Disgrace on Elk

When i was at Walnut 2 weeks ago fishing Manchester, somebody snagged a stringer with 2 fish on it, the fella that snagged them let them go but i'm sure it tore the hell outta their gills and they probably didn't make it long after. I'm sure it was fun fighting 2 at once tho.
 
Ronnie

That storys defanitely fits the topic

Many years ago I use to use the steel clip stringer type. One day the creeks were flowing pretty hard. I had 2 fish on my stringer clipped to my hip boot. I started walking up stream and noticed my left boot got very light all of a sudden. I looked down and low and behold both fish were gone. Here the clips bent open and " released" both fish. I only use rope stringers because of that lesson.

If I plan on keeping any fish, and I do on occasion, but none yet this year, I try to gill them(bleed them out) and get them on ice/snow ASAP. Don't like to leave them in the water for any lenght of time dead or alive. I'll make the trip back to the car with one fish just to keep it fresh.  

While fishing Elk on Sunday a gentleman landed a pretty decent sized steelie and asked me to take his picture with his camera.  I obliged.  Instead of holding the fish near the water, he stood up with the fish and proceded to drop the fish on the rocks, twice.  As he released the fish, it beagan to go belly up.  I said I hoped he had a stringer.  His reply was that he didn't keep these "stinkin" fish, and there's thousands in the stream, so what's another dead one.  I walked into the water and was able to revive the fish.  It did finally swim away and seemed to be all right.  I guess.  What bothers me most is the mentality I've seen this year with people handling fish.  It's true there are thousands of fish in the streams, but I've seen way too much dropping of fish, kicking fish back into the water, and lifting them by the gills and then throwing them back in.  And not caring that they're doing so.  Sorry, just my rant from this past weekend's experience.

****DELETED****

Loopy makes a good point.  Even though there are a lot of fish in the streams, there is absolutely no reason to abuse the ones you happen to hook.  Even if you are going to keep one, handle it with care. 
 
As for kicking, there is kicking and there is guiding the fish with your foot.  I try not to touch the fish if possible.  I land then on some gravel or slate, pull out the hook with hemostats and then use my foot to push the fish back into the water. 
 
If I decide to keep one, I put it on a rope, and tie the rope to a rock or log and leave the fish alive until I am ready to leave.  Right before I leave, I bleed the fish by cutting it just below the gills and inserting the knife into its heart.  I put the fish back into the water and let it bleed.  This has worked well for me.  When I get home, which is only about 20 minutes away, I immediately gut the fish, remove the gills and wash out the body cavity to remove all the blood.  The fish is then put into the refrig or immediately delivered to the person I am giving the fish to.
 
Some will disagree with keeping the fish alive on a rope, but from my experience it seems to keep the fish fresher than killing it immediately when the temperatures are warm.  When there is snow on the ground and the temp's are at or below freezing, killing and bleeding the fish and then puting it in the snow is actually not a bad idea.  
 
Whatever you do in regards to keeping fish, please only keep those you can use and release the rest carefully.

It all comes down to respect.... respect the fish as God's creation, try and be humane, kill only what u must and don't waste it.  Respect other fisherman, respect the streams and the property you're on. 

Here is one that fits this category.
 
I was at Elk access early in the year.  Fishing off the rock wall at night.  While I was there fishing two guys came in.  We were all catching fish.  This was before the rain so they were stacked in there.  Well the two guys next to me caught a few nice fish and decided to keep one a piece.  No big deal.  But this is like 4:30 or 5 AM.  So they rope them and tie them to the rocks.  Well one of the guys starts complaining about the cement he got in his eye at work.  So he goes and lays in the car about and hour or so later on his body goes to check on him.  He comes back and says my buddies eye hurts but he didnt care cause he was cathing fish.  Still ok.  So at about 7:45 or 8 AM this guy who is still fishing next to me decides it is time to leave cause it got crowded no big deal.  So he just leaves.  Well as he is walking away I remember that he left his fish so I am yelling to him about his fish.  He just ignored me.  Now I was in a dilema.  Do I take these guys fish and give them away or do I just leave them there and hope they come back.  Well I changed spots and wasnt realy thinking about this other guys fish.  So I went upstream to see some guys I know.  well then I go back to the trailer and come back at 4 pm and start fishing the same area I was in the AM and low and behold I see the ropes still.  I was amazed.  I was like I cant believe this.  Then right before dark this joker comes back to the same spot and grabs the fish.  I said to him why not take them before.  His answer I didnt want my car/ truck to stink.  Almost fell in the water from this answer.  Next time I see him do something like this sorry but a WCO is getting called.  he left these fish there for almost 14 hours.  That is obviously not right.
 
My opinion is take the fish with you when ever you move or dont keep them at all until you are ready to leave.
 
Sorry for the long post but it hit this topic well.

ORIGINAL: fisherofmen376

It all comes down to respect.... respect the fish as God's creation, try and be humane, kill only what u must and don't waste it.  Respect other fisherman, respect the streams and the property you're on. 

 
i think everyone should read this post a few times..fisherofmen, you hit the nail on the head.

ORIGINAL: HardCore Fisher

When i was at Walnut 2 weeks ago fishing Manchester, somebody snagged a stringer with 2 fish on it, the fella that snagged them let them go but i'm sure it tore the hell outta their gills and they probably didn't make it long after. I'm sure it was fun fighting 2 at once tho.

Ronnie

 
I was fishing there when they guy lost his stringer. He started wading in the Manchester hole trying to find it. You guessed it. The F bomb's started flying everywhere so the man gave up looking.
 
Jm1

Talk about horrible.

 
 

I saw this near the wall at Walnut while fishing there late one night a few weeks ago.

I can't believe how everyone seems to overlook the logic of the picture above-- clearly the fish was left exposed to keep the raccoons from tearing up the garbage bags. 

Another thought on the subject is that those fish on that stringer were some licensed fisherman and by buying that license he has bought the RIGHT to keep 3 per day....  :)