Are keepnets really so bad, if so why?

[Dick Dastardly]

Until someone proves to me different, then my own experience makes me err on the side of caution.

 

John.

 

 

And as I cant make my mind up thats the way Ive gone to!

[Emma two]

No doubt about it if you did not have the right equipment to photograph and weigh the fish you should have released it

 

That statement would have come over better had you added that, was 'your opinion', still I suppose an unshakable belief in ones own rightiousness is useful in some situations, if not this one.

 

I will respond with equal confidence. There is 'no doubt about it' that I did precisely the right thing. I caught it, I wanted a photographic record, it is a fish, I am a human, so I got my way. The pike got out of it with it's life unlike the mackerel it took, who probably suffocated in a fish box after being dragged from the sea, of course it had the human given label 'bait' rather than one of 'specimen' so it's life isn't as important, is it?...what was that someone said about hypocracy in angling, perhaps that should be Hypocracy (capital H).

 

It's often stated that one learns something with each fishing outing, what I took away from that session was, never leave home without a camera, even when you don't expect a 'whopper' one might come along.

 

Right I need a new winter coat, where are those dalmation puppies?

[corydoras]

Yes Cory you are reading it wrong.

What I believe does happen in some situations, is that a released fish can, by it's actions, spook the other members of a shoal.

Shoal fish rely on each member to signal if danger is present.

So a fish swimming back into a shoal in an agitated manner, would effect the rest of the shoal.

 

Until someone proves to me different, then my own experience makes me err on the side of caution.

 

John.

 

 

And as I cant make my mind up thats the way Ive gone to!

Well all I can say is that I stopped believing stuff like that when I was about 11. I've never seen any evidence to make me suspect that a returned fish will spook the rest of the shoal.

[lutra]

Am I reading this wrong, or are there some anglers who really think that a released fish is going to go back to it's mates and tell them all that there is a big bad human up there trying to catch us all.

Read it how you like, but i wouldn't recommend putting chub back in your swim if you want yo catch many more. Chub are just about the only thing i use a keep-net for these days.

[gozzer]

Well all I can say is that I stopped believing stuff like that when I was about 11. I've never seen any evidence to make me suspect that a returned fish will spook the rest of the shoal.

 

Then obviously your experiences when fishing for shoal fish, differs from mine Cory.

 

John.

[Steve Walker]

Cory, have a look at this:

 

http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&q...earch&meta=

 

I don't think the fish will deliberately tell his mates, but it may well alert them to danger chemically. Mind you, you might not want to have a keepnet pegged out immediately upstream of where you are trotting!

 

Thing with some other species, chub in particular, is just that they barge about the swim like a bull in a china shop, and tend to spook other fish with their behaviour. They'll come unfrightened again (at 10 minutes to the pound, according to RW), but it's a consideration. Personally, I tend to stalk chub, release the fish and move on, but if I'm building up a swim match-style I might be tempted to keep them netted.

[corydoras]

Then obviously your experiences when fishing for shoal fish, differs from mine Cory.

 

John.

Obviously. Also bear in mind that I was brought up and learned to fish in a country where keepnets were frowned upon by most anglers and forbidden on most waters.

[corydoras]

They'll come unfrightened again (at 10 minutes to the pound, according to RW), but it's a consideration. Personally, I tend to stalk chub, release the fish and move on, but if I'm building up a swim match-style I might be tempted to keep them netted.

Interesting, but that would seem to imply that it may be a better idea to invest in some rather large tanks of some kind keep fish in rather than a net. How does a keepnet keep Schreckstoff out of the water? On a river I guess that one could deploy your keepnet downstream of your swim, but hey what if some other angler upstream of you has a keepnet full of fish all leaking their Schrekstoff into your swim? What about fishing in a small still water, the first couple of fish to be returned would have the pond reeking with Schrekstoff, resulting in no other catches until the Schrekstoff wore off. Edited September 25, 2008 by corydoras

[lutra]

Then obviously your experiences when fishing for shoal fish, differs from mine Cory.

 

John.

Ive never had a problem putting shoal bream back as i catch them, but i do tend to fish for them at a good range (not under my nose).

[gozzer]

I don't know about the 'smell' thing, I have caught fish in the slack water formed by my keepnet.

 

I have also watched fish, (I do a lot of fish watching) scatter when a released fish, or a fish that has shed the hook, charges back into the shoal.

As I say, I have experienced it often enough to make me more cautious about releasing fish back into a shoal.

 

 

John.