For the past 167 hours we have not been able to find fish #23. This was a fish that inhaled a Curly Sue and was bleeding a little. It hung around for about 30-45 mins before heading to deeper water where we tracked it in 15' at the 1-hour mark. After that, she vanished.
Today, however, we heard her again. Our transmitters cannot be heard if a fish is swimming in water 30'+ deep. She was in about 28' of water today!
So, despite being hooked badly and even bleeding a bit... fish #23 is still alive.
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GREAT news - if I have been following along correctly, that means ALL of the fish are still swimming strong. Perhaps this C&R thing deserves MORE credit for the health of the fishery than we had hoped for! EXCELLENT!
ReplyDeleteYes, so far all fish caught and released are alive and swimming.
ReplyDeleteHow do you know the depth? Have you got pressure sensitive tags? And are you taking temp measurements when you find the fish? Pretty cool that ALL of the fish have survived (so far)--speaks volumes for using proper handling and release techniques
ReplyDeleteWe're using a sonar (basic Eagle "Cuda 168"), and yes we're taking temp measurements. However, even if we're in 55' of water and the fish is only down 2' we still won't be able to hear it. Pressure sensitive tags or tags that simply record depth would be useful to see where in the water column they are... But more on that (hopefully) in the future :)
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