Fish Care and Handling

Fly fishing northern utah Stillwater rainbow trout

Fishing Rules

  1. single hook barbless or barb pinch down hooks only

  2. Use heavy tippet

    1. 1x-2x fluorocarbon tippet (9+ lb test) on the Saleratus Ponds

    2. Squaw ponds, you can go down to 3x tippet (7-8+ lb tippet)

    3. Streams you can go down to 4x-5x tippet if you prefer.

  3. Do not place a finger in the gills of the fish

Principles:

  1. Minimize air exposure

    1. As little as 10-20 seconds out of water can cause death to a fish.

  2. Eliminate contracts with dry surfaces

  3. Reduce handling time (once again, don’t remove fish from the water longer than 10 seconds)

    1. Keep the fish in the water as much as possible

  4. CLICK HERE TO READ ABOUT THE THE PRINCIPLES OF CATCH-AND-RELEASE FISHING

TIPS:

  1. Use barbless or barb pinch-down hooks

  2. Use rubber nets (not mesh nets)

  3. Carry a hook removal device or hemostats (that makes removing hooks so much easier)

  4. Limit fight time (fight the fish hard and fast. This is why we recommend heavy tippet)

  5. If the fish you caught isn’t one you plan on taking a picture of, don’t remove it from the water. Simply get the fish within reach, use a net if needed, remove the hook while the fish lay underwater on its side, and then set it free.

  6. Hold the fish in or over the water (don’t hold over dry land or over a boat)

    1. Do not drag the fish up onto the bank

  7. Grip the fish carefully

  8. Make sure the fish can swim off strong before letting go. You make have to take the time to revive the fish.

  9. CLICK HERE TO READ MORE ABOUT THE TIPS

FISH PHOTOGRAPHY BASICS

  1. Make sure the camera is ready to go, or the friend angler has his/her camera ready

  2.  “Three, two, one, lift, and click

    1. Have the fish in the water and hands gripping the fish correctly

    2. Once the person taking the video, do a countdown, lift the fish out of the water, and snap the picture. Then quickly return the fish to the water. The fish should only be out of the water for 1-2 seconds.

    3. If you need to retake the picture, place the fish back in the water for a breath and do the countdown again.

  3. Be mindful of the conditions.

    1. Is the water warm? Did you have to fight the fish extremely hard? Was the camera guy not ready or near you? Was the fish hooked deep, or did it take time to get the hook out?

    2. If conditions are not right know, there will always be another opportunity to capture a fish on camera.

    3. “Two of the biggest fish I have caught on the ranch I never got photos of. One was a giant male out of Cutthroat while I was fishing by myself (I know a true fly Fisherman’s story), and the other was a huge female on Brown in the inlet, and everyone else was having lunch and couldn’t see me. These fish became a great memory, and knowing they swam off healthy feels good.

  4. CLICK HERE TO READ MORE ABOUT FISH PHOTOGRAPHY BASICS

Proper Fish Handling Gallery

Here is a gallery of how to handle fish and take pictures. Some photos are taken of the fish while the fish is in the water. But in the ones where the fish is removed from the water, the water is dripping off the fish, indicating that the fisherman and camera guy follow the “three, two, one, lift, and click method.”

Video Gallery of best catch and release practices

This is the wrong way to handle and take care of fish.