Re: [Killietalk] Collecting killies in Florida

["Koran, David HQ02" <David_Koran at hq02.usace.army.mil>]

I have been collecting killies in Florida for about 20 years ever since I
hosted Daniel Poliak in 1986.  Fortunately on almost every occasion I have
driven to and from Florida (and Alabama and Louisiana).  Most all of the
waters test with relatively low DH/ppm except for a few spots where you find
fish in sinkholes.  Water is normally high in dissolved organic materials in
the low DH conditions.  (After a while you recognize fish that come from
higher DH - Fund. seminolis, Luc. goodei, Jord. floridae and occasionally
Fund. chrysotus).  I have tried to maximize the amount of water I keep the
fish in, however, if you are flying back with fish you only retain a small
amount of the water in which you caught the fish.

Most of the wild fish are extremely hardy and can tolerate a lot of abuse,
however, the critical element is how you catch and handle the fish.  Try not
to be too aggressive in catching the fish.  Hitting a fish with the net hoop
will injure the fish but it seems that the organic nature of the native
waters seems to have a masking at best or healing quality.  When you bring
the fish home and are radically changing water, infection sets in at those
bruise points and it is often difficult to avoid losing fish.  Also, try not
to touch the fish with your hands especially if they are dry.  You disturb or
disrupt the slim coating and this also leads to infection.  Try to develop
your technique that you cup the fish in the wet net from the out side and
transfer the fish to your bucket or container.  If a captured fish is having
problems in your bucket or container, release it because I doubt if will do
any better in the future conditions in which you are placing it and most
probably will die in transit and impact other fish in those quarters.

Dave Koran

Join the AKA at http://www.aka.org/aka/modules/content/index.php?id=9.
Archives are at http://fins.actwin.com/killietalk/
Modify your subscription at http://www.actwin.com/mailman/listinfo.cgi/killietalk