Nope, there is no difference between a fish hook and a spiky fish or redclaw, in fact the live fish is much more likely to do serious damage.
Its a single tiny hole, and most catch and release anglers myself included use barbless hooks, you are being overly dramatic.
Even your garbage smithsonian article states that the science is still disputed heavily on both sides.
I watched a friend accidently hook a pike by its eye and throw it back, 10 minutes later he caught the same eyeless pike, it can't have been in too much pain if it was still aggressively feeding.

This post was edited by Plaguefear on Dec 27 2020 03:02am

i don't know if you would mandate it but catching fish for sport is kinda lame and wasteful

I do both (fish to eat and fish for fun), stupid ones die, leaving smarter fish behind, it has benefits as well.
I draw the line at abusive tactics and negligence, such as over fishing and moving fish/plants to other bodies of water.



I'll fight you magic man. Also you a boomer now remember.

Plus fish love it...

interesting, where did you learn that 'fact'? any actual evidence to support that, or just more baseless claims?



is that so? what percentage roughly is 'most' here, and what do you base that claim on? anecdotal evidence of you and the anglers you know? sales stats of different hook types? angler magazine surveys? genuine question, i don't know enough about it to judge if it's true or not, i'm just suspicious because some of your other claims were clearly... influenced by personal bias.



what exactly makes the article 'garbage'? the fact that it contradicts your claim that fish definitely don't feel pain, or do you simply have a better source that irrefutably proves your position? because i'd gladly educate myself if it's scientifically sound. i'd actually prefer if you were right, so please, show me the real stuff.



i watched a football player break their neck and play on for another 40 minutes. i watched a man get stabbed in the head and calmly walk through the streets as if nothing happened - so obviously humans can't feel pain, and a little stabbing will surely do no serious harm to them if you just don't use serrated knives...


again, from what i can tell, this probably does not do enough damage to justify an outright ban. i'm clearly not a principled animal rights activist or a vegan or anything along those lines. i'm against unnecessary cruelty and i'd prefer if animals didn't suffer needlessly, but i don't fundamentally question our omnivorous diet, or the realities about food mass production, even though i support the regulation and moderation of some of the most damaging (to climate, eco systems, and animal wellbeing) forms of exploitation.
what i radically oppose, however, is obvious self-deception and bullshittery, silly rationalisations and blatant science-denial - i genuinely prefer an honest scumbag over someone trying to insult my and their own intelligence so cheaply.

"Please release me, let me grow"
that was the catch and release t-shirt i won for a casting competition

well this is why crows stay in the margins of the highway unphased
only the smartest animals are left. that's why so many of them talk. you can even speak with a squirrel to come up to your feet

Would be like a cop beating a person up and then not arresting them.




"Take a picture of me".

Shut up bitch just enjoy the moment.

This post was edited by Skinned on Dec 27 2020 08:48am

BOOMER!!!