Land and handle fish in the water.
Minimize Handling
In most cases, safely landing and releasing a fish results in some form of physical contact with the fish. To ensure the time taken when handling fish is reduced, here are a few things we need to consider.
•Always fish with nets: Nets contain the fish while keeping it submerged at the same time and allow us to remove the hook and release the fish with minimal handling.
Always have your landing net close at hand.
•Fish with BARBLESS flies: Not only do barbless flies do less damage to a fish’s mouth, they are also far easier to remove than barbed hooks. By reducing the amount of time it takes to remove a hook, we will have less contact time with the fish, allowing for better recovery and ultimately a stronger fish to be released. I’m not saying only fish flies that are tied on specially made barbless hooks, but rather pleading with you to please, at the very least, flatten the barb on your hooks before you fish them.
Please crimp/flatten the barb before you fish your flies.