Originally Posted By: esshup
Bill:

I've always heard and read about wetting your hands before handling the fish to remove less of the slime coat. But, lets take RBT for instance. Yes, those slippery squirmy fish. I wonder what does more damage, wet hands and really clamping down on the body of the fish to prevent them from squirting out of your hands, or having dry hands and hot having to squeeze so much?

Personally, I think the best way is to use a rubber net, leave them in the water and take the hook out with hemostats or someting like that.


Good point Scott - I even go barbless fly casting, and try to release without a net or even hemos if possible, but sometimes one still has to handle the larger [15"+] trout. They squirm more than any fish I've ever caught, and while it's hard to admit, I know I've removed a significant portion of a trophy trout slimecoat more than once, and it was probably lethal. It apparently takes more practice than I have logged at this point - and I've been flyfishing for 20+ yrs!

Many men go fishing all of their lives without knowing that it is not fish they are after. ~ Henry David Thoreau

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