01/15/2026
This week's tip is an important one!
Properly handling big fish! There's a few ways you can do this, over the years this one seems to work the best and the tiny dunk helps these fish regain orientation and swim away healthy! Again this isnt the only way, its one we like to use! While not every fish needs to be photographed or weighed if you do catch the "big one" and want a photo theses steps below will help ensure proper fish handling and that someone else can enjoy catching that fish too! The video shows a quick way to support and protect the fish, how to weigh in the net, and proper release. Below I will go a bit more in detail.
1. Unhook the fish and let them recover in your net. Make sure you have a deep net so the fish can freely breath and recover. Some of these fish can be 30+ years old so like us, after we run around we need to catch our breath! I usually let them recover for 1 to 2 minutes depending on how warm the water is...warmer the water shorter the whole process needs to be. Usually I quit fishing for big fish once water temps reach 68 to 70 degrees.
2. While the fish is recovering, gather your phone or camera, scale etc so its all readily available and easy to access once you grab the fish. Also if you can have yhe person holding the fish have a seat if they are inexperienced at holding a larger fish. This helps in controlling the fish and if it does fall its not falling at a greater height (accidents happen).
3. Grab the net, weigh the fish in the net, subtract the net after.. if youre going to gwt a measurement make sure the area on your boat floor is already wet and not hot, lay the fish down get a quick measurement. My boat has a built in fish scale for measurement thanks to AquaTraction Of Utah . Supporting the fish by placing a hand under the belly just behind the head and the other hand by the tail lif the fish making sure it is properly supported while keeping the hand by the head semi flat under the belly and avoiding the gill area, lift the fish you may notice some croaking or weird noises, this is air coming out, nothing to worry about.
4. Get a few quick photos and also a video...most phones you can do a video and take photos at the same time or simply get a video and take screenshots from the video, try to avoid hugging the fish as it can remove some of the fish's protective coating or slime. While still supporting under the front belly and the rear of the fish (either tail or under the rear belly) bring the fish to the side of the boat and gently release head first into the water. If youre on the ice or exposed to extreme cold this can also damage the fish's eyes and skin by laying directly on the ice or having them exposed to negative temperatures just like our skin. Good rule of thumb if you are taking one of these bigger fish out of the water is only have it out as long as you could hold your breath after running 100 yards.
I hope this helps some folks on holding bigger fish, they are an amazing resource we get to enjoy and many have been caught by multiple anglers over the years which is pretty cool! This isnt the only way to do things but its been pretty good for me guiding over the years, and always cool when you catch the same fish the next year with a different group of clients!
