Rethinking Catch-and-Release Trout Fishing
On some of the country's best trout streams, catch-and-release may be doing more harm than good, raising the question of whether we should be killing more trout.
Twenty years ago, Trent Tatum and his business partner began building a fishing empire on a blue-ribbon tail water in central Wyoming. Two clients could catch up to 80 fish a day, roughly 40 rainbow, brown, or cutthroat trout per angler on a boat floating a dozen miles of river.
“It was absurd,” says Tatum, co-owner of the North Platte Lodge and The Reef Fly Shop.
Anglers would cast three flies below a strike indicator, offering hungry trout a veritable buffet of options drifting downstream. Most of those trout that were netted and hoisted for a picture likely lived, splashing water through the air and then disappearing back into the river.
Author's summary: Rethinking catch-and-release trout fishing methods.