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How do I get over my fear of touching live fish?

mesha

mesha

By endurance we conquer
Location
A.F.
My grandpa taught me to turn trout upside down to make them flop less. He also taught me to pinch the gills of bass shut and they won't flop around.

Another thing you can do is set the hook earlier so it can't get swallowed as deep.

What really works is if you really want to keep the fish and are super excited to take it home the fish will come off the hook right at the shore and swim away. At least that us what happens to me;-)
 
J

Jeepj667

Active Member
I third the hemostats. Long and skinny so you can see what your doing.
I always use the hooks with the pre-attached leader, the eye on the hook is bent toward the hook (maybe all hooks are this way). That helps when you can't see the end of the hook you can still tell which direction it's hooked into.
If it's too deeply hooked and doesn't come out fairly easily I just cut the line.

I much prefer to stream/river fish with artificial lures. A lot more fun than sitting on your butt bait fishing and you almost always hook the fish by the lip.
 
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sixstringsteve

sixstringsteve

Well-Known Member
Location
UT
I like the barbless hook idea. I don't mind if a few more get away.


Do neoprene gloves hurt the fish's slime?
 
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jeep-N-montero

jeep-N-montero

Formerly black_ZJ
Location
Bountiful
If it's a smaller fish I intend to release I simply hold the line with one hand while using my angled tip locking forceps to turn the hook out of its mouth and it just falls back into the water, larger fish I either keep or remove the hook while in the net. I don't mind touching fish at all, but prefer not to mess up their protective slime unless I have to.

Yesterday for lunch I made some bacon wrapped trout with garlic and sliced mild jalapenos with a bit of olive oil salt and pepper, wrapped it in some foil and threw it on the grill. They were some I caught Wednesday evening up at Causey.
 
sixstringsteve

sixstringsteve

Well-Known Member
Location
UT
At the moment I only have a fly rod. I'd like to get a regular rod & reel for lake fishing. I'll probably only go 2-3 times a year (if that). Which inexpensive rod/reel combo do you recommend? Compact is a plus, I'd like to be able to take it hiking.
 
sLcREX

sLcREX

Formerly Maldito X
Location
Utah
So I didn't read every single response in here, I'll just chime in on what helps me.

Holding the fish by the body definitely sucks when they're wiggling all over the place, so rather than doing that I grab them by their lower jaw or mouth, I put my index under and my thumb in their mouth which kind of keeps their mouth open so they won't bite me while I remove the hook from using pliers.

Havent had an issue since doing that.

oh yeah, another thing, do you mainly just go fishing with your wife? I'm guessing you feel comfortable enough to admit to her you don't wanna touch the fish so she does it for you. Well what about you go fishing with guy friends or other folks where you can't just ask them to unhook your fish, that will give you little choice but to do it yourself. Kinda like forcing you to do it lol.
 
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Spork

Spork

Tin Foil Hat Equipped
Location
Saratoga Springs, UT
sixstringsteve said:
The price is right on these, but I have no clue what I'm looking for:

http://www.cabelas.com/product/Home...93480&WTz_l=Unknown;cat104793480;cat112206780

Also, what length do you recommend? I plan on alpine lake fishing for trout.
Click to expand...

I like about a 6 foot rod. It's large enough you can cast some distance but not so large it gets caught in brush/trees. I am more picky about a reel, The handle like your link shows is what I like (don't like the big T shaped knobs), I also don't like how some reels will back up almost a half turn when the anti-reverse is engaged. Some people look for where the drag is located, but most the time I don't mess with drag once it's set where I want.
 
sixstringsteve

sixstringsteve

Well-Known Member
Location
UT
Maldito X said:
oh yeah, another thing, do you mainly just go fishing with your wife? I'm guessing you feel comfortable enough to admit to her you don't wanna touch the fish so she does it for you. Well what about you go fishing with guy friends or other folks where you can't just ask them to unhook your fish, that will give you little choice but to do it yourself. Kinda like forcing you to do it lol.
Click to expand...

Good idea. I'm not afraid to admit it to my guy friends either. :D

I'm going fishing in a week, and I am going to catch, remove, gut, and eat a trout all by myself. My wife bought me some fish handling gloves for my birthday. She's the best.
 
sixstringsteve

sixstringsteve

Well-Known Member
Location
UT
Spork said:
I like about a 6 foot rod. It's large enough you can cast some distance but not so large it gets caught in brush/trees. I am more picky about a reel, The handle like your link shows is what I like (don't like the big T shaped knobs), I also don't like how some reels will back up almost a half turn when the anti-reverse is engaged. Some people look for where the drag is located, but most the time I don't mess with drag once it's set where I want.
Click to expand...

I have the same exact preferences. I hate the ones that back up a ton for anti-reverse. I also hate the t-handle deep sea fishing style. I hadn't thought about rod length affecting casting distance, good point.
 
sixstringsteve

sixstringsteve

Well-Known Member
Location
UT
awesome, thanks guys.

I picked up that cabelas rod and reel for $25. While I was there, I saw this. Anyone used one before?

[video=youtube;xptYPB7KCos]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xptYPB7KCos[/video]

[video=youtube;phmAv1_PIoY]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=phmAv1_PIoY[/video]


Would these work on spinners and tri-hooks too?
 
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