Landing, Handling, and Releasing Fish

Why it matters

Careless handling can hurt you — spines, teeth, sharp gill plates — or kill a fish you meant to release. Correct identification before harvest also keeps you legal; keeping a fish you can't confidently identify risks an unlawful harvest even by accident.

Steps

1. 1Use a net — a soft rubber mesh net is easiest on the fish — to land it rather than horsing it up by the line or rod alone.
2. 2Wet your hands before touching any fish. Dry hands strip away a fish's protective slime coating, which normally guards against bacteria and parasites.
3. 3If you need to lift or hold a fish, support it horizontally with two points of contact rather than a single vertical hold or a grip through the gills.
4. 4Identify the species and check current legal size/possession rules before deciding to keep it. If you're not sure what it is, or it could be a protected or restricted lookalike species, release it.
5. 5Use pliers or a dedicated hook-removal tool, not your fingers, especially near teeth or spines.
6. 6If releasing: keep air exposure and photos quick, and let the fish swim off under its own power — hold it upright, facing into any current, if it needs a moment to recover before swimming away on its own.
7. 7If keeping a legal fish: move straight into cooling it (see the next lesson) rather than letting it sit on a stringer or in a warm cooler.

Common mistakes to avoid

• Handling every fish the same way — a flounder, a bluefish, and a catfish each carry different real handling risks (teeth, spines, slime)
• Keeping a fish you can't confidently identify rather than releasing it