Connecticut Trout Tour, Part III: Leadmine Brook (Trifecta!) 

Thanks for watching!

Todd Wiegand Whether using dry hands is a significant factor in C&R mortality is not a statistic I’m familiar with, nor do I know if sufficient study has been done to truly isolate the impact of dry hands vs wet hands. The principle is that using wet hands removes less protective slime from the fish, and that seems pretty plausible to me. What’s not entirely clear is exactly how injurious a dry hand is to the slime coating. So, wet hands are almost definitely better... the question is just whether or not it’s better enough to warrant a sort of neurotic preoccupation with it (I see some folks on social media go absolutely bonkers over this... I can’t say I’m on-board with the all that bluster). That said, I’d still say it’s generally preferable, even if it can be an aspect of handling which is easy to forget amidst the excitement and focus upon hooking, fighting and landing a fish. My philosophy is pretty elementary: I do it whenever I remember to do it... and I’m pleased when I remember in advance to do so. But I also don’t really lose sleep over it if I go back in some of my footage and notice that I forgot to pre-wet my hands.

@@ConnecticutAngler I enjoyed your video. Nicely done. De-barbing the hook helps a lot. Many times I get the fish into my net and once the line is slack the hook falls out. Also, a 'quick release' is good as well....the fish doesn't need to be in the net to count.

RealisticFSX pilot yeah, that fish was probably borderline “catchable” size, but I don’t suspect the holdover rate is great in Leadmine so I would agree in retrospect that it’s more than likely a stocker.

Probably. I can’t think of any wild animal that enjoys being held... or hooked in the face and winched across the stream, for that matter. To draw strong judgement against the former while being content to mostly ignore the latter is an exercise in hypocrisy.