Is there any scientific evidence to suggest that holding a big lake trout, muskie, northern pike or catfish by its jaw or gill plate, without supporting its belly, can be injurious to the fish?
There isn’t, but only because the problem has never been studied. Ask some of the top fisheries’ biologists if the practice is prudent, however, and they’ll tell you it isn’t. There is simply too much anecdotal evidence to suggest that the typical “vertical fish hold” is a “smoking gun”.
Buddy Rob Swainson is responsible for managing Ontario’s famous Lake Nipigon and Nipigon River and he is one of the most vocal fish managers. The rambling river's one of my favourite fishin' holes and it is home to the world record brook trout. The gigantic lake, on the other hand, is the largest inland body of water in Ontario and is managed on a strict trophy basis. As a result of the special regulations, it may be the best drive-to lake trout fishery on earth, which is why Swainson says anglers need to educate themselves on the need to handle big fish differently than small fish.
“Most people are just not used to catching big fish,” Rob says, “so they don’t know how to handle them properly when they finally do. I know I certainly wasn't. I moved here from eastern Ontario and was used to catching lots of fish, but nothing of a size that required anything more than a one-handed lift into the boat.”
That changed when Swainson landed his first Lake Nipigon lake trout. He gloved it by the tail and started lifting it out of the water for a picture and it is when he heard the unmistakable popping sound as the vertebrae separated in the trout’s backbone. He says the resonance sickened him.
“The trout only weighed about 18-pounds,” he remembers, “but I can tell you it is one fish I've never stopped thinking about.”
If holding a heavy fish vertically by its gill plate, without supporting its belly, can result in so much damage, why is it we catch so few fish with obvious injuries? Even Swainson is quick to point out that he has only seen one or two large lake trout with deformed backbones.
The reason is they likely die.
“I am not surprised I haven't seen many,” Swainson explains, “because the sound of popping vertebrae is likely the death knell for the big guys. Yes, they swim away. But do they survive? I doubt it.”
Indeed, Swainson says he is more surprised that he has seen any healed survivors. Just as in humans, spinal cord injuries can be devastating. He calls the few fish with deformed backbones that he has handled … “the lucky ones”.
“I have spread the word as much as possible locally,” says Swainson, “and many of the folks who fish for big trout on a regular basis now handle them properly. But the majority of anglers still don't know that the big lads need that extra body support. If someone were to lift you up,” he asks rhetorically, “would you want to be held by the neck or would you rather they lifted you up by putting both arms under your body?”
As an assistant hatchery supervisor, recently retired Ohio DNR staffer and friend, Elmer Heyob has seen more fish with deformed backbones than most field biologists. Heyob says most of the fish he sees with crooked spines are survivors of genetic defects. You don't see them in the wild, he notes, because they would never make it past the fry stage.
Like Swainson, Heyob is also an avid angler. Muskies, in particular, are his passion. He says a “problem” with holding a big fish in a vertical position is that it appears to "calm" down. As a result, many anglers think it a safer or preferred method of controlling them. But it is only because they are nearly paralyzed from the strain on their vertebrae.
“I can give you a great example of what the weight, unsupported by water, can do to one of these great fish,” Heyob explains. “An Ohio based muskie club holds an annual summer tournament at which our Ohio Division of Wildlife personnel often attend. We keep a redwood measuring board handy that we also use in our research work. One of the contestants caught a big muskie that they hung from a hook at the Marina. When they measured it with a tape, it was 51-inches long. We then measured it lying on the board and it had shrunk back to 49-inches.”
If you must measure a fish’s length, Heyob and Swainson both recommend you do it while the fish is in the water alongside the boat. And what about the photo session that usually follows?
“In a perfect release-world”, Heyob says, “we would just look at the fish in the water and remove the hooks. But how many anglers do you know that don't want at least a picture or two and a near exact weight of a 50-inch fish?”
If you must lift a large fish out of the water, it is essential to support most of its weight with one hand firmly placed under its belly. Heyob is also critical of the way many anglers use the tools that grip a fish’s mouth and contain a built-in weigh scale. The constant swivel on the tool makes it difficult to control a spinning fish and more dangerous to remove the hooks. The other problem, of course, is that the tools encourage anglers to vertically hang the fish by its jaw.
A much better and more fish-friendly method, explains Heyob, is to place the fish on its side in a knotless net. Then use the gripping tool to hang onto the hoop and weight the fish. You can subtract the weight of the net later to get a precise measurement.
Catching big fish is one of life’s great pleasures. Landing, measuring, photographing and releasing them correctly are not difficult tasks. And doing those things properly means more big fish in the future.
