unhooking mat?

[jason.p]

Just a thought, many commercial fisheries have a dip barrel on hand to dip landing nets before starting. Why not give the mat a quick dip on the way in and at the finish. I would imagine that on one of these hot sunny days a short while in the sun would be sufficient to kill most bugs, but let's be honest, there aren't too many days like that!! As for sterilising between fish, I think there's a danger of going over the top a bit. A common sense approach would be to handle the fish as little as possible, unhooking in the water as much as possible and making sure hands are wet when handling is necessary. I agree with the previous poster that the very slight risk of cross contamination is far outweighed by the potential damage of not using a mat.

[Gaffer]

I always put my unhooking mat in the sun to dry. The sun's UV does a very good job of disinfecting unhooking mats. Does anyone know how good the sun's UV is compared to a chemical disinfectant?

 

Take care,

 

Garth.

[Dick Dastardly]

Gutted! just noticed this is an old thread! I was hoping that Phone was back on the scene.

[jason.p]

I would imagine that the parts of the mat exposed to the sun would be fine (that's assuming the sun is shining, obviously not much good for a night session or cloudy day!) but there will be wrinkles or folds that may not. Immersion in antiseptic would cover these areas, and also go on working while the mat is rolled up on the way home.

I'm not sure what the antiseptic used for net dipping is, but it smells a bit like the stuff we had to use during the foot and mouth outbreak.

I don't think we should be aiming at absolute sterility, just a good cleaning should be ok. I'm sure if dipping were not an option a good scrub with household disinfectant at home should be good enough.

I'm surprised fishery managers haven't cottoned on to this potential problem, perhaps they don't see it as one. :confused: :confused: :confused:

[Peter Waller]

Can't help feeling that this talk of sterilising unhooking mats is taking fish 'care' to the extreme. There will be talk of steam cleaning bus seats between commuters next, just as silly in my opinion!

 

By the way, Zebco make, or atleast made a very fine unhooking mat at a very fair price. Wipe clean, huge and well padded.

 

[ 16. July 2005, 10:42 PM: Message edited by: Peter Waller ]

[chesters1]

i have 2 a long thin one (the mrs uses it as all members must posses one) and a carp one ,it folds in half and has velcro all the way round and makes an excellent bag as well,i find them great for putting on your chair when you get off in the rain or for lounging on ,it rarely gets wet

[Dick Dastardly]

Peter Waller:

Can't help feeling that this talk of sterilising unhooking mats is taking fish 'care' to the extreme.

Hear,hear!

[Newt]

Gaffer:

I always put my unhooking mat in the sun to dry. The sun's UV does a very good job of disinfecting unhooking mats. Does anyone know how good the sun's UV is compared to a chemical disinfectant?

Depends on which bug(s) you are dealing with. UV from sunlight will be anywhere from very effective to not effective at all. If there are spore forming bacteria for instance, they can protect themselves way too quickly for sunlight to have any effect while the better chemical agents will have the ability to penetrate the spore coating and kill the resident. Click Here for more information.

 

Drying the mat will certainly help though since the critters need moisture to reproduce so a dry surface will have some bacteria/virus population but it won't get to the point of overwhelming the fish's natural defenses in most cases.

[poledark]

What do you do if it raining or dark when you pack up Gaffer? Or what about on a long session and the sun don't shine?

 

Not to sure that most fishery owners would relish the idea of anglers rinsing their U/H mats with some type of disinfectant ON THE BANK.

 

Den

[Emma]

I use an unhooking mat for netted fish. For the ickle ones taken by hand I use a beer mat that lives in a bait box full of water until needed.