Proper Trout Handling
It’s as likable as Ryan Reynolds
Few things in life make me happier than fly fishing. Ok, maybe an all-expenses-paid trip to Croatia complete with the multi-talented, likable, and uber handsome Ryan Reynolds as my personal tour guide. I digress. But seriously, doesn’t that sound kind of amazing? And if he couldn’t be more wonderful, Ryan and Blake recently donated $500,000 to Water First Education & Training, an indiginous-focused safe water charity.
Yep, Ryan’s a likable guy, and I feel like we can probably all agree on that.
And you know what else is extremely likable, protecting trout.
Time on the water is a mental release that allows me to embrace my lifelong admiration and connection to nature, especially to my little trout buddies. And one of the most meaningful ways to protect and connect with trout is to handle them properly.
Proper trout handling ensures a much higher chance of survival once it’s released back into the water. It creates a more sustainable, healthier, and happier population.
Do trout feel happiness? I don’t know, but knowing their populations are thriving sure makes me happy.
But sadly, not every released trout survives.
Often death is caused by squeezing its poor little organs, keeping it out of the water for too long, or stressing the heck out of it. This can result in suffocation, organ shut-down, or a much higher risk of a bird or animal eating it because of the time to regain its strength once it’s released.
Whether you need to release trout due to regulations or master the valuable skill of keeping their populations strong, it's essential to know about, and practice proper trout handling.
Handling a trout the right way is so dang easy, anyone can master it. Here are a few tips and techniques.
Keep fish wet. For best chances of survival, keep your fish in the water so it can breathe. Using a net is the easiest and safest way to do this. Keep the fish facing into the current so the cold, clean water flows through the mouth and over its gills.
Use a rubberized net. Because trout have a natural protective slime coating, the rubber is designed to keep as much of the coating on them while other materials can easily cause harm. Using a rubberized net (Fishpond makes excellent options!) also causes less stress, so your fish can chill for a few while you gently release the hook, admire its beauty, or snag a quick photo.
Always wet your hands. Before you remove the hook or touch the trout, you must give your hands a dip in the water because dry hands will remove the protective slime.
Don’t squeeze! Yep, they’re wiggly and a bit slimy, and our instincts might tell us to hold on tight, but please don’t! Squeezing a trout can push on their fragile and vital organs, causing permanent damage and more often than not, death.
Scoop ‘em up. Avoid the squeeze by gently scooping the trout with an open hand from underneath. You can also tail the fish by grabbing the base of the tail, which offers more control while you scoop with the other hand. I’m not gonna lie; this takes a little practice and patience, but it’s super easy and will help keep your trout alive. Plus, by gently supporting it, it will stay way more calm, cool, and collected.
Keep it quick. If you take your catch out of the water, keep it quick, like less than six seconds. And keep trout near water! Avoid putting it on the ground, pulling it up in the boat, or on the bank; this easily and commonly causes death.
Keep ‘em outta the boat. If you’re fishing from a boat, hold them over, or in, the water and not in the boat. This keeps their time out of the water shorter, causes less stress from trying to handle them, and ensures zero chance of your fishy buddy falling into the boat.
Grip and grin the right way. It’s hard to pass up an Instagram post that boasts instant bragging rights, but there’s a right way to do it, and most of it follows these straightforward practices.
Keep fish wet! Keeping their head in the water allows for easier breathing.
Rubber nets are the best! They allow a trout to rest with ease and help protect their natural slime coating.
Nice and gentle now. A scoop from the bottom and a light grab at the base of the tail keep trout happy :)
Ryan Reynolds. Because you know he had to pop up somewhere.
