Have you ever caught the same fish twice in a single day? How about the same fish two or three times inside a week? I’ll bet many of you have. Even on a massive fish factory like Mille Lacs in Central Minnesota, these daily doubles occur more often than we probably realize. Last year, for instance, fishing a particular shallow weed flat, we caught a hungry 27-inch walleye with an odd black spot on its tail. Only reason I remember it is because the very next day, a client caught what had to be the exact same walleye. Three days later, when the marked fish ate my Fire-Ball jig once more, it was like seeing an old friend—Dottie the hungry walleye. Hope she’s still swimming out there— chomping on perch and the occasional jig and leech.

You’re probably wondering why I’m telling you this. It really isn’t to convince you that you actually are smarter than the fish (most of us). Instead, I want to tell you that the next time you pull one of these daily doubles, you ought to pat yourself on the back. You’ve done your job well— not only as a skilled angler, but even more as a caretaker of fish.

Catching and releasing larger individual fish like Dottie isn’t just a great idea. In more and more lakes each season, special length and slot limits require it. Even when you’re selectively harvesting smaller, more numerous fish, enjoying them at dinner means caring for the catch. Keep them healthy in your livewell, or fresh on ice, all the way up to the fillet table. Harvesting a limit of small walleyes or crappies, then allowing them to spoil in the sun is a tragedy.

Still, much of the time these days, we’re releasing most of the fish we catch. And that means doing everything possible to assure their health and survival. Released fish can be hurt in a number of ways, but they all relate to stress and wounding. Most stress occurs between the hookset and landing. Wounding, on the other hand, can result from hooks, as well as poor handling practices. We can’t always prevent fish from stressing themselves during a long fight, but we can certainly prevent problems related to improper handling. Whether I’m fishing for bass, walleyes, muskies or even big crappies, I almost always rely on a landing net. Frabill’s Conservation Series nets are like big swimming pools for fish. Slip a big walleye into one, and just keep the net draped over the side of your boat, fish calmly paddling around inside. Keep the fish in the water, while you quickly remove hooks. If it’s a pike, say “AH” and get the Mouth Spreaders.