[tlapinski]

Originally Posted by numbskull

Toby, as editor of a fishing magazine it would help all of us if you had better information on C&R mortality for striped bass.

My bad, I said I read something recently and recalled those numbers. I poked around and found this right from your second link. While it does reference tests conducted in freshwater, I knew I didn't make up the numbers. Either way, there is simply NO ARGUING that C&R causes mortatlity to some degree and that was more my point. I own a speargun, but have never once shot or shot at a SB. I figure I can take them pretty much any time I want with RnR, so I have no need to shoot them. Blackfish on the other hand...

Despite the importance of the striped bass recreational fishery in coastal waters (Richards and Deuel 1987), little is known about survival of caught and released striped bass in saline environments. In freshwater, Harrell (1988) estimated the hooking mortality of striped bass to average 15.6% for fish taken on artificial lures and 30.7% for fish taken on natural baits. Hysmith et al. (1993), also working in freshwater, found mortality of striped bass to be significantly related to fish length, season, and bait type. There was a positive relation between hooking mortality and lengthclass. Overall, hooking mortality was 38% but was higher when live baits were used (58%) and was higher in summer (47%) than winter (13%). Experiments on striped bass in brackish-water environments suggest that salinity may have an important ameliorating effect on hooking mortality (RMC, Inc. 1990). However, there have been no previous studies of striped bass hooking mortality in saline environments.

Our estimates of striped bass hooking mortality (3-26%, 9% overall) are lower than others reported for striped bass: 36% in summer (Harrell 1988), 47% in summer (Hysmith et al. 1993). However, our study differed in several respects. Perhaps most importantly, both earlier studies were conducted in freshwater, whereas ours was in a high-salinity environment (mean salinity, 3 \%o). Although striped bass are euryhaline, freshwater may pose osmotic challenges that add to the stress of capture. In a 1990 study, RMC Inc. (1990) found that catch-and-release mortality of striped bass caught on artificial lures ("buck-tails") depended on salinity of 0-8 ppt. Hooking mortality of fish less than 46 cm at the lower-salinity sites (0-4%c) averaged 34%, but it was only 1% at the 8%o site.