Mahi-Mahi gets revenge at "Monte"!

COL. MAHI  "DID YOU ORDER THE SNARE?", "YOUR GOD DAMM RIGHT I DID"....

 

Awesome fish Dan! - Congratulations and dam I'm envious. Nice choice to C&R. That must have been difficult - well done.

John

Handling sturgeon has been covered over and over on this board.  There's a big difference between lifting a fish by the gill plates, or snaring by the gill plates to lift out of the water, and the type of handling that these guys pulled off.   I think the article that was quoted is referring to actually lifting the fish out of the water in that manner.

This fish was being supported by the snare, but left totally in the water.  IMO, almost as good of handling as you can get.  Is the gill plate the best location for the snare?  No... but if you aren't lifting on the fish, the potential for causing damage has to be orders of magnitude lower then if the fish were hoisted by the snare in that location.  A a snare is a crude instrument and it's tough enough to get it on these fish much less place it precisely... especially when it's the first time and he's all jacked up on adrenaline.

Good job Dan and Sean... says a lot about a guy to release his first sturgeon when it's a brute like that.

Dan, I hereby Un-kick you in the nuts.

EK

Handling sturgeon has been covered over and over on this board.  There's a big difference between lifting a fish by the gill plates, or snaring by the gill plates to lift out of the water, and the type of handling that these guys pulled off.   I think the article that was quoted is referring to actually lifting the fish out of the water in that manner.

This fish was being supported by the snare, but left totally in the water.  IMO, almost as good of handling as you can get.  Is the gill plate the best location for the snare?  No... but if you aren't lifting on the fish, the potential for causing damage has to be orders of magnitude lower then if the fish were hoisted by the snare in that location.  A a snare is a crude instrument and it's tough enough to get it on these fish much less place it precisely... especially when it's the first time and he's all jacked up on adrenaline.

Good job Dan and Sean... says a lot about a guy to release his first sturgeon when it's a brute like that.

Dan, I hereby Un-kick you in the nuts.

EK

Thanks. That's the information I was looking for.

Good goin' Dan!
You now have the sturgeon monkey off your back?
You certainly have raised the bar as far as it will go..

Nice Nicholson clip!    

I keyed right in on that snare being up in the gills - it's not ideal, but I'm glad we got to see the pic.  I totally trust that Dan and Sean were considering the fish's well being, so I put it out of my mind as a non-issue.  I recently mildly criticized someone on another board for lifting an 88" sturgeon by the gill plates in his powerboat for pics, suggesting maybe he should try to develop some expertise in getting a photo of it in the water and maybe cut the leader...  Later I saw another thread talking about this issue and someone from the bay area with decades of experience explained his feeling that these fish are actually very very hardy.  Seeing that gash out of my steelie's tail section the other day, big chunks out of lingcod tails, healed scars on lots of fish...  I think they can take a certain amount of abuse and survive. 

Here's the main point for me:  I do my best to handle the fish so that it has the best chance of survival - unless I'm going to eat it!  I think that's what Mahi was doing in this case.

Another big point for me:  when you catch one that you could kill and eat and instead you photo and release you have "earned" the action you are taking.  It gets tricky when you do it over and over in a day - like I do with rockfish and lingcod.  Some would argue against this, but I don't buy it - it can't be better to kill it then to photo and release it.  With rockfish and lings, I don't fish deep, so I never have floaters - that's what enables C&R all day...

It's ALL about conscience, mine is clean.  I think Dan's is too.   

gad zooks! whata monster Dan! wish I couldve witnessed.
Good job on the catch and release. Id have a hard time taking the life out of such a amazing creature that gave an amazing experience.
got to love the increasing AOTY pressure. Its when I do my best work.
Friday chrome hunting?

SWEET REVENGE, Dan!   you are one HELLUVA sport for hookin&releasing it!   I'm on the fence with this one, first yak'd Dino seems like a MUST-KEEP/NO BRAINER....but a preg female?
Good MAN you are!   Congrats for gettin that monkey off man!

here's what I got to say about SuckaSlough!(see pic) spent sunday there for nada, but listened to two keepers getting landed by pb'rs just behind me...AGAIN!!
Your lost MONKEY is my gained guerrilla.

I will not GIVE UP!.....thisMADNESSisFOREVER!

SWEET REVENGE, Dan!   you are one HELLUVA sport for hookin&releasing it!   I'm on the fence with this one, first yak'd Dino seems like a MUST-KEEP/NO BRAINER....but a preg female?
Good MAN you are!   Congrats for gettin that monkey off man!

here's what I got to say about SuckaSlough!(see pic) spent sunday there for nada, but listened to two keepers getting landed by pb'rs just behind me...AGAIN!!
Your lost MONKEY is my gained guerrilla.

I will not GIVE UP!.....thisMADNESSisFOREVER!

sorry Adam...  maybe, you should go with Sean.  He seems very good luck!

& sorry again but this is way too funny...

Nice Nicholson clip!    

I keyed right in on that snare being up in the gills - it's not ideal, but I'm glad we got to see the pic.  I totally trust that Dan and Sean were considering the fish's well being, so I put it out of my mind as a non-issue.  I recently mildly criticized someone on another board for lifting an 88" sturgeon by the gill plates in his powerboat for pics, suggesting maybe he should try to develop some expertise in getting a photo of it in the water and maybe cut the leader...  Later I saw another thread talking about this issue and someone from the bay area with decades of experience explained his feeling that these fish are actually very very hardy.  Seeing that gash out of my steelie's tail section the other day, big chunks out of lingcod tails, healed scars on lots of fish...  I think they can take a certain amount of abuse and survive. 

Here's the main point for me:  I do my best to handle the fish so that it has the best chance of survival - unless I'm going to eat it!  I think that's what Mahi was doing in this case.

Another big point for me:  when you catch one that you could kill and eat and instead you photo and release you have "earned" the action you are taking.  It gets tricky when you do it over and over in a day - like I do with rockfish and lingcod.  Some would argue against this, but I don't buy it - it can't be better to kill it then to photo and release it.  With rockfish and lings, I don't fish deep, so I never have floaters - that's what enables C&R all day...

It's ALL about conscience, mine is clean.  I think Dan's is too.   

Mahi obviously cared about the welfare of the fish, or he would have kept it. I hadn't seen any of the previous discussions on snaring dinos, so I questioned the safety of getting the snare under the gill covers. Apparently, the DFG warning was about actually lifting the fish that way. In retrospect, I probably should have posted that comment in a new thread, since there was a lot of celebrating going on. Judging by Mahi's reaction, my comment was about as welcome as a fart in an elevator!

I'm glad your having so much fun Naoaki!    I'll try to get out there for more laughs soon.

Damn this is a long thread! Thanks everyone for the at-a-boys and don't worry, my feelers are not hurt!

Don't hate the player.....hate the game! 

CHEERS!

Looks like a first place Dino has been scored.
...... with an assist from the "Coach" ......
Big congrats to Dan for finally getting the full on sturgeon experience.

Congratulations!

Wow!

Way to Go Mahi Mahi That is a monster!

Congratulation!