We are committed to the concept of catch and release fishing. However, this concept is hardly exclusive. The average fishermen, even those who are trying to catch enough fish for a few meals at home, likely end up putting back a significant proportion of their catch. This may be due to increasingly strict regulations for protecting fish stocks, catch of undesirable fish species or fish too small to take, or several other factors. In any event, the release must be done properly to reduce damage to the released fish. Plus, in some cases care must be taken to protect the angler from a fish thrashing around with exposed hooks in its mouth (especially with treble hooks).
The Catch and Release Stick is based on the observation that fish caught on treble hooks sometimes get free when the hooks become entangled in weeds or the netting of a landing net. We have used this concept to develop a new method for releasing fish in the water without having to land them or even touch them in any way (US Patent #11,229,196).
The device consists of a 3-foot handle with a 3-inch frame at the end. The frame is covered with loosely packed netting and angled to around 80 degrees relative to the handle. The technique is useful for fish caught on treble hooks when one or more unembedded hooks of the treble hook cluster are visible and accessible to the device. A hooked fish to be released is brought alongside the boat and the treble hook is engaged in the netting. The fish can then either shake itself free or be shaken off, with the treble hook retained in the netting.
Remember that this device is useful only for fish caught on lures or rigs with treble hooks (preferably a single treble hook).
Keep the Catch and Release Stick in a place with ready access for those times when a fish is hooked.
When a fish is being played and can be seen, decide quickly if it is a candidate for release by the device:
a. Is the fish one that you want to release without taking measurements or photos?
b. Are free hooks of the treble cluster visible and accessible to the device?
Bring the fish to within about 3-4 feet of the boat or shore and push the netting of the Catch and Release Stick up against the treble hook to catch up an unembedded hook. Note that several attempts may be required if the fish is moving around rapidly or if the hook is only minimally accessible.
Once the hook is ensnared, the fish may shake itself free; if not give a quick shake or two to release the fish.
This process should work most of the time, but if not, then the fish can be lifted aboard so that the hooks can be removed by the usual methods (with the Catch and Release Stick functioning in a gaff-like fashion). The latter technique may also be useful for certain fish caught on lures with multiple treble hooks.
After a successful release, the ensnared treble hook can be removed from the netting as would be done for a lure caught up in a landing net. In fact, the netting of the Catch and Release Stick has been selected for having strands that are thin and relatively hard, to prevent the hook point from penetrating into the strands themselves (which makes removing the hooks much more difficult).
Hypothetical: Let us envision a scenario in which you are in fact the inventor of the Catch and Release Stick. Perhaps you might have come up with the idea after an event like this:
We propose that you are a committed muskie fisherman from Appleton, Wisconsin. Your favorite water is the Eagle River chain in northern Wisconsin, just south of the border with upper Michigan. You have cabin at Catfish Lake on the chain, and you and your wife Jeanie often spend long weekends up there. You don’t have kids yet, but the two of you are looking to start soon.
Unfortunately, Jeanie has an older brother, Malcolm, and he is coming to visit you up north. This means taking Mal muskie fishing and you are not looking forward to that. It turns out that he is a professional bass tournament fisherman from Texas and thus an expert on everything fishing. He’s never gone after muskies, but could that be much different? And he’s only got one day to fish in Wisconsin since he has a gig in Oklahoma coming up. The weather forecast doesn’t look promising for muskie fishing, and you have a bad feeling about how this is going to turn out.
He shows up Friday evening and you take him out on the chain early the next day. As you had feared, most of the day doesn't go well at all. Whatever cloud cover there had been in the morning has long since burned off leaving bright sun and bluebird skies behind. The muskies have apparently taken to lying in the weeds with their fins over their eyes. And Mal certainly isn’t impressed. Even so, he has taken to the muskie tackle very well – it being just a size upgrade from his typical bass outfits. In fact, he’s doing nicely casting the big muskie bucktails the two of you are using. But the fish are not cooperating. Not a strike or even a follow for those hours and hours of casting.
However, about 5 pm or so, when the sun has finally descended a bit, you throw a little too close to the weed edge and get hung up. But then the “weeds” give a couple of pulls back and you know you are on. From the lack of wiggle, you realize it’s a pretty good one. A muskie for sure.
Mal seems dumfounded at first. After all those fruitless hours, he’s come to believe that muskies are just a myth. Now he isn’t sure what to do. He watches as you carefully turn the fish and bring it in closer to the boat. Then he springs into action - he grabs the huge muskie net that he’s been eyeing doubtfully all day and waits for his chance. The fish is still 3 feet away when Mal makes his move. In what seems like slow motion you watch in dismay as the net’s rim sweeps past the fish’s nose, with the net bag dragging behind and tangling up the bucktail’s treble. In an instant the muskie shakes its head and is gone, leaving the lure stuck firmly in the net.
At first you are devastated. This wouldn’t have been your biggest muskie by any means, but still a good mid 40-inch fish. And the idea of Mal having to take your picture holding that muskie would have been very satisfying. Now the adrenaline is wearing off and the two of you are wondering what just happened. At least Mal is very apologetic.
After a moment’s reflection, you explain to him that it doesn’t really matter that much. You, like most muskie fishermen, release every muskie you catch anyway. A photo would have been good, but you have lots of similar ones already. And the fish got away clean. You didn’t have to dump it into the boat, untangle treble hooks from both net and fish, take the hooks out with a forceps, get the fish safely back into the water, wipe up muskie slime from the boat’s rugs, and all that.
Then you have a thought. Maybe with a muskie or other fish to be released, you should do something like that every time. A net itself, with the big rim, would be a little too cumbersome, but what if you attached a clump of netting to a stick, and then…..?
The Catch and Release Stick is born.
This technique is meant for fishermen who use treble hook lures or bait rigs at least part of the time. And it is meant for fish that you clearly want to release without taking measurements or photos.
For muskie fishermen especially, this method can make your fishing day much more pleasant. In many cases you can release undersized muskies or pesky northern pike in the water without needing to mess around with them in the boat.
The Catch and Release Stick concept is entirely new to the fishing world. After extensive patent and internet searches, we can find no evidence of it ever having been used by fishermen before. Therefore, first-time users will face a learning curve for getting the device to perform optimally. On the other hand, the technique for its use is probably no more difficult than that for a landing net.
The Catch and Release Stick method is not always successful even for fish caught on appropriate treble hook lures. The usual problem is that the fish has taken in the hooks too deeply for access by the device. Even so, it can release fish caught on these lures in a significant proportion of cases. We have kept records over the past three years and find the following success rate for muskies and northern pike caught on treble hook lures: For muskies, 66.7% were successfully released in the water (22 of 33), and for northern pike 50% were released successfully (18 of 36). We have also used this device on a large variety of other freshwater and saltwater fish species with approximately similar results.
To date we have had no visible mortality after having released close to two hundred fish using this technique. It is conceivable that some fish may have died after swimming away. In addition, the fish more likely to succumb would probably be the ones with hooks taken in deeply and not amenable to use of this technique. Even so, when it can be used, this technique appears to be much simpler to perform and much less traumatic to the released fish than are the standard release methods now available.
Fishermen in canoes and kayaks have become much more adept at catching big fish - sometimes using treble hooks. Getting such fish aboard and then back into the water may be dangerous in this situation. The Catch and Release Stick may help.
The Catch and Release Stick is not going to replace your net because it doesn't work for every fish you want to release. It is just another fisherman’s tool, like net, pliers, forceps, and so on.
Availability – We have had the Catch and Release Sticks manufactured by our factory and now have a supply available. Please ask for this product at your local tackle store or favorite online retailer.
How to Get a Catch and Release Stick for Free: Please contact us at info@fishgofree.com to become a PRODUCT TESTER. Just describe a little about the kind of fishing you do and give us a good address for where to send the Stick. All we ask is for a report on your experience with the technique sometime during the next open water season.