How can you tell if a steelhead has been fought to the point where it will not survive?

[ 01-29-2002: Message edited by: Ironheader ]

Death is a good indicator!

Parker:

Pessimist.

If, within a few minutes you aren't able to revive the fish to the point where it remains upright, and tries to swim off, the chances of survival are probably pretty slim. However nothing is absolute, and steelhead in general are pretty tough fish. Also you would probably have to fight the fish for a very long time to tire them to the point of exhaustion. IMHO, as long as the fish isn't hooked deep in the throat, or gills, and you fight them agressively with the proper tackle, don't drag them out of the water, remove the hook and release them carefully, their chances of survival are pretty darn good.

I recently spoke to a biologist about catch and release of rainbow trout. WDFW figures that 60-80% of rainbows caught and released do not survive. That figure was staggering to me. It upset me to think that when I fish with the kids in the summer that we leave a trail of dead or dying trout behind us. Are steelhead really that much different?

Paranoid,

My guess would be that those statistics apply to planted trout that were released after being caught with Powerbait, etc... Once those little trout swallow it, it's pretty much over. Ask the biologist if the same mortality occurs in a selective fishery such as the Yakima river.

I believe that I would ask this fish biologist the mortality rate of these fish even if they are not caught. You will see hundreds of dead steelhead in the rivers during spring. Do they claim that these fish were caught and died because of it? If so why didn't they wash out during a high water. I have some problem believing that.
To my undestanding some steelhead return to the ocean after going through a cycle and return again the next year but it is already a adult and probably not grow any larger.

In my experience, it is extremely rare to see pre-spawn, dead Steelhead. I don't even see one per year.

This may be due to the fact that they get flushed out of the system after a big rain, but you would think if C&R mortalities are as high as some put them at we would see more dead "shiny" Steelies.

Though there isn't a lot of data out there regarding steelhead mortality associated with catch and release, everything that is out there points to a mortality somewhere between less than 1% and 7%, the great majority of the data falling squarely in the middle of that range, aroung 3.5%.

Fish on...

Todd.

I believe that 1 minute of fight per pound of fish is all they can take anything over that and they are spent. They are tough fish and do take quite abit of abuse.

I think no angler will play a steelhead to the point that it cannot recover, except under two conditions. That would apply whether you play it one minute per pound or ten minutes per pound. If you apply a reasonable, or even too light, force against the fish, eventually it will "play out" and come to hand. The two exceptions are if the fish is mortally hooked, in which case it probably doesn't matter how long you play it; and the other is during very warm summer water conditons. If the water temperature is 68 degrees or higher, there is a high risk of the steelhead building up too much lactic acidic while being played for it to successfully recover. Frankly, if the water's that warm, it's time for me to sit in the shade and tip a cool one.

Sincerely,

Salmo g.

"Data from BC indicate that wild steelhead release fisheries on winter steelhead stocks exert a minimal influence on the ability of the fish to spawn and refute claims that caught and released steelhead were effectively lost from the population"

The following conclusions from the study were drawn:
Hooking mortality of steelhead ranged between 0 and 6 percent in 11 Canadian river basins over a 7 year period with a Province-wide average of 3.6 percent.
Hooking mortality of winter-run steelhead averages between 2 and 3 percent using barbless hooks, regardless of whether bait is used.(Remember this is winter run steelhead)
Barbed hooks appear to be the largest contributor to hooking mortality.
The great majority of released fish make it to spawning grounds and spawn.
Use of resident salmonid hooking mortality data is not applicable to steelhead in freshwater."

These are conclusions driven from a scientific study in BC on steelhead, but the real message is to take the time to really learn and practice proper C&R skills.

I agree with BEEK, if there is such a high mortality rate where are all the dead fish.Every year I do encounter a few dead steelhead on the bank but most always they are spawned out or all beat up from the trip up the river.

Even with Steelhead landed with light line to a point of very tired I do not see any loss of life. Such as summer fish in clear water that I have released on many occasions I have had the opportunity to watch them through a full recovery. It may take fifteen to thirty minutes before they have reached full awareness but I have not seen any loss as long as their gills were not damaged from the process. However with the same consideration to the fish I do not find it necessary to pick the fish out of the water for more than a few seconds. When I see fish out of the water for minutes then released is probably another story. There is no excuse for that kind of lack of consideration.