Conference wahoo::fishing

Hmmm, this sounds familiar...  anyway....
When I used to keep (and eat) all my bass (my first year out, 3 years ago, 
before becoming a catch and release advocate), I kept them on a cheap (cord 
type) stringer and the fish would often be dead, or in pretty tough shape 
when I'd pull the canoe out.  However, I was not taking great care to protect
them either.  I'd imagine that a good stringer (chain and clip) hanging over
the side of a canoe would be fine - providing some care was taken not to drag 
them thru brush piles, etc...                                
                                                             
I personally think that anything bigger than a canoe should have no problem 
holding a small aerated livewell.  And one battery is fine, my battery is
1/2 dead and it can still power my trolling motor, nav. lights, spotlight,
fishing lights, and livewell without any problems.        Don Mac

    I dont no about bass (I always release), , but I used a stringer for
    trout for the longest time (clip type) it was rare to find a dead
    trout on the stringer at the end of the day. 
    
    I dont think running an abrasive cord through their gills would do
    any good though.  

    Bass Federation rules are written with the intent that the fish
    are to be released into their environment with the least possible
    harm.....therein the use of aerated live wells.
    
    While using a leader may be O.K. for anyone planning on eating their
    catch of the day, it's considered cruel and un-usual punishment
    by many (akin to being dragged by one of your lungs through a lake
    for half a day) when/if you release the catch at then end of the
    day (if your haven't enough to make a meal of it).  The resultant
    fish will go off to die in agony.
    
    By the way, it's possible to purchase a live-well aerator that can
    run on a set of D-batteries for 48 hours; so I doubt they put much
    strain on the boat battery.
    
    
    

    I've seen both trout and bass survive and die on my clip stringer.
    I dont keep bass anymore, but love to eat trout.  I agree with 445.3
    that being dragged by your lung can't do the fish any good.  If
    you start moving through the water at a good clip dragging your
    fish around the lake they will die, I've had it happen, more often
    with trout than bass.   The reason I keep trout is because the state
    put them in and most of them wont survive the warm waters of summer
    anyway, plus they are mighty tastey.
    
    Gulp
    Les

    When I put fish on a stringer I do not put the stringer thru
    the gills instead I will take and puncture a small hole in the
    bottom of the jaw so that the stringer has a hold of the lower jaw
    only. I supose that there is some chance that this might be
    attacked by bacteria but it never bleeds or anything like that.
    
    It works with trout and bass. You can do the same thing with
    safety pin type or the string type of stringers.
    
    I would not know if this is excepted by your rules nor do I care
    I present this method only as an alternative and in my opinion
    it is better than sticking anything thru a fishes gills.
                                                            
    I sometimes use this while I am cod fishing. When you are out
    at sea and the sun is beating down on the boat it will help to keep
    the fish fresh if they are kept in the cold ocean water.
                                                            
    With the cod fish it is not important to keep them alive since they
    often have been brought up from such depts. It is just a method
    of preserving the fish when you forgot, or ran out of ice.
    
    Bear

    RE.5
    
          That is the correct way to put a fish on a stringer.  If you
    hook it through the gills the fish will not be able to breath
    correctly.  I have good luck using a stringer as long as I pull
    the fish up before moving on!
    
    						John
    

    I agree with what Bear has said.  I believe that the correct method
    for putting a fish on a stringer is throught the lower lip.  I wouldn't
    However, plan on dragging them behind the boat for any length of
    time and still expect to find them alive.
    Jeff

    	Don brought up a point which I didn't elaborate on because I've
    made the point elsewhere in here about "good" and "bad" (cord and
    clip) stringers. There is no doubt that the cheap cord type stringers
    are no good if you want to keep fish alive.
    	Bear also brought up a good point about the best way to use
    a good stringer.
    	In anything more stable than a canoe (crawdad on up) the cooler
    doesn't present a problem. I usually carry a cooler with a couple
    six packs of cold ones in my canoe with no problems anyway. The
    problem is when you have to change the water. I fished a tourney
    one time where stringers weren't allowed but you could use a cooler.
    This was in a rented 14 foot aluminum boat with a 10 horse merc..
    Two of my 5 fish died and my biggest jumped out of the cooler back
    into the water. The whole thing left a very bad taste in my mouth.
    Had I used a good stringer, I would have had time to catch more
    fish, keep the one's I had alive without losing any, and placed
    in the money (around 5th instead of 21st). To make matters worse
    the event was televised and the announcer *had* to make a comment.
    I almost told him where he could put his dead fish and looking back
    on it I should have.
	In regards to battery power, if you have a gas motor on the
    back then you aren't using your trolling motor anywhere near as
    much as someone without one. That coupled with the clip-on-the-
    battery-type aereator that I have guarentees a dead battery after
    an 8 hour tourney (maybe less depending on wind).
    	As far as whether I would like being dragged around a lake by
    my lungs, I wouldn't. For that matter though, I'd much less prefer
    to be filleted :-)

    RAYJ

    	I agree with Bear.  Hook 'em through the lower lip.  I kept
    a mess of Crappie last week-end with my son.  We hooked them through
    the lower lip and still fished for another 6 hours after catching
    the first one.  All were alive at the end of the day when we put
    them in the cooler.  
    	I kept one Bass for the day.  He was hooked on a Rapala and
    had one set of trebble hooks in the gills (pretty badly torn up
    by the time I landed him) and the other hook through an eye.  He
    was bleeding badly before I was able to lip him.  I feel he would
    have just died anyway since he kept turning belly-up when I tried
    to release him.  This was the only fish out of 10 on the stringers
    that died.  So, if you don't drag them around at 50 MPH, they should
    survive if handled and hooked on the stringer correctly.
    	Oh, just one thing about cord (string type) stringers.  The
    abrasiveness of the cord removes the protective coating on the fish
    much worse than the chain does.  This leads to more of the fish
    dying later due to fungus growth.

    Ole Coonass don use da stranger in de summer. Wan it git hot de
    cottonmouf gits foonchock an watch de boats fo strangers. Somtimes
    wan I pull op de stranger it full ob dem cottonmoufs. But wan chew
    don hav fish dey wan to come in de boat wit chew. Ast ole Joe wat
    ole Coonass do den!! If chew go too slow or jes leave de stranger
    still, lak on a peer, sometim de turtles eat dem op.
    
    Ole Coonass
    

       You're right about the turtles coonass, I had a nice trout on
    a stringer and all of a sudden the fish takes off like a jet.
    I grabbed the stringer and got into a pretty good tug-o-war with
    a big snapper. I did win though.
                                        Denny

It strikes me that this topic was probably started in an effort to explore the
possibility of relaxing the RULES about no stringers in our upcoming tournament
at Monononac.  It has been a while since there has been any activity here so
I'll suggest (in view of the support the originator of the topic received) that
the use of stringers be allowed:

		1: In all canoes (safety issue)
		2: In boats without 12v battery (due to time changing water)
		3: Clip type stringers only
		4: Fish not clipped through the gill slit

I believe the intent of the original rule was to keep the fish alive and
release them with minimum injury.  It is also, I believe, our intent to give
every participant an equal opportunity, and to get maximum participation.
We are out here to have fun and promote bass fishing.

Opposing views are welcome.....


							Al

    Hay all one question:  where do you put those fish on stringers
    when the boat is moving?
    
    flopping on the floor....... thats what I thought!!!!
    
    I still stand opposed to stringers.
    
    BBP
    

    Bob
    	Nope, I don't leave 'em floopin on da floor when I'm moving.
    There are 2 reasons for this:
    
    (1) There isn't enough floor in the belly boat for me let alone
    a stringer full of fish.
    and
    (2) I figure they know where the other fish are better than I do
    so I let them tow me to the HOT SPOTS.
    
    :-)  :-)  :-)  :-)
    
    I can really see your point, though.  a small cooler to keep em
    in while hawling to a new spot is advisable.  While you're fishing,
    put em back in the water.
    
    BTW:  It's hard to get up a big head-o-steam in the belly-boats.
     My worst worry is, "Which shore of the lake am I going to end 
    up beached on when I catch my 20#+ Northern and hook him on the
    stringer?????"

Although this has nothing to do with stringers, it does have to do
with "belly-boats."

Last Saturday I went out to Pawtuckaway Lake with one of my sons for an
evening of fishing, arriving at the ramp at about 6:00 PM.  Earlier that day,
from about 10:30 AM to about 3:00 PM, some storm activity passed through the
area with some pretty high winds and heavy rain, but then cleared out.

At the launch ramp, a couple of guys asked me to keep my eyes open for a 
friend of theirs that they dropped off in the mid-morning.  He was using a
belly-boat, but without any type of fins for propellsion.  He was supposed
to meet his ride at the launch by 2:30 PM, but never showed up.

I made a quick run around that end of the lake, but saw no one in a 
float tube.  Humm.... I wonder if he's ok?

So...a word of warning....pay special attention to the sky and don't take
chances.  

-HSJ-