Common Fish Handling Mistakes - Got Some?

[RIROCKHOUND]

I got a good one....
One my way home from work on a friday in Sept about 4 years ago, I was driving by a spot in gansett that is very visable to alot of people...
I saw a few birds circling.. terns not gulls.. impending blitz... noone else there (yet) so I pull in, hop out and make a cast.. double 7lbs bluefish (teaser rig) cut the teaser off after releasing them, throw on a hopkins and C&R blues for a few minutes... then the crowd starts... suddenly there are 10 guys there.. the guy next to me was well dressed and had EVERYTHING top of the line but lacked a clue... he hooked up, cranked mr blue in, and in the process of dangling it by the leader presumably to figure out how the F- unhook it, the second set of trebbles grabbed his jeans right below the fly of his expensive looking jeans (no flesh)... he immediatly started screaming to his wife/girlfriend to 'get the pliers from the truck, hurry hurry'
I offered him my knife, he cut the plug and fish from his jeans and I unhooked the bluefish from the plug, released it and went home, had dinner and waited for darkness.... I hate the daylight.....
Joe is right about the wading and handling.. it gets easier but %$%$%$%$ still happens... my waders and wetsuit have some holes.. on probably the s---tiest night I had fished in a while with PIEMMA on the worst fighting 20ish bass of my life... I guess thats another mistake to add in... misjudging the size of the fish until you grab it.. oops.. still landed and released the fish without getting poked or knocked down.. (I was deep and the surf was pretty much over head I love that weather!! )

[Goose]

Keeping a short leash on fish so that the next wave doesn't send the bass and trebles to stick you.

[Rockport24]

Thanks Joe!
I agree that we don't discuss this kind of thing enough...
I like to think that I have a clue, but I have made my share of mistakes.
To land a bass in the surf, I usually end up sliding it into the wash, shining a light on it to see where the hooks are, then carefully lip the fish, I've found that you really need to lip a bass firmly, especially if you horsed it in as Joe says and it's not tired. Then I bring it up out of the wash to unhook it with pliers and/or my hook remover, which works great by the way. It's really the lipping part that I think is the most dangerous, do you guys use bogas or something to try to avoid getting impaled or how do you handle it?

[Christian]

see a guy pull in a schoolie. he cant get the hook out, so he puts a knee on it and is struggleing. i walk over and ask if i can help, see hook, pop it out...begin to walk away, and the guys in awe. but dead bass cause hes been friggen kneeling on the thing.

[Krispy]

Good point Goose. When deep wading, I often take a wrap around the fore arm, in case I drop the fish I can quickly regain control of the leader. The arm wrap allows both hands to be free to handle release duties, and keeps the leader away from the hook area where it can get tangled

[Clammer]

I see people release Bluefish ALIVE --It evened happened in my own boat this year //a member on this site . netted a blue [MISTAKE] & the hook fell out = he just flipped it over & it was gone =that will never /ever happen again

[striprman]

I think everyone that fishes makes a mistake. Not one fisherman hasn't hooked themselves eventually. Make sure no one is behind you when you are casting or they might get "hook head" or sinker goose egg" syndrome.


heres some other "fish handling" things kind of unrelated to actual fishing but more to actual "handling"

If you bring a fish home, don't stab yourself on the dorsal while you are filleting it.
Don't leave the rack in the garbage for a week (cut it up, wrap in newspaper, put in freezer and discard on trash day.)
Don't discard the rack, make chowder out of it.
Bleed your fish if you are going to keep it for the table (and it's not a trophy)
If you live or are a long ways from the fishing grounds, keep your fish on ice (fresh bait too).
If you use a fish head to make chowder, take out the eyes before you start cooking it.
Make sure to put down some old newspapers, if you use the kitchen table to clean your catch on.