Quote:
Originally Posted by numbskull
Nope. Too selfish for that. I prefer to delude myself that they all make it. I do try to get them back into the water fast. I had a 34lb fish (which is big for me) go belly up and get swept away from me a rough August night 2 years ago after I weighed, photographed, then thought I'd revived it. Sort of ruined most of the pride I had in catching it.
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Back in 92 I was fishing at the Second Rip with a bunch of commercial rod and reel guys. I had given up my commercial license so I was catching and releasing. I caught a fish that was about 25# and after a long fight landed it, revived it (or so I thought) and released it.
Well the fish washed up on the beach about 10 minutes later and the late and great George Calzone grabbed the fish and threw it in his fish tote. I told him that I had released that fish earlier and it swam away. He said, "Paulie, in the Summer (this was at the beginning of July, maybe the 5th or 6th) most of the released fish don't survive because of the lactic acid build up and the water temps." I believe he was correct.