Catch and Release Fishing

I recently realized that for every fish I've kept this season, I've released about 20. That doesn't make me better than other anglers, but it does mean I've reached a point in my angling philosophy where I don't have to kill every fish I catch.

Still, I think there shall always be a place in fishing to eat fish. One of my favorite fishing writers, John Gierach puts it nicely: "In the past of every catch and release angler, you'll find an old black cast-iron frying pan."

I'll admit that it is easier to release fish when they don't have the reputation of outstanding food fish. I write here of carp and smallmouth bass, two of my favorite fish to catch.

I often cast flies to carp that nibble small things off the surface of the Missouri River as it flows past my Pierre home. And I've always considered the smallmouth bass a good fighting fish.

My thoughts take me to the Florida Keys, where some 15 years ago, I joined a group of outdoor writers.

Doug Stange and I were busily engaged in catching barracuda - fish that typically run to about 25 pounds.

To catch them, we used large tube jigs and spinning gear. They are the only fish I've caught to this day that I believe honestly try to bite an angler. They fought like muskies - only much longer.

Even though they were believed to carry a disease that affects your nervous system, we kept one and ate it. It was delicious.

Over a 10-day period, I learned a few things about fishing saltwater:

Almost every fish fights harder than fish in freshwater, perhaps because of warm-water temperatures.\

You never really know what's biting on the bait, nor do you know what species it is you're not catching.

Almost all fish in saltwater taste better.

Almost any method we use to catch walleyes will work in shallow salt, such as in the Florida Keys.

I remember one evening when we were moored at Fort Jefferson, a former prisoner of war camp dating back to the Revolutionary War, sipping cold beer when a gentleman in a boat near us hooked something that was very big.

We watched him battle the huge fish until nearly midnight and finally retired. When we got up the next morning, he was still fighting that fish, and finally landed it.

The scene was reminiscent of Hemingway's epic, "The Old Man and the Sea." It was a big shark, a fish that would measure nearly 12 feet. That can happen when you fish in the salt.

We learned tactics such as vertical jigging with Fuzz-E-Grub jigs produce a variety of bottom fish, as did Lindy Rigging.

We also cast crank baits with good success. It made us realize fish are fish, no matter where you find them. However, aside from the superior fighting qualities of the fish in salt, I remember the great flavor just as vividly.

Those who say the walleye is the best tasting of all fish probably haven't eaten a bluegill, and most certainly have never eaten a Key Mangrove Snapper, a bluegill look-alike.

We caught them on small jigs, and the little snappers we caught were not released, but instead filleted, dusted in seasoned flour and pan fried to golden brown. Wonderful eating.

Catch-and-release fishing is practiced almost universally among trout fishermen, and that's probably because of the guidance of the late Lee Wulff.

However, largemouth bass fishermen have also become addicted to releasing most fish, thanks to Ray Scott, who merely deemed it good business that would satisfy the good-old boys who saw the pros catch lots of big fish and then mumbled, "No wonder fishing isn't as good anymore."

I have often wrote and said that the only way catch-and-release fishing will become much of a factor in walleye fishing is when it is mandated, as it partially is with slot limits. Yet, I expect that with additional skilled fishing pressure, it must occur or we will surely see greatly reduced bag limits.

We learned that even on a lake as large as Oahe, angling pressure can reduce a fish population.

Even so, I know that I could have preached catch and release within my own family and it would never have made much of a difference to my mother. She once told me, "Yeah, you throw those fish back, but you didn't grow up during the Depression."

That was an argument I could never counter.

Tony Dean fishes all species and plenty of new lakes each year. He is enshrined in the National Freshwater Fishing Hall of Fame at Hayward, Wis. Reach him at tonydeanoutdoors@pie.midco.net.

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