How do I unhook and handle a fish safely?

Coarse fishing in Britain is almost entirely catch and release, so how a fish is handled is most of what determines whether it survives. Almost all the damage is done in three ways: dry hands, too long out of the water, and a hard surface. All three take no effort to avoid.

Safety

What you'll need

• A landing net with knotless fish-safe mesh
• A disgorger and forceps
• An unhooking mat where required
• A bucket of water to wet hands and mat
• Antiseptic and plasters for yourself

Step by step

1. Net the fish rather than lifting it.Sink the net, draw the fish over it, and lift the net. Do not chase the fish with the net or scoop at it. Anything above a few ounces should be netted; lifting on the line drops fish and tears mouths.
2. Wet your hands and the mat before touching it.Fish carry a protective slime layer against parasites and infection. Dry hands, dry grass, dry clothing and dry mats all strip it. Dip your hands in the water first, every time.
3. Keep the fish low and over something soft.Unhook it in the net at the water's edge, or on a wetted unhooking mat. Never on gravel, concrete, decking or a hard bank, and never at waist height where a wriggle drops it onto something hard.
4. Support it properly.One hand under the belly taking the weight, the other steadying it. Never hold a fish vertically by the jaw alone if it is large, never squeeze it, and never put fingers anywhere near the gills, which are delicate and bleed catastrophically.
5. Push a barbless hook back the way it came.Most barbless hooks come out with a gentle push and twist in the reverse direction, often with no tool at all. This is the main reason fisheries require barbless hooks.
6. Use forceps for a hook in the mouth.Grip the bend of the hook with forceps, turn it, and back it out along its own path. Do not pull straight — that tears.
7. Use a disgorger for a hook that has gone down.Keep the line tight, run the disgorger down the taut line with the slot engaged on the line, push it firmly onto the hook eye to dislodge the hook, then lift both out together. Practise the motion before you need it.
8. Cut the line if the hook is deep.If a hook is in the throat or gill area and cannot be reached quickly, cut the line as close to the hook as you can and return the fish. A hook left in place is often expelled or corrodes away; a fish held out of water while you dig for a hook usually does not survive.
9. Keep it out of the water for seconds.Have the camera, the mat and the tools ready before the fish comes out. Thirty seconds is a long time for a fish. If you want a photograph, get everything set up first, take it quickly and low over the mat, and put the fish back.
10. Return it properly.Lower it into the water and hold it upright, facing into any current, until it takes hold and swims off under its own power. A fish released before it has recovered turns over and drifts, and often dies. In warm, low-oxygen water this recovery takes longer.
11. Handle sea fish with respect for their spines.Bass, weever fish, scorpion fish, dogfish and many others have spines, rough skin or teeth. Use a cloth or gloves, hold behind the head, and know what you have caught. A weever fish sting is intensely painful and is treated by immersing the area in water as hot as can be tolerated.
12. Look after yourself.Hooks in fingers happen — barbless ones back out, and a barbed hook in past the barb is a medical matter rather than a bank-side one. Cover cuts before fishing, use hand gel before eating, and take Weil's disease seriously: flu-like symptoms after contact with fresh water need a doctor and a mention of where you have been.

Tips

• Keep the forceps and disgorger on a lanyard round your neck. Fumbling for them in a box is exactly the delay that hurts fish.
• Barbless or micro-barbed hooks are easier on the fish, easier on you, and required at most fisheries.
• Do not keep fish in a keepnet unless the fishery permits it and you need to, and never in warm shallow water in summer.
• Rest a swim after landing a big fish — the disturbance affects everything nearby for a while.
• Photograph the fish over the mat, kneeling, low to the ground. It is safer for the fish and the picture is better.

Common mistakes

• Handling fish with dry hands — It removes the slime coat that protects the fish from fungus and infection, and the damage is invisible at the time and often fatal later.
• Holding a fish up by the gill covers or squeezing it — Gills are fragile and highly vascular, and internal organs are easily crushed. Support under the belly instead.
• Keeping a fish out of the water for a long photograph session — The fish is suffocating throughout. Set the shot up first, take it in seconds, and return the fish.

If it doesn't work

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