Catch & Release? Make SURE Your Trophy Fish Survives
- By: Pat Ogletree
- on
- Found In: Fishing Tips, Inshore Fishing, Weekly Newsletter: 03-23-25
Learn How to Safely Hold Your Trophy Catch
As anglers, we take pride in catch and release, but are the fish actually surviving? Trophy fish need to be handled with extra care. Just because a fish swims away doesn’t mean it’s in good shape. Improper handling can cause internal damage, stress, and even death long after it’s out of sight.
In this video, I’m breaking down the most common trophy-fish-handling mistakes and showing you how to properly release fish so they have the best chance of survival. Whether you’re fishing from a boat, kayak, pier, or wading, these tips will help ensure that your trophy catch lives to fight another day.
Beast Mode Bump RulerWhat You’ll Learn in This Video:
- Why holding fish vertically can be deadly
- The dangers of lip grippers & how to use them properly
- How to support big fish for safe handling
- The right nets & tools to minimize harm
- Best practices for measuring fish
Keep the Fishery Strong—One Catch at a Time
If you’re serious about protecting the fish you love to catch, proper handling is key. By making a few small adjustments, you can make a huge impact on fish survival rates.
Have you ever seen (or made) one of these fish-handling mistakes? Drop a comment below! The more we share, the more we can spread the right message and protect our waters for future generations.
-Pat
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How about a follow up video of how to revive them? Especially when catching them from land/docks or piers. Great video as always.
Great info Pat! I would add maybe an additional breakdown on specific species like seatrout slime coat being more delicate or being able to grab snook easily by mouth while also supporting belly as seen in the videos. I tend to haul up the fish out of water right after landing in net but after watching this video it’ll help me be more conscious about leaving them in water until I’m ready to measure and snap that pic.
Very informative for me. I recently purchased a lip gripper with built-in weight scale. If you’re not supposed to hang the fish vertical, how do you properly weigh the fish? My question is specific to salt water bay fish, not freshwater such as big mouth bass.
Great video Pat. We all need to be careful with the fish we plan to release. The new measuring tool will be a big space saver and make we are using a similar device to the game warden. Thanks Pat.
We can all work on being better. Thanks for watching!
Great video Pat. We all make mistakes but we need to learn so we can get better. I love fishing and learned many years ago about the importance of catch and release. But never shown the proper way to handle the fish. When I joined Salt Strong a few years ago was the first time I heard about it. Your video helped remind me of the best practices. Keep up the great work you do.
Thanks Michael! None of us were born with the knowledge so we must pass it down so everyone can learn.
Another great video, I learned a lot & I hope others do the same. Thanks Pat
Thanks for watching Nick!
Yo Pat……. Does Salt Strong have access to selling those type nets that you talked about ?
Not that I know of. I’ll have to do some digging and see if some of our discount partners offer one.
Great info Pat!!!
Thanks James!
Good stuff once again. It took me longer to go through all the comments than to watch the video. Time out of water while fumbling for hook remover and phone along with release technique are other great topics no one wants to hear. Thanks for the info as I always have room to improve also.
That’s a big one, the main reason I net most of my fish.
It pains me to see fish especially bull reds being held up vertically from metal fish grips or any grips for that matter. Good reminder Pat. This should be re released every 3 months so newbies see this.
I think we should put this in the fishing school so even the new anglers that goes through it can see. I don’t think people are knowingly harming the fish, they just don’t know better.