Trout Grip and Grin, the Right Way
Want to get a grip and grin of your epic trout and handle it the right way? Good, I was hoping you would say yes.
Trout handling the right way helps ensure her survival and is an important topic to discuss. Because the better you treat her, the more likely she survives, reproduces, and the more trout there are to catch and release in the future.
We all know how exciting it is when you feel the tug and you’ve got a trout on the end of your line. Yes! Now what?
You could grab her with your oily dry hands. You can hold her out of the water for a minute to look at her. You could squeeze the daylights out of her for your grip and grin. Or, you could do none of those things and treat her right, while still getting an even more epic photo.
Trout handling the right way ensures a less stressed-out trout, less internal damage, and a healthy survivor. So, follow these simple steps below on how to handle your trout and still get a stellar grip and grin.
Keep trout wet! Trout are meant to live in water, yeah, I know, pretty obvious right? So why hold them out of the water for a minute? Or place them on the bank? Instead keep them wet and in the water. An easy way for you and the fish is with a rubber net. They can hang out in a net for a quick few while you retrieve your flies, measure her, and grab a few photos.
*Remember, as a wise guide once said, every second her head is out of the water is like your head under the water. Think about that one for a moment.
Get your hands wet. Trout have a natural film that covers and protects their scales. If you put dry hands on them, this can remove that film. So, give your hands a dip first to keep their film in place for a longer and healthier life.
Get your flies back. Ideally you want to keep her head in the water when retrieving your flies, but sometimes you can’t. Either way, using your hemostats you want to gently slide or twist the flies out, don’t yank them out.
How to hold your monster. She tugged, you fought, she fought even harder, but your skills won and now this gorgeous vibrant rainbow trout sits in your net. You’re ready for your photo op, but before you reach in and grab ahold, let’s talk about how and where to hold her so you don’t cause her any harm.
Most importantly, be gentle. The less you actually handle a trout, the better. So, don’t squeeze the living daylights out of her. This causes stress and can even damage internal organs. Even if she’s alive during release after this she will be weak, stressed and more venerable to predators and all of that can lead to a quick and unnecessary death.
So, here’s how to hold that big old trout safely and keep her alive
Get your hands wet
Remove flies
Cradle her. Trout will be calmer when they don’t feel threatened. So instead of squeezing, cradle her with your hands from underneath.
Keep your front hand at her fins. This gives her head the support she needs, especially if she’s a big old monster with a massive head. DO NOT put your fingers in her gills, this doesn’t help her breathing or keep her calm.
Keep your back hand at her tail. If she’s a big girl, don’t be afraid to wrap your hand around her wrist (bony part at base of tail). This doesn’t hurt her and gives you more control of her. Again, wrap your hand, don’t squeeze.
It’s easy to get caught up in the excitement and squeeze the jaws of life around her to keep him steady and in picture mode. Remember though, this causes damage and often leads to death. I’m not going to lie, proper fish handling takes some practice, so give yourself some time and reminders on how to properly hold her.
The grip and grin. Now, I get it, there’s nothing better than Instagraming her for bragging rights and proof. And what better way to do it than have her out of the water to show her full size and colors. So, if you are going to do the grip and grin, keep it quick and near water. You can take a lot of photos with a smartphone in 10 seconds or less. And there is absolutely no reason to take a breathing trout out of the water and lay her on the ground to admire, wtf?! Instead keep her in or just above water for a fantastic more natural photo and a quick release.
Some of the best photos out there are of just a trout, in the water, in her natural surroundings. As anglers we respect nature and spending time in it. Nature lets us thrive, unwind, meditate and have a ton of fun. So next time you go to snap a photo of your fish, think about how you're handling her now and the long term effects it will have.
If you handle a trout the right way, they’ll live longer, produce more and give us more opportunities for catching and releasing. What goes around, comes around my friends, so let’s give trout more respect and handle them the right way.