Suntzu,

Good to see someone who is more concerned with the conservation of a resource than tapping into it. We should all at least be conscientious of the points made and prepare for each trip accordingly. It's the same in salt water or fresh and for the many species we fish for. Think about what your doing and make sure you have the necessary tools with you to release a fish safely back into their environment. Probably the most important point of the many great points made is lose the treble hooks, they are not necessary and if a trophy fish breaks off with single or even worse multiple treble hooks stuck in it's mouth it's a death sentence which can be completely avoided. Especially with pike these fish are very territorial and once you find them there's a good chance they'll remain in the same general vicinity. I'd rather miss a fish a half dozen times knowing I'm going to have another chance at it as opposed to risk breaking him off on one hit and knowing the fish isn't going to get a second chance because he has a mouth full of treble hooks and won't be able to feed anymore. It takes no time to switch out hooks and it's probably the one thing everyone can do right away to have an immediate impact based on Suntzu's post. The only other comment I'd like to reinforce is keep your fingers out of the fishes gills! All too often you see pictures with people holding fish with their fingers completely inside the gill plates or holding it with one hand and the entire weight of the fish being held by it's gills and head. Fish won't survive that type of handling. Use two hands, one under the belly and one at the tail if you need to take a picture. Stay away from the gills all together. You wouldn't want someone sticking their hands in your mouth or down your throat, a fish can't tolerate that stress on their gills. If their gills are damaged, the fish will not survive. Imagine someone grabbing you by the throat and holding you off the ground for a few minutes. Your head would feel like it was going to explode and you'd probably be dead in 15 seconds. It's no different with a fish. Stay away from their gills, it's a death sentence.

The only thing better than catching a trophy of a lifetime is to see her swim away. Just remember every time you catch a big fish, if the people who hooked that fish before you didn't handle it properly, you would have never had your chance.

Suntzu, good job on creating awareness and I'm sure this thread will have a positive impact on maintaining a great fishery.

Dakota