Sarley: The differing viewpoints about catch-and-release fishing fascinate me

I am sure that you have all heard the term “catch and release.” It refers to the concept of catching fish and putting them back in the water to live another day, grow larger and be caught again.

It’s a great concept and has worked a lot to improve the quality of many lakes, ponds and rivers, but it is only a concept, not a law.

As long as a fisherman follows the rules and keeps his or her limit or less and keeps fish of the legal size, there is nothing wrong with keeping fish to eat.

Social media is full of posts blasting anglers for keeping their fish. That is not fair. State departments of natural resources work on the theory that a certain number of a waterway’s fish are going to be kept.

We can only work to keep getting the word out about releasing fish, just don’t get in fights or arguments about the subject.

I was on a father and son fishing trip one time. Fishing was tough and the promised shore lunch we were going to have seemed like an impossibility. My 13-year old son caught a nice 4-pound walleye. We took a picture and he slipped it back into the water. I was stunned. I asked why he did that. He said it was his fish and he didn’t want to kill it. His fish, his choice. We ate peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for lunch that day.

Later that day, one of our group, a 16-year-old boy, asked me to look at a fish in his livewell because he didn’t know what he had caught. I identified the fish as a bowfin, commonly called a dogfish. It was the largest dogfish I had ever seen.

I told him what it was and explained that it was considered a rough fish and really had no value. They weren’t good to eat and often killed more esteemed fish like bass. I personally would throw the dogfish away and not return it to the lake.

The young man thanked me for the information and told me he was going to release the fish alive. He told me, “God wouldn’t have made the fish if it had no value.” I couldn’t argue with him and watched him release the fish.

Same trip, different day. A 14-year-old boy came up to me crying. He said he caught a muskie and his father was making him keep it so it could be mounted for the family’s living room wall. The boy wanted no part of this and wanted the beautiful fish released.

The father told me that some day his son would be thankful that he had mounted the fish. He told me that he didn’t want his son to turn into a “sissy.” I said that fishing didn’t have anything to do with a boy being a sissy or not. He disagreed and looked like he was going to take a swing at me.

I told him that I was not involved in the family fight, but I hoped the guy knew what the legal limit was for muskie in that county. He wasn’t sure but said they were keeping the muskie anyway. I told him I hoped the Wisconsin DNR caught him and threw the book at him. I felt so sorry for the boy who bawled for hours. I think this is an example of child abuse, and all over a fish. Unbelievable.

One fishing outing and three different examples of the belief of catch-and-release. I find the subject extremely interesting.

• Daily Herald Outdoors columnist Steve Sarley can be reached at sarfishing@yahoo.com.