Black Seabass - be ready to sucessfully release one

[lamb]

This stuff made me sick in my stomach... I'm sure all of you feel the same way.

This thread has been on BloodyDecks for some time; I just managed to see it tonight. For all of you that may have missed it like I almost did, please read it... and see all the gut wrenching videos. A-B.Cs of how NOT to handle your BSB catch:

http://www.bloodydecks.com/forums/in...y-updated.html









I'm not getting into whether it's cool or not that DFG didn't even cite the folks involved...

With all the new blood on BWE, I figured it's a good opportunity to remind and educate.

Black Seabass is protected spices that has been making a remarkable comeback in our waters. If you're fishing an open ocean often enough, it's just a matter of time when you'll hook one. You've got to be ready to handle it properly and promptly release it, to reduce a chance of harming the fish.

If you're on something heavy for 10+ mins and the fish seems to show now signs of slowing down, pulling you with powerful yet steady pace, you likely hooked either a thresher or a black seabass. If you're not interested in keeping the T, it's the time to tighten up a drag and horse it up. The longer you fight the BSB, the more worn out it will be when you finally get it to color... The harder it will be to revive it.

Please don't drag the fish out of the water to take a picture... If you must, snap a quick one while it's still in the water.

BSB will likely roll over on it's belly once on the surface - get the hook out, cut the line as close to the hook as you can if gut hooked.

Straighten the fish up, get the water moving through its gills...

Call on a radio for help if you can't handle it yourself (not sure how, the fish is too big to handle, you or the fish is too tired)... Kayakers always help each other out, majority of boaters will come to land a hand as well.

There are many threads on BWE and other fishing and boards on this subject - do your research, put the forum search buttons to work.

I feel the black seabass has the best chance of swimming away if you don't let the fight last till the fish is totally spent.