Effect of Hook Type on Mortality, Trauma, and Capture Efficiency of Wild, Stream-Resident Trout Caught by Active Baitfishing

Abstract

We used an active fishing technique (tight-line fishing with immediate hook set) to compare mortality, injury, and capture efficiency of wild, stream-resident salmonids captured by barbed or barbless single hooks baited with leaf worms Lumbricus rubellus. Mortality at 72 h (2– 7%), anatomical hooking location (superficial or deep), and eye damage (5% of captures) in brook trout Salvelinus fontinalis did not differ between hook types. However, brook trout that were deeply hooked were more likely to die when barbed hooks were used. Mortality and eye damage in brown trout Salmo trutta were similarly low, but sample sizes were insufficient for comparison of hook types. Hook types did not differ significantly in terms of hooking efficiency, frequency of fish escape after hooking, or the mean unhooking time in which fish were held out of water. Active baitfishing resulted in levels of postrelease mortality that were substantially lower than those commonly reported in baitfishing mortality studies.