BFT Catch and Release
 

While I have never caught a BFT, never have time to try, I have watched the shows like OTW and seen photos here and elsewhere. It seems every fish is bleeding all over the deck even when they intend to release. Pix posted on this site and others by guys catching them are also usually a bloody mess.

Will these fish survive? Is there a way to release them without the bleeding? If it were a bass bleeding like that, I would think the odds are low of survival. Even when the guys on the shows do nothing more than remove the hook, the blood is flowing... why is that?


Just curious on how to minimize the damage were I ever to hook one...

I think your concerns about catch and release mortality for tuna over easy handling size (say over 50 lbs) are well placed. I don't, however, agree with your assessment that bleeding bass usually die.

Think of people with bad nose bleeds (put that person in a shower and it looks even worse.....especially in NIB's case). Very few of them die. There is a lot of blood in a person and a fish and both creatures have evolved to handle losing a significant percentage of it. Several years ago caught a hard fighting healthy fall bluefish that had an entire previously torn gill arch protruding from one gill cover. He had healed that and was no worse for the wear.

Bass eat all kinds of sharp things and must sustain damage to their gills that causes bleeding all the time.......certainly they have evolved to handle this. I suspect the more likely cause of death in deeply hooked fish (particularly with plugs) is the time out of water required to unhook them.....not the hook damage itself. Regardless of how much blood a fish appears to have lost, if it can be revived and swim away it probably has a reasonable chance of survival.

The fish you are seeing posted are those of fish being kept. I fished on 4 boats last year and every fish that was going to be released stayed in the water. We took all the fish on single hooks with the majority being hooked in the side of the jaw. No blood..

If you plan on releasing the fish, stay away from treble hooks and beef up the gear to land the fish in a timely manner.

I second that

Thanks guys. I was thinking of a recent OTW show where they caught BFT off of Chatham. Even those they released were bleeding a lot.

Usually bass are not bleeding from a hook in the mouth, obviously in the gills is different. I was curious if there is some anatomical difference with BFT that cause them to bleed badly from a hook in the mouth...

I understand the concern, especially since fish have a much lower volume of blood by body mass than do mammals. Put I'd think a properly handled BFT that wasn't fought for 2 hours and had no gill damage or wasn't gaft in a critical area when landed has a reasonable survival rate when released.

I think the BFT appear to bleed more, but I think they actually bleed FASTER. With the constant thumping, ...thump,thump,thump,thump, the added acceleration also gets the heart racing faster which of course will make you bleed faster etc/etc/.....picture this, if you cut your finger and just stared at it, it would slowly bleed, if you kept on clenching your fist open and shut, it would bleed faster eh?...

A big Ol' COW bAss isn't doing too much thumping once landed, the BFT will knock you unconscious if you let it. :topic:



Have you ever gone on a C & R codfishing trip???......:rotflmao:

....ok, back on topic....I saw the OTW show this weekend too....and yeah, I have to agree...at least one of them fish didn't look like it would make a healthy return......but it's not like they dilly dally'd with it. Diving it in is the best way to release them, after that....it's in King Neptune's hands ... hopefully some of those fish dont' make it so us soon to be migrating blue crabs can have some sushi. :humpty:

Best thing is to get them back in ASAP so the saltwater can help with the recovery. With the hook no longer pulling on the wound, who knows......better chance of closing up I'm sure. ??? ..but I ain't no fishiatrician......:conf:

does this help