releasing kings in the heat of the summer

[BAITNH 16]

 I have had  some problems   releasing kings in the heat of the summer bringing them up  from  40ish degree water to 70ish  have tried  holding the tail and working the fish.  What have you   done to have success  doing this ? How about a fish cradle  ?

[chesapeake 0]

I have used a lip gripper, tied off to a cleat. After a few minutes they are usually swimming with or faster then the boat. If not they go in the box.

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[ifishy 25]

I do the same works well

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[bandrus1 68]

Water goes backwards holding them by the tail

[mercury25 1]

X2 on the grip works awesome 99% of fish bolt off after 5 minutes 

[Xxx 296]

13 hours ago, bandrus1 said:

Water goes backwards holding them by the tail

 

[reeleyz 8]

It is nice to see people releasing fish instead of stacking them in the freezer only to get tossed in a year.

[Drebs12 3]

X3 on the grip. found a cheap rapala lip gripper on sale for $6 on Fish USA a while back. I tie it to 6 ft of para-cord and then latch with a carabiner to a eye bolt  on the boat thats close to water level (happens to be the spot my trailer boat buckle attaches). let the fish swim in the oxygen rich prop wash while I clean up and redeploy rig. usually by the time I'm done with that the fish is kickin good and ready to go back down.

[Sk8man 434]

A main consideration is what you do BEFORE placing them back in the water after bringing them in. Folks often forget about the hot floor of the boat, struggles to net them, bringing in after real long fight on long set-ups, and placing hands or fingers in the gill areas while holding them up vertically for pics and then wonder why they didn't make it. They require care at each step along the way at this time of the year especially and if these things are unrecognized or ignored it leads to poor release results regardless of the method used.

Edited July 10, 2018 by Sk8man

[BAITNH 16]

good point there the less handled  the better off they are 

[ifishy 25]

The grip is nice because you can use it to hold without touching the gills also I like to get them towing than clean the deck and set up a pic that much less time out of water

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[ski-dooz 8]

Where can you buy them?


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[BAITNH 16]

just about anywhere    your local   bait and tackle  shop   should have something