Tackle, fish care and fishing safety

Tackle, briefly

Line and hook choice follows the fish and the cover. The guide's judgment is to rig for the client's skill, not for your own: a beginner with too light a line loses fish and enthusiasm.

Barbless or pinched barbs where you intend to release: better for the fish, and far better for the afternoon when a hook goes into a client's ear.

Catch and release, done properly

1. Play the fish quickly. An exhausted fish often dies after release even when it swims away
2. Keep it in the water as much as you can, and keep air exposure under about fifteen seconds
3. Wet your hands or use a wet rubberised net. Dry hands strip the protective slime
4. Never touch gills or eyes. Support the belly of a heavy fish rather than hanging it vertically by the jaw
5. Cut the line at the hook if it is deep. A hook rusts out; digging for it does not
6. Revive it facing into the current until it swims off under its own power
7. For the photograph: have the camera ready first, lift, shoot, back in the water. Not the other way round

Care of a fish you keep

• Kill it promptly and humanely, and bleed it. A fish left to suffocate in a bucket is poor eating and poor practice
• Get it cold immediately. Ice, and plenty of it. Heat is what ruins fish, and a fish on a stringer in warm summer water is spoiling
• Gut promptly and keep the cavity clean and cold. Do not let fish sit in melt water
• Know the transport rules: many waters require fish to be kept whole or with skin on until you get home, so a warden can identify and measure them
• For a trophy going to a taxidermist, do not gut it. Wrap it in a wet towel, freeze it flat in a bag with fins folded flat, and photograph it fresh for colour. Ask the taxidermist first, before the trip
• Mention fish consumption advisories. New York publishes health advisories for particular waters and species, and clients taking fish home for their family deserve to hear about it from you

Fishing safety

• Hooks. Eye protection for everyone, always, especially with children or beginners casting. Know the hook removal methods and when to stop and go to a doctor, which is any hook in a face, eye, joint or artery
• Wading. Felt or studded soles, a wading staff, face upstream and shuffle, unbuckle nothing, and use a wading belt cinched tight so waders cannot fill. Cross at the wide shallow places, not the narrow deep ones. Know when the water is too high, and say so
• Cold water. The best fishing months in New York are the coldest water months. PFDs on, and remember the 1 November to 1 May wear rule for vessels under 21 feet
• Sun, dehydration and insects, all of which are worse on open water than clients expect
• Lightning. A carbon rod raised on open water is exactly what it sounds like. Off the water at the first thunder
• Ice. All of Unit 9 applies. Test as you go, spread the party out, carry ice picks and a throw rope

Invasive species

Clean, drain, dry boats, waders, boots and nets between waters, and never move fish, water or bait from one water to another. Felt soles are especially good at moving didymo and other organisms; scrub and dry them thoroughly or use rubber. This is a guide's professional obligation more than anyone's, because you fish more waters in a season than your clients do in a decade.