Catch and release works period Here are pictures of the same fish caught four and a half years apart and over fifty inches. First time I caught it and the second time I guided a client to it. Notice the clear scar pattern on the side of the fish.

This first time it was caught on June 30 th 1996 around 8 pm at night. It measured 50 X 23 and it was caught speed trolling a spinnerbait and was my forth fish in one hour and all were over thirty pounds. I was afraid this one might not survive release as I punctured the lower jaws membrane with my fingers as he trashed real bad when I was holding him for a picture and he took a long time to release. But he did go back very slowly to where he came from.

The same fish caught by a client October 13th 2000 casting at 9:30 am. He measured 52 X 20 and he was caught within 200 yards from its previous catch and was by far a lot skinnier then previous. It was sexed the second time around and it was a male fish and it appeared that this was a dying fish from the lack of a fight and the damage near the tail, there was ana rea about 2 inches long of open sore on the back side of it. The fish did  released real well like any other big fish. This was a lucky fish as we caught another fatter 52 inch female that afternoon as well.

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