Wednesday, January 11, 2006

Use Circle Hooks for Catch and Release

We've heard that fish caught and released with circle hooks instead of j-hooks were more likely to live after being released and some early data from a new scientific study is really proving it. Dr. John Graves and graduate student Andrij Horodysky of the Virginia Institute of Marine Science have been investigating the survival of white marlin released from recreational fishing gear. They've been putting satellite tracking tags on white marlin caught with both circle hooks and j-hooks and have found that circle hooks are far less harmful to the marlin. In fact, 7 of 20 marlin caught on j-hooks later died and all of the white marlin caught on circle hooks lived. Research is still ongoing, but if you are going to be releasing your catch, it's becoming clear that using a circle hook can make all the difference. More on Dr. Graves research is available from the CCA's site.

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