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First Fish if the year

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12K views 4 replies 2 participants last post by  Joe713 
#1 ·
I went to the local marsh yesterday and fished the first few hours of the outgoing tide. I was with my brother and we caught all of our fish on swim shads. They were all shorts, but fun to catch, and assuring that the fish are there, and i actually know what I'm going? i caught three, my brother caught one. Another guy next to us gut hooked a short fish and was going to leave it on the bank to rot because he was going to work. The fish was already dead when he asked if we wanted it. Initially i said no, but after seeing it was just going to rot, i cleaned it and took it home.

I lectured the guy about using circle hooks to prevent this from happening again since he was bait fishing on the bottom with j hooks.

I felt uneasy taking home a short fish, but it was already dead and it would have been a shame for the fish to die in vain.

The action didnt pick up until the tide started to fall a bit.

I look forward to the next time i can get out and feel a nice strong fish pulling on the end of my line. It was a nice reward after a long winter.

Getting away from work and being outdoors near the ocean and wildlife definitely refreshed my spirit.

I hope you all have a great season and catch some fish.

We got an added bonus of seeing a seal in the river fishing himself. Right as we got setup we saw him surface with a small schoolie of his own.
 
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#2 ·
your lucky... you could have ended up with a fine and loss of license and fishing privileges... next time remember the circle of life... something would have eaten it... Now.. congrats on your first outing... that angler could have cut the line close to the hook and the fish would have been fine..
 
#3 ·
Thats what i told him. Sad part is he must have been in his 70s. I woukd have thought he would have known better. I have let many of fish go with a hook still in.

I know what youre saying, i was very hesitant to take the fish, but under the circumstances, i dont believe i did the wrong thing.

I try to be the most ethical ourdoors man i can be, always getting my license and abiding by the laws, but in this case, i thought wanton waste would have been a bigger concern than taking home a dead fish 6" short.
 
#4 ·
Thats what i told him. Sad part is he must have been in his 70s. I woukd have thought he would have known better. I have let many of fish go with a hook still in.

I know what youre saying, i was very hesitant to take the fish, but under the circumstances, i dont believe i did the wrong thing.

I try to be the most ethical ourdoors man i can be, always getting my license and abiding by the laws, but in this case, i thought wanton waste would have been a bigger concern than taking home a dead fish 6" short.
.... it was the ethical thing to do...you did right by the fish that gave up it's life.. ... In my eyes it would be the correct thing to do...by the letter of the law ...not so much... tossing back a bead or severely injured fish doesn't make a whole lot of sense...unfortunately.. the laws are written in a manner that intends on keeping unscrupulous individuals from injuring short fish on purpose just so they can have an excuse to keep them...

good luck with the rest of your season...I'm putting my boat in it's slip tomorrow night...my season starts Wednesday..
 
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