Icthyologist on crappie.com?

Is there anyone on crappie.com who has a degree in Icthyology, the study of fish?
If so, I have a question for you. I have really been paying attention lately to careful handling of fish after catching. For years I trout fished, and a trout fisherman usually is extremely concerned about the resource and proper handling technique. One of the reasons I respect Richard Gene is the care with which he releases fish. It demonstrates respect for the quarry.
I have a theory that by just slinging a crappie back into the water, we may be inadvertently doing damage to their jaw structure. The lower jaw (mandible) is a fragile joint on many species, including humans. I have recently seen someone hook a crappie up to a scale and then jerk the scale in a vertical direction, evidently to activate the scale, when perhaps a drop of oil would have loosened the spring.
So if anyone could lend their expertise to this discussion, I would be obliged.

D10 on the Arkansas board is a fisheries biologist for AR Game and Fish....he could answer your question.

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Amartinbio on the Kentucky board is a fisheries biologist also.

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Originally Posted by G";3835362]Amartinbio on the Kentucky board is a fisheries biologist also.

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and he's a real nice young man!! loves what he does

I am not aware of any studies that have looked at the how various handling techniques impact a crappies survival post release.

The reason why trout anglers are so concerned with the handling of trout is for a couple of reasons. One - trout are not a very tough fish. It doesn’t take much to accidentally kill one while attempting to release it (if you don’t know what you are doing).
2 - the majority of trout anglers are strictly catch and release anglers only (a topic for another discussion).

Crappie are pretty tough fish and most crappie anglers are NOT catch and release anglers. They (we) are fishing for dinner. But this trend is changing some as more anglers look at crappie fishing as sport fishing.

Here is an interesting study looking at handling techniques for Largemouth Bass, another predominantly catch and release species.
https://www.wired2fish.com/biology/w...ld-a-bass/amp/



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Release fish as gently as possible is what I've always heard.
After all, they are not the enemy, they are our friends.

i try to be nice to them most of the time ,but do toss some from time to time as well .
sometimes though they get nasty with me and beat themselves up during said release .
one thing i often notice is they bolt when they hit the water and i never see them come back .
as far as jaw issues i see a lot of fish with well healed over faces that have missing upper mouth parts and sometimes lower ones as well .
they tend to be on the survivor side of life it seems to me if put back in the water ….
many of them are one eyed as well and doing fine when i ketch them .
this all said i feel kinda sad if i think i permanently injured a release fish and try to let them go on with a minor scrape or three if possible

In my opinion, we should treat every fish we release like it could be the next state or world record when it grows up. You never know. If it is going in the cooler or livewell, no big deal. Just my opinion.


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Originally Posted by funfishers

Release fish as gently as possible is what I've always heard.
After all, they are not the enemy, they are our friends.

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I need more friends then. Lol

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Originally Posted by Pithon

I need more friends then. Lol

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YES and invite them to dinner :Rofl

I've never seen any studies on crappie handling. As my colleague from Arkansas pointed out, there hasn't been much focus on the catch and release aspect. There are a few studies on the handling of largemouth bass that might apply. They concluded that for heavier fish, a two handed hold (one on the lower jaw, and one on the tail) shortened the time needed for the released fish to regain its equilibrium. However, they did not find a major difference in survival between a one handed (one on lower jaw) hold, vs a two handed. It would seem reasonable that the same principles would apply. Crappie do not get as heavy, but their jaw structures are also not as "beefy". The best practice is to keep the fish vertical instead of horizontal unless you are using the two handed hold. Dropping the fish in the water likely has a very minimal effect, however, if you're slinging them 20 feet in the air and judging their dives like the Olympics, then it may be doing some damage.

More important factors for survival are air exposure, livewell temp differences and O2, and excessive slime removal from mishandling (flopping around on carpet, etc.)