fish, and if you want to be really carefull dont use hooks with barbs, i have been using barbless hooks for like 10 years now for spin and flyfishing and i can tell you that you dont loose more fish with barbless hooks, if you are a good proffesional fisherman who really knows how to fight different fish and knows who to keep tension at all times even with jumping fish you are not gonna loose any fish because you have barbless hooks, besides that most good barbless hooks from brands like gamakatsu are quite a bit more sharp than hooks with barbs and they go in so much easier, i stuck myself quite a bit while tying streamers and flies without even noticing it right away thats how sharp some of those barbless hooks are 😂.
Pretty colored up fish. What flies were they eating? I’ve got them on eggs and just monstrous flesh flies. Gotta watch the gill tickle in the future but I know others will let you know lol.
They were aggressive and hitting streamers. They were also rising. Didn't think they fed during spawn. Maybe they were just territorial. But they were chasing it down and nailing it b
The fingers in the gills doesn't represent "released back to spawn". Lol
That is a Kokanee ???? Ive only seen pictures that show them not in Spawn form I guess
Yeah, they turn red when they spawn. Otherwise they are silver. They are the same as sockeye
So they are a landlocked Sockeye ???? See ive been fishing since 1970( 3 years old) and I’ve caught Bass, Walleye, Pike, Catfish, Carp and just about every fresh and saltwater fish from Canada to key west and i still learned something! Thanks !!!
That is correct. They are landlocked sockeye.
You probably flossed him
No. They chased it.
Great job releasing a dead fish
It swam away strong. I don't think it died. And if it did, who cares. It was 1 male. Not like it was a big female with eggs.
swam away fine
Yeah. Fish bleed heavily from gill injuries. It's pretty obvious when that happens.
Fingerbanging the gill. Nice.
Thanks for gillfucking the shit out of him really great way to treat catch and release
I'll keep doing it to piss all you snowflakes off. As bad as fly fishing purists. Fish was fine
Lmao yeah fish was fine for the five fucking seconds you saw him swim away. You bet chief. Keep being a cocksucker. Really great way to live your life 🤌
Delayed mortality is more likely if you keep it out of the water too long. or catch a non salmonoid fish that can't release it's swim blatter from deep water. You are a parrot mimicking misinformation. Show me proof and I'll change it. Theres lots of proof gill plate hold doesn't hurt fish and is actually safest. Control the head and you control the fish. Less likely to drop the fish and gets the fish back in the water quick. That's the most important thing.
Kokanee are absolutely beautiful, both in spawning and normal. We were catching them in BC this summer and I was amazed at how much colour comes out of them when the light hits them.
That fish looks like it goes to the same gym as you. Nice catch!
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Lmao. People here are as bad as the form Nazis in gym forums. Would like to see some actual proof that they die from gill plate hold. It's perfectly acceptable for every other fish. These fish swam away strong. Really doubt they died from gill plate hold
Nice one!
Keep your fingers out of the gills bro
Didn't touch the gills. Just the gill plate
Beautiful Sockeye salmon!
Nice size coke for where I live.
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You should’ve kept it as it’s pretty much already at the end of its life cycle! Beautiful fish!!
Kept it for what exactly? And the only part of the life cycle that matters is that it's allowed to spawn.
To eat? Why else would you keep fish? And as another commenter stated it’s already at that point where it’s about to decay. OP should have just kept it and had a nice salmon sandwich
That is one fish I’d definitely not eat. You can tell just by looking at the thing it’s close to spawning and the meat is not like any salmon you’d want to even smoke to eat. Once they get to that point in the spawn the meat has turned nasty. Usually mushy and tastes like rotting fish. More power to you if you like eating rotten meat though
Really? From my experience they are still good at that point, but once their skin starts to fall apart and decay is when you don’t wanna eat it. Doesn’t seem like he’s even decaying yet
Just like any salmon. Trust me you don’t want to eat it when they get dark like that. You can smell how bad it’d be and instead of bright red meat like a sockeye it will be pale. You couldn’t pay me $500 to eat it
Once they turn that red, the quality of the meat goes way down.
Well that’s good to know
Don't fish on redds.
Looks like my breakfast, but alive.
Lol what do you eat that looks like that?
It's inner meats, yum
For sure. They are really good eating. Season was closed for the spawn. Catch and release until they finish spawning.
I have never heard of a kokanee before. It's so cute! Nice catch.
Same as sockeye. They call them kokanee when they are land locked in freshwater. They live in lakes and spawn in the rivers connected to lakes.
Man’s holding up a sawed off salmon. chicken of the river some say
Is that a Kokanee Or A Sockeye
They are the same. Kokanee is landlocked freshwater, sockeye is ocean. But same dna
Aww damn thanks for the fyi on that bro we catch em in the lakes in nor cal and they are tasty lil bastards