O'neal
?????????
- Location
- evanston wy
2 rules on handling fish.NEVER put your fingers in the gills and do not hold them out of the water for too long.Unhook in the water,quickly take pic and release...unless they are kept.
How do I get over my fear of touching live fish?
- Thread starter sixstringsteve
- Start date
sixstringsteve
Well-Known Member
- Location
- UT
yeah, there's no way I'm ready to hold a fish like that.
DaveB
Long Jeep Fan
- Location
- Holladay, Utah
2 rules on handling fish.NEVER put your fingers in the gills and do not hold them out of the water for too long.Unhook in the water,quickly take pic and release...unless they are kept.
Both of the macks in my pictures were kept. I tried to revive it for quite a while but it wouldn't come around. I took the picture after deciding it wasn't going to make it. The one my son caught swallowed a rapala and the hooks cut the gills and it bled like crazy so we had to keep that one too.
O'neal
?????????
- Location
- evanston wy
I know how it goes,just throwing out a couple tips for those who don't know.Nice mac's BTW! Were they good eatin?
DaveB
Long Jeep Fan
- Location
- Holladay, Utah
Both were excellent.
- Location
- Never Far From Nowhere
First, I'm sure one of these mental health professionals would be happy to discuss this issue with you :
Mental Health Professionals in Utah County
Second. Dynamite.
[video=youtube;_An7Dj1w_gU]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_An7Dj1w_gU[/video]
:Mental Health Professionals in Utah County
Second. Dynamite.
[video=youtube;_An7Dj1w_gU]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_An7Dj1w_gU[/video]
sixstringsteve
Well-Known Member
- Location
- UT
that's disturbing
- Location
- Never Far From Nowhere
They are dead, so you won't have to worry about touching them!
Hey Six String Steve! I want to thank you for creating this thread. I can relate to you so much and was so happy to know I'm not alone. I love fishing. I love swimming in the ocean. I love eating fish. I love fish! I'm a Pisces! Lol. But I get bad anxiety about touching live fish and seeing them out of the water. They seem really stressed out and stress as we all know is communicative. My father is an avid fisherman (especially fly fishing) and hunter. I grew up watching him gut deer in the garage, going fishing and being on boats but being a daddy's girl ;o) I never had to take fish off the hooks, he would do it for me. Now I go fishing with my boyfriend and make him do it, and I realize this is lame. I also have a beta fish as a pet for a few years now, with constant reoccurring dreams that he jumps out of his tank, and because of my fear of touching live fish, I can't save his life. In real life the tank has a lid so this won't happen, but I have literally had so many dreams about not being able to save my pet fish cuz of this fear that today when I woke up from one of these dreams I said ENOUGH! I googled the problem and this is the most lengthy forum that came up about the subject. I read every single post on this thread and found some useful info. But hey Muleskinner-- not cool to make fun and ridicule of people brave enough to face their fears! I'm sure you have fears too bro maybe one day youll figure out that making fun of people trying to improve themselves isn't a good look. B2Bomber-- all of your info about fish not having feelings and not being conscious beings- I would love some links to support that info and would be so grateful if you could provide them. Six String Steve, have you had success in your attempts to get over the fear of handling fish? I want to hear a success story to give me hope! Haha. Fish seem so fragile, sensitive and delicate and I hate the idea of freaking them out and hurting them (I want to learn how to properly handle them without damaging or harming them, again I found some good info in this thread thanks ya'll). My dad has explained to me numerous times (he is catch and release) and I've watched him do it 1000x but somehow when it's time for me I get so nervous and just can't make it happen. I know I need to get pliers. Anyway Steve if you have any info about how you've been since you posted this, I would love to hear stories/advice! Clearly my fear of touching fish is becoming an issue since I can't stop the reoccurring dreams. Sorry this isn't about a 4x4!!! Fish on ya'll
sixstringsteve
Well-Known Member
- Location
- UT
haha, I never thought a google search would lead people here. Thanks for sharing your story, I'm sorry to hear that your fear is causing you to loose sleep, that's horrible. The good news is that if I can overcome this fear to some degree, so can you. I won't lie and tell you I love touching fish, but I can do it and I don't stress as much anymore.
I handled my first fish last year. It wasn't bad at all. Like most fears, I knew it was irrational and that it was 99% mental, and I was right. I just decided I'd had enough of letting my fears control me. I went fishing with a buddy and explained to him my fear. We caught a few fish and he showed me how to remove them safely. Then we agreed that I would remove the next fish. 30 seconds later, I had one on my line, and he said, OK, this one's your's, and I agreed. I just pushed past the fear because I was so sick of letting it control me, and I did it.
Guess what? I didn't kill the fish, I didn't hurt it, he didn't slip out of my hands, and we both lived to enjoy another day. It was quite a triumphant feeling to conquer that fear. Maybe conquer is the wrong word, but I felt like a winner either way.
I'm still not super practiced, and it still gives me plenty of anxiety, but I can do it. I think the more I do it the less anxiety I have. That, along with all the good info I got in this thread, helped me be able to do it. Once I had hold of the fish, it was less scary, not more scary. I was more afraid of the idea of touching a fish rather than actually touching one.
Fish are kinda spastic out of water 'till you realize that they swim by wiggling their bodies. So when they're on your line, they're just trying to swim away. I wait a bit 'till they were calm before I removing them from the hook. The medical hemostats helped a ton to remove the hook. It doesn't sound kind, and I don't like killing animals that don't have to die, but if I killed a fish because I squeezed it too hard, that would be sad but not the end of the world. That being said, I don't think it's really possible for me to kill a fish by squeezing it too hard.
Even touching and removing a few fish from the line last year, I still had anxiety, though not nearly as much. It's not cripping, but it does get the adrenaline flowing when I catch a fish. It's almost an "oh no, now I'm going to have to deal with removing this fish from my line" moment. That night, after we caught our fish, I still had a tough time getting the courage up to touch the fish to prepare it to eat. That being said, it was only the first touch that was scary. Once I touched it I realized, hey, this isn't too bad, I can handle this. The fear didn't go away, but it did subside to where it wasn't crippling me. The more I touched the dead fish the more it desensitized me and helped me in the future with life vish.
I think the best advice I can give is to remember that it's healthier to overcome your fear than to ignore it. Do whatever it takes to do so. If you end up killing a few fish in the process (I guarantee this won't happen), it'll be worth the price of you overcoming your fear.
I recently read the book "David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits, and the Art of Battling Giants" by Malcom Gladwell. This quote struck me and I think it applies here:
I handled my first fish last year. It wasn't bad at all. Like most fears, I knew it was irrational and that it was 99% mental, and I was right. I just decided I'd had enough of letting my fears control me. I went fishing with a buddy and explained to him my fear. We caught a few fish and he showed me how to remove them safely. Then we agreed that I would remove the next fish. 30 seconds later, I had one on my line, and he said, OK, this one's your's, and I agreed. I just pushed past the fear because I was so sick of letting it control me, and I did it.
Guess what? I didn't kill the fish, I didn't hurt it, he didn't slip out of my hands, and we both lived to enjoy another day. It was quite a triumphant feeling to conquer that fear. Maybe conquer is the wrong word, but I felt like a winner either way.
I'm still not super practiced, and it still gives me plenty of anxiety, but I can do it. I think the more I do it the less anxiety I have. That, along with all the good info I got in this thread, helped me be able to do it. Once I had hold of the fish, it was less scary, not more scary. I was more afraid of the idea of touching a fish rather than actually touching one.
Fish are kinda spastic out of water 'till you realize that they swim by wiggling their bodies. So when they're on your line, they're just trying to swim away. I wait a bit 'till they were calm before I removing them from the hook. The medical hemostats helped a ton to remove the hook. It doesn't sound kind, and I don't like killing animals that don't have to die, but if I killed a fish because I squeezed it too hard, that would be sad but not the end of the world. That being said, I don't think it's really possible for me to kill a fish by squeezing it too hard.
Even touching and removing a few fish from the line last year, I still had anxiety, though not nearly as much. It's not cripping, but it does get the adrenaline flowing when I catch a fish. It's almost an "oh no, now I'm going to have to deal with removing this fish from my line" moment. That night, after we caught our fish, I still had a tough time getting the courage up to touch the fish to prepare it to eat. That being said, it was only the first touch that was scary. Once I touched it I realized, hey, this isn't too bad, I can handle this. The fear didn't go away, but it did subside to where it wasn't crippling me. The more I touched the dead fish the more it desensitized me and helped me in the future with life vish.
I think the best advice I can give is to remember that it's healthier to overcome your fear than to ignore it. Do whatever it takes to do so. If you end up killing a few fish in the process (I guarantee this won't happen), it'll be worth the price of you overcoming your fear.
I recently read the book "David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits, and the Art of Battling Giants" by Malcom Gladwell. This quote struck me and I think it applies here:
“Courage is not something that you already have that makes you brave when the tough times start. Courage is what you earn when you’ve been through the tough times and you discover they aren’t so tough after all.”
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sixstringsteve
Well-Known Member
- Location
- UT
There's no doubt the info in this thread really helped me be educated and know what to expect. The knowledge here is helpful and the best practice paid off. Just imagine yourself going through each step and walking through what will happen. Don't just tell youreself "it's scary, I don't want to think about it, I'll tackle it when it happens." You want to be prepared, and I think you're on the right track.
I understand your concern. While we were fishing, two or three of the fish swallowed the hook too deep and started bleeding. They weren't going to survive if we released them, so we killed them and ate them for dinner. I have a reverence and respect for nature, but that reverence extends to humans as well. In the grand scheme of things, they're just fish. Sounds harsh and cruel, but it's just a fish. I don't want it to suffer more than it needs to, but with the tips listed here, it won't.
I like how the native americans weren't wasteful and used all of the animal that they killed. Fish seem fragile, sensitive, and delicate, but they really aren't, they're pretty hardy. Fish are food for so many animals. Eagles, bears, otters, cranes, pelicans, none of them are very sensitive to the fish they eat. Fish are a food source, and looking at them as nature does helps me too. While I don't need to catch a fish to survive and eat, mankind has, in the past, had to do this. I wanted to get more in touch with the man that relies on nature to survive, so I took it as an acceptible risk. Perhaps I'd hurt a fish or two, but I'd just eat those ones. In reality, I didn't end up hurting any of the fish we didn't eat, and those fish only suffered for a few seconds.
RogueJeepr
Here!
- Location
- Utah
We are gonna have to see some pics ,or you know the rest...
Rottenbelly
I stink.
- Location
- Cedar city, Utah
I had this same problem with my wife. I'm a southern boy and she was from out west, so I did what most rednecks would do, I took her fishing. She was terrified to touch the fish or put a cricket on her hook.
I bought her a glove and some long needle nose pliers. With some coaching and lots of fish catching she now can do most of her fishing unassisted from me. Now I can walk around and fish different spots around the pond.
She has a few pair of the Kevlar gloves. Gives her that piece of mind that she's not gonna get finned.
I bought her a glove and some long needle nose pliers. With some coaching and lots of fish catching she now can do most of her fishing unassisted from me. Now I can walk around and fish different spots around the pond.
She has a few pair of the Kevlar gloves. Gives her that piece of mind that she's not gonna get finned.