Yellowtail Release
 

Still working on my 2017 compilation... but here's a little preview.

If your freezer/cooler is full, consider releasing some of these big healthy wintertime breeders! The "homeguard hypothesis" is gaining support in the fisheries community, and the big breeder you release could contribute to generations of LJ yellows in the years to come!

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Nicely....
 

Done....:jig:

very cool! :luxhello:

:cheers1:

There is nothing better than watching big yellowtail swim away ... probably a better feeling than catching it honestly.

Nice Chris!:paddleersmilie::notworthy:

Did you lip that fish? Not sure if you did that only because it was a somewhat smallish fish or because it's fairly harmless (to your hands) to do that even with the bigger YT.

Beautiful blue underwater release Chris. :)

Go on a 3/4 trip out of san diego in the summer and you will see yellowtail swimming away all day long. You will feel great!

Great post!!!

Congrats very nice video and a great post on something very worthwhile. Had the pleasure to be able to release several good size Yellows in 2015, last year I just didn't get to go fishing enough. I wish now I had taken more pictures, only remembered once and posted on August 2015. Last year I released all the Yellow Tail I caught during the Islander San Clemente Kayak Fishing 2.5 day trip. I was an easy choice since they were all 9-13 lbs. Thanks for sharing Chris.

Nice

Nice release Chris!

My wifes Filipina
 

Nuff said!!:sifone:

Sarcastic? Nothing wrong with releasing fish ... and who needs to go on a 3/4 when you have a kayak.

I might start releasing some after I catch one or two, but the first one is going in my belly

Yes hes making a funny
 

I believe he is referring to all the noobs who lose fish on the 3/4 rental road trips. :bigear:

Gotcha, might have interpreted it wrong ha.

I guess I took it as sarcastic also, because what i've seen on boats is they like to maximize the fish count. I have seen the deck on the way in with large numbers of very small fish when that's all they found. After only catching large Yellows from a kayak and releasing all the small ones, all I could think when I saw that many small 8-12 lb yellows, was "Baby Killers".

Are the YT's safe to handle? Both for the fish and for us? Curious because I have no idea..... :yt:

Yep, just like a bass. They are pretty hardy fish and will almost always swim away. Unlike a wsb, black sea bass, and a few others.

Good to hear. Thanks for the info!

As noted above yes they are very hardy fish.

In New Zealand they have a tagging program where they gaff fish, tag them, and release them.... and from tag recoveries it seems many of them survive!

There was a small tagging program here for a while too....

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you might recognize the pesky yakker in the background :D

LOL Greg Andrew lurking in the sonar cone?!

I would love to have the opportunity to tag fish. I feel like it would be even more incentive to release more fish.

Having GoPro really helps when releasing too. I feel like even with the fish I keep, the video is the most valuable part of the equation.

Great video and well done with the release.
A few asked about handling and lipping YT. Basically YT have no teeth. They have a sand paper feeling similar to large mouth bass. They do have strong jaws but can't hurt you. Their gill plates aren't sharp either.
Like all jacks they have 2 small, but sharp, spines tight in front of their anal fin.

YT are easy fish to release and have an extremely high survival rate.

Personally I very rarely put fish in the freezer. I eat it or give it away. But I don't feel like I have to feed the whole neighborhood either. I've certainly failed at this but I don't keep alot of fish cause I'm confident I'll catch more soon. Mike

As 2 whales said, YT are hardy.

Years ago I worked for the Hubba Institute.

We collected YT for brood stock. We fished off the Dolphin sports boat out of Islandia.
As I recall we landed 13 fish in the 15-20 lb range. We used big long handed soft nets to lift the fish, laid them on a damp towel to unhook them, then put them in the bait tank. The YT rolled over on to their backs and laid on the bottom just gilling gently.

Back at the dock we netted them again, ran them up to our tank truck, drove the short way to SeaWorld, netted them again, and put them in to round 12' diameter 3' deep tank. I kid you not, 2 days later they were eating. And within the week they would see us standing over the tank and come to us o be fed.
Of the 13 collected 12 survived. The 1 that died had been gill hook and came in bleeding. But I think it still lived a week. Mike

That is a rad story thanks for sharing.

Meanwhile a 'dine can't live for more than thirty-eight seconds in my bait tank...

Jacks must just be hardy like that. "Spanish" macs are related to yt, and they are little survivors, too.

The one and only....

Releasing is always a good feeling. I wish we had funds and time to keep tagging yellows. Sadly those days are over for now. One of the fish I tagged in La Jolla was recaptured over a year later.... in La Jolla. Just saying.

I wouldn't go so far as to say their mouths can't hurt you. I have a nice scar to prove it! A big "green" yellow can lock down on your thumb... and if it decides to spin when locked on it's like 60 grit sandpaper and will leave you a nice red bare patch on your thumb. That said a played out (fought for over 5 minutes) and tired yellowtail will probably just sit there trying to breath. Best to leave the fish in the water and not try to grab it. Just take your pliers and remove the hook as it sits there... this is easy to do from a kayak.

Yes they are easy to release. Just make sure there are no dogs around when you release them or they won't last long!

I stopped giving fish to my neighbors years ago.... I used to give people fresh caught fish. That was until I learned that 90% of those people just threw the fish in their freezers and would forget about it until it was freezer burned and then toss it out.... lame! :doh:

We released more yellowtail than we kept. By the time kayak fishing season rolled around we usually had a freezer full of albacore and the occasional bluefin. No need to kill another fish. Also, cleaning a couple hundred pounds of albacore did not leave much enthusiasm for cleaning any more fish...

I've lipped a 100-130 lb BSB before to get a jig stuck way down its throat but I was pretty sure that'd be harmless enough. Just wasn't sure about YT. Cool. I like having some fish in the freezer every now and then but there are many times when I just want to fish for fun and really don't want to mess with bringing fish back home and knowing this will make it easier for me to release some of these YT.

+1

I fish for sport and thrill, not for food...(but I'm not against a legal catch either)....

Owyn is that a boogie board under the spray guard?

Yes sir it is. For emergency purposes... poor mans life raft :kayak-surfer:

I'm not sure the difference in biology between tuna and YT. But check this article out. All 57 tuna caught and released survived. And if anything I feel that YT would be more hardy as they can withstand greater fluctuations in water temp. So maybe they'd be able to pull oxygen better from the water once they're 'catching their breath' after a fight? Idk

http://www.outdoorlife.com/blogs/gon...e-tuna-fishing

Nice release though!

good job!

You did a good job capturing that underwater video.

2 whales. I hear you about people not appreciating and wasting fish you give them. My circle of fish recipients is small and loves fresh fish. My sisters in-law will come and pick it up on her lunch break so she can cook it that night. Mike