Had a large native on when I saw blood coming from its gill as I was fighting it. The fish had taken the spoon deep it throat and had ruputured its gills. I kept the fish because I figured it was over for him and it is legally to keep natives in this river. The questions I have are:

1) If there is any blood coming from the gills the fish will die soon, correct?

2)If this should happen again (it's never happened before) is it legal to keep a fish that is going to die anyways?

Thanks in advance

it is not legal to keep a fish that is going to die if the regs don't allow it

This probably isn't the reply you're looking for, but I'd make sure it doesn't happen again. In my opinion, the first priority when fishing, even when the objective is to bonk a brat for dinner, is to be sure that the natives can be played quickly and hooked in such a way that they will survive. As for your questions, I'm no expert, but I've always understood that blood=death for a fish. Also, if you keep an injured fish that you're supposed to release, you can still get nailed for poaching. I've seen poachers try to wiggle off the hook using that argument and it doesn't work.

Spoonman, Blood typically equal death and if it's C&R for wild fish, it's unlawful to keep the fish, no matter how bad of shape it's in. It's unusual for a steelhead to take a spoon so deep. Where you using a barbless hook? If not, a barbless hook will keep the bleeders down . I would recommend using a barbless hook if your fishing for wild steelhead.

Might be worth mentioning that fish will often bleed but from somewhere else than the gills. In this case I don't think blood=death. If the blood is coming from the gills (and its a lot of blood) the fish is a goner. I have seen fish hooked with plugs that have one set of hooks in the mouth and the other attached to the outside on their head. These fish bleed pretty good but I think they are fine if released. One thing we all know for sure is that if the fish is in your cooler.. it has no chance at all.

It depends on how much blood, location of the wound, condition of the fish, and water temperature. Lots of blood from the gills or the ventral aorta, it's probably a goner no matter what the situation. If not, survival is possible as long as the water temps are cool enough to allow the fish to recover and the fish is in relatively good shape.

But remember, if you release any fish, no matter how badly hooked, it has at least some chance to recover. If you don't, the mortality rate in the fish box is 100%.


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MSB

As if a person has any control on how a fish hits a lure....

I have seen steelhead stop bleeding entirely several times i have seen them lose a small amount of blood for no apparent reason then stop. Maybe from stress??? I am not a biologist so i wont speculate on the survival chances of bleeding steelhead. Something to keep in mind although it's sad when a fish dies from being hooked it's not entirely a waste. Fish that dies contribute to the river ecosystem in a very important way. The nutrients they provide is the very bottom part of the food chain , providing food for everything that juvinile salmon eat.

The Oregon Dept. of F&W did a bleeding mortality study several years ago, and the results were pretty surprising. VERY few fish will die, even when bleeding pretty good (heavy gill damage is still bad). When I heard this, I was pretty surprised, but the information was well founded, and scientific. I wish I had the stats, but no longer do.
Still, its no reason to be careless.

A couple years back I hooked a nice early summer hatchery fish that was hooked in the gills and bleeding badly. When I landed it, it was about 85 degrees outside and instead of bonking the fish I put it in a small back pool with no way out. Obviously the water was warmer than the river flow but probably no warmer than 55-60 degrees. When I put the fish in there it was still bleeding pretty good. I worked with the fish until it took off out of my hands and proceded to fish down river. When I worked my way back upriver I went to pick my fish up and it was all I could do to catch the fish with my hands. I chased it all over the whole and finally my buddy and I cornered it. Talk about full of piss and vinegar again.

Another situation in the spring my partner and I came into a whole where I hooked a 12lb winter hen. She was bleeding moderately when I released her and we proceded downriver. About an hour later on our way back up my partner made a cast in the same whole hoping there was more than one fish there but ended up hooking that same fish again on nearly the same eggs (hungry eager bugger) and when he landed it he had hooked it in the corner of the mouth and my hook was still in the gills but the bleeding had stopped. It was as if she hadn't even been hooked before other than the fact that she didn't fight near as hard the second time.

To summerize, no I don't think that gill hooked fish die often maybe 10% or so. Think about this, how many dead fish do you see laying around the rivers that look as if they had died for no reason!
Keith Archer

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Spoonman,

I'll chime in with others who report that most steelhead bleeding profusely from the gills - as opposed to from near the gills - are goners. But most is not the same as all. Even some wounds to the gills are not fatal. Other wounds have a reasonable chance of healing, given favorable water conditions. Many of us have seen steelhead with healed over scars from seal bites.

If you thought the fish was fatally hooked and you kept it because it was legal to do so, I don't think that's a mistake on your part. Now you have more information from which to make a decision next time this happens. If it's any consolation, I had a smallish barbless dry fly stick a steelhead directly in a gill arch once. It was gushing blood heavily with every heart beat. I was certain that fish would die, and I kept it. It was legal to do so.

Sincerely,

Salmo g.

Spoonman, I think it was a fluke that you deep-hooked that fish on a spoon. Fact is, you can deep hook fish w/o bait but it is more the exception than the rule. I understand that you probably practice C&R on nates religiously and everybody has a story or two of how they deep-hooked a nate and had to bonk it because it was dead when they put it back in the water. [Bleeeeep!] happens, and as long as you practice C&R 99.9% of the time on nates, then I don't see it as being the end of the world if you bonk .01% of your catch because it is fatally hooked or believed to be fatally hooked. Using that as an excuse is ridiculous, using that theory when you really do deep-hook one is common place and it's a judgement call. There are too many idiots out there, that bonk 'em all, no matter what, so yes, your fish may survive but as long as you follow a "no INTENTIONAL kill" rule on wild steelhead, then your're doing as well or better than most folks. Out of the shieetloads of steelies I've hooked and my friends have hooked, there has only been a hanfull, if that, that have been hooked that deep. Mostly summyruns that wolfed down the bait and one dumbass hatchery buck that completely inhaled a spinner, I mean all the way into it's throat....like I said, [Bleeeeep!] happens. Cut the line and hope for the best, release nates for a clearer conscious and good Karma. Peace - Justin

Anybody else catch the fishing show last night with retired pro football player Larry Czonka on TNN, he was fishing somewhere in Alaska for either pike or muskie, not sure which, he was fishing a large spoon and hooked a pretty big fish, his guide grabs the fish and proceeds to go through the gill plate to remove the hook, the fish is gushing blood and they release it, couldn't believe they showed that.

I think its common practice to hold pike or muskie by the gill plate when taking the hiiks out, even if they are going to release them. Think about it, how else are you gonna hold on to a fish like that when removeing the hooks. I wouldnt want a fish with teeth like that being able to operate his mouth. Good way to loose a finger!

Rich, I can understand going through the gills on a pike/muskie but when it starts bleeding like a stuck pig, I have a hard time believing it's going to survive.

I have a good story on this one.

I have a #1 Gamakatsu hook up on my bulletin board that I will save forever. The hook spent a week in a gill of a steelhead that I had the fortune of catching and releasing twice.

The first time I caught the fish it was gill hooked and bleeding real bad. It was a dark fish that I didn't want to keep, so I cut the leader and hoped for the best.

A week later I caught the same fish. The hook and leader from the week before had worked itself lose and was wrapped around my new leader so I got the old leader back.

We all benefit from catch and release, I sure did on this one!