Balckfish Dead or Alive

[Rubberhead]

This may open a can of worms. Due to the anatomy of a Blackfish does anyone have an idea of the mortality rate of all these catch and release Blackfish? Just wondering if we are harming our fish stock, esp. the big breeders.

[Solemate]

Nope Very hearty fish

[Gerry Zagorski]

One of the heartiest fish for sure. Best thing to do is not handle them and use a de hooker.

[tautog]

Water under 90 feet, very low mortality. Over 90 feet, it depends on how quickly you reel them up. If you go slowly after the first 20 feet, they are usually just fine.

[dales529]

Very hearty fish and once AGAIN, recreational fishermen do very little to harm an entire stock, Same goes for Fluke where the perceived 10% mortality rate on throwbacks. It may have been an issue in the past (1970's 1980's) on many species but not any more given the knowledge, skill and tackle currently used. Please refrain from giving NOAA more ammunition to reduce our quotas on all species

Tog C&R is a fun and valid sport with no harm to the stock when you look at the boats and anglers that really do it

[SaltLife1980]

I did and Catch and Release trip on Sat with Tagged fish and all the fish swam away happy. Second they hit the water they were right back to the bottom.

[Joey Dah Fish]

If you think this may be the case and I don't agree. Once again please realise that Fisherman want to fish and bad regs, bad data and bad science causes fisherman to target other species when they're not allowed to fish for a species that's stock has been rebuilt to over 230%. Bad regs are bad regs and have consequences. Call your Senator and Congressman and ask them to support the modern fishing act.

[reason162]

That's the thing, tog are cursed with a robust constitution, they are easy to keep alive and hence you see them crammed in tanks (often via illegal potting) in markets across the region. Luckily for us, that same hardy spirit means you can catch and release the same tog multiple times...they possess the very qualities that make a sustainable trophy fishery possible: very low mortality rate, returning to the same rock year after year, and living an incredibly long time.

Next time you reel in that 8, 9, 10+ lber, please consider taking a great photo and letting him/her swim free, regardless of the season! The big ones don't taste that good anyway, 3/4lbers taste MUCh better, and you can catch the old guy/gal again next year, when they're just a little bigger. A #10+ tog is over 20 years old, many are much older than that, and of all the fish that swim our local waters they are by far the most intelligent and imo the most intriguing by far.

[TerriMc223]

Hardy! I'll say!
I caught one keeper the other day on the Capt. Cal. She busted straight out of my cooler, jumped into my crab bucket and ate half of them before dumping the rest to her friends in the ocean before jumping over the rail flipping me the fin on her way back to the wreck! Pretty sure I heard her laugh and say something like " Thanks for the snacks sucker!" on her way down.
:)