Collecting Your Own Fish
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Part 6 - How To Capture & Collect Fish

So far in this series on collecting your own fish we have covered an Introduction with things you need to do and know about before getting started, along with how to buy, make and use catch buckets, collection nets and hand nets, as well as how to transporting safely the fish you are going to catch. Now you need to know how to go about actually capturing them to take them home. This is not as easy as it sounds, so, we are going to share information from our own experiences about how to catch fish, based on their characteristics. Knowing how a fish acts and what it might do definitely makes a difference in how well you will do at catching them, not only in the ocean, but even in your own aquarium.

Helpful Capturing Tips

• Plan ahead. Try and observe the fish you want to catch and see what it is doing, then lay your net accordingly.
• Don't push the fish too hard. If you get too close or try and move it faster than it wants to go, it will dive into the coral or rocks and it is difficult to get it to come out again after that.
• Try and lay your net where there are flat spots. By doing this, there is less chance of your net getting a gap at the bottom of the net where the fish can get through.
• We do not use or recommend the use of slurp guns. These are extremely stressful on the fish and can cause damage. Just think about it, how would you feel if you were sleeping in your bedroom and someone threw open the front door to your home, stuck a big tube in and sucked you out of the bed, down the hall, through the living room, then shot you into a bucket?
• The decompression of fish collected below 25 feet is essential.

Here are the three basic methods of how we used our collection nets to capture fish:

The Drop Net Method
This method is best used for fish that freely and opening roam the reef and travel long distances from one house to another.

What we refer to as our Seek and Find Method. This method works best with two people. You can do it solo, but it is more difficult. Working as a team, swim about 10 feet off the bottom. One person carries the net and the other follows along side or slightly behind with the catch buckets. When you see a fish you want to catch, observe it for a few minutes, figure out where you want the net to drop and start peeling off the net, swimming as you go along, spreading the net out behind you. You drop the net in a U shape. The weights on the bottom of the net will sink it and it will fall to the bottom. While the net person is dropping the net the other one drops the catch buckets as close to where the beginning end of the net is dropped and starts swimming out in front of where the net is going to end up, cutting the fish off from swimming away and turn it towards the net. HOPEFULLY by the time you turn the fish and get it headed for the net, the net is in place and there are no big gaps where the net got caught up on coral or anything where the fish can go under the net. This method works best if by the time the net is in place there is one person at each end of the U shaped net area opening. If you both end up on the same side of the net opening, most likely the fish will swim in the opposite direction you are and there is nothing there to keep it from going that way and heading away from the net and you!

The Set Net Method
This method is best used for fish that stay fairly close and don't wonder far from their main house, or may only travel short distance between them, and most often congregate in small groups.

Pick a spot to set your net in a V shape. Ideally, this method works best when using a ledge (coral or stone area with a sand hole or sand channel on one side). Be careful when setting your net, keeping an eye out for houses. These are areas where the fish live and if you set the net in front of a house, they will all go down inside the house before you get them to the net. The best way is to look for a house and set the net in front of it. Work the fish from behind the net, slowly moving across the coral, lightly tapping with your prongless spear to coax them out of their house around to the front of the net. They will round the front end of the net and head for home. The net will stop them from getting back into the house and you can catch them in the net. You can also work this method by starting far out in front of where you laid the net, driving the fish down the ledge into the V net area, making sure you don't put the net behind a house. One helpful hint is where the V point of the net is, make a pocket by using a bungi cord. Hook one end of the bungi to the net from the backside, pull the bungi to make a pocket and hook the other end to a piece of coral or stone. When the fish enter the net area you can corral them down into the pocket rather than into a flat net. Once your net is set, you can catch just about any type of fish that is in the area.

Free Netting Method
This is a method that can be used to catch most any type of fish, in any type of terrain.

Sometimes if a fish runs into a shallow hole, small hiding place, or a spot that has a front and back door, you can Free Net them with just your hand net. Place your hand net in the direction their head is pointing to come out of the hole then poke a blunt stick or object into the hole. A vinyl coated hanger formed with a small loop at one works well. You can use it for a poky stick, and when not in use you can clip it to your double ended clip for storage while diving. By sticking the probe in the hole the fish will generally shoot out of the hole and into your hand net, assuming you have it placed in just the right spot, and the fish doesn't get around the net. A front door-back door hole works best for this method. You can put your hand net over the door the direction the head of the fish is facing in and poke the fish in the tail end from the other door. Once you get the this netting technique down, you can catch just about any type of fish. This is an excellent way to catch Eels, and it works pretty well on other slower moving fish like Boxfishes, Puffers and Hawkfishes, but also on other juvenile species, such as the Naso. It sometimes even works on adult specimens.

Now let's take a look at the different species of fish, how they act, and which net method is best for catching them.

Butterflyfishes

Butterflyfishes generally live in stony, corally and crevice areas where they have numerous houses to live in. They will travel from one house to the next on their rounds for the day, either singly, in pairs or small groups. If you can get them trapped in one house and then flush them out (using a prongless spear as a poky stick) of that house to head to another one, this works best. Just make sure you set or drop the net in the direction you think they might go, and that the net is settled flat on the bottom so there are no holes or gaps that the fish can go under or through. Once this type of fish hits the net, if you do not catch it on the first try you usually do not get another chance. They are spooked, dive back into their house, and it is next to impossible to get them to come back out again. Auriga, Lined, Saddleback and Raccoon Butterflies are the worst. Either the the Drop Net Method or the Set Net Method works for catching these Butterflies. The Set Net Method works best with two people. You can run them into a house and while one person keeps them from coming out, the other sets up the net.

Some of the smaller species of Butterflies like the Teardrop, Blue-Lined, Milletseed (Lemon), Fourspot, Longnose and Pebbled, and even the juvenile species named above travel more out in the open and will hide, but you can usually coax them out even if you miss them the first time. Using either the Drop Netor Set Net Method is good for these fish. Moorish Idols fall into this category.

Angelfishes

The long, deep coral terrain we dealt with in our farm area made collecting Angelfishes difficult. It's like they come up out of the coral, look at you, stick their tongue out and taunt you. We would see Potters Angels almost any day when collecting, and if you kept an eye out around the net when collecting other fish using the Set Net Method, you often see them going from one side of the net to the other by finding a gap under the net. If you tucked in the net and got the fish to go back to the other side through the gap it was using, the gap not being there anymore, the fish would run into the net and you could then try and catch it before would go back down into the coral. For us it was not very easy catching Angelfishes, and this species takes a lot of patience to do so.

Another way we occasionally could catch Angelfishes was if we had a little bit of current running. When using the Set Net Method the current would lay the net over and form a bowed effect in the net. Fish that like to cruise along the bottom of the net, such as Angels, Puffers and small Wrasses, would get pushed up higher into the net area. Unable to figure out how to get back down out of the net, you could then pick the fish up rather easily.

Tangs & Surgeonfishes

These species can be caught by using any of the three net methods, with the exception of Yellow and Kole Tangs, which are two Surgeonfishes that you can herd in numbers and require use of the a Set Net Method. Juvenile Naso are best caught this way as well.

Larger adult and showsized Naso and Sailfin Tangs are better caught using the Drop Net Method, but can also be caught fairly well with a set net if they are in the area while working other fish. The Sailfin is particularly a Surgeonfish that if you miss catching in the net the first time it hits, you mostly likely won't get another chance at. Good luck trying to get it to come out again too! Larger Naso can be the same way, but not as bad as the Sailfin.

Achilles Tangs are best caught using the Set Net Method, as they usually congregate around a large main house they are living in, and stick pretty close to this area. With these fish, once they hit the net, scoop and get them out of the net as soon as possible!! The larger specimens are strong, and when in the net they will squirrel up and down all over the net which scraps the skin off their lips, so to speak, and you have to let them go. They will heal up, but it takes time.

For the larger Naso and Achilles Tangs, carry a pair of toenail clippers to trim the razor spur during transportation. Both of these fish if mixed with their own species will fight, cut each other and can do a lot of damage to each other. You don't want to cut the spurs off, just trim the tips. With the Achilles, do your best to not damage the thin skin covering on the spur. If you pull it back lightly the spur will be visible and you can clip the tip off. On the Naso, just trim off the tip of their sharp razors.

Wrasses

Wrasses are fish that stick close to the bottom cruising around sand and stony, rocky areas looking for food. Most Wrasses bury themselves in the sand or hide under a rock or stone for protection. The Yellowtail Coris is one Wrasse we used the Drop Net Method on. Most other Wrasses you can use the Set Net Method after you find a house they are hanging around. They hit the net near the bottom, so make sure all holes near the bottom of your net are mended before trying to catch these fish. There is nothing more frustrating than to spend time working a Wrasse up into the net area only to have it hit the net, find a small hole and pop out the other side. They are slim and skinny, and the smaller ones will go through just about any hole they can find. They are quick and will squirrel around all over the net once they are in it, so be quick!

Box & Pufferfishes

These are fish that you can be caught rather easily by Free Netting them, once you get the technique down. These are also fish that can always be caught when using the Set Net Method.

Triggerfishes

Triggers are one of the most challenging fish to catch. They are fast, and if they run into a hole or stone to hide, 99% of the time you cannot get them out again. The Drop Net, Set Net and Free Net Methods all work for catching these fish. The smaller specimens you can get to move quite a distance by giving them plenty of room between you and them to coax them along into a Set Net. The larger ones can be a real source of aggravation. Give it a try, you'll understand what we are talking about, LOL.

We have tried to give you as much information we could think of, and it is hard to cover every little thing. A lot of what you learn about capturing and collecting fish will come with experience, but with the tips we have given here, we hope to give you a head start.

OK, you're almost ready to go out and start collecting. You have read our introduction tips on some things you need to do and know about before getting started. You have a list of all of the equipment you will need to buy or make and how to use it, you know how to go about using various types of collection nets and getting fish to go into them to catch them, and how to safely transport your catch home. The last, and a very important topic to discuss is how to decompress fish. With a few expections, almost all fish that are collected below 25-30 feet require this step, BEFORE you bring them to the surface, and even a few species should be decompressed if caught as shallow as in 10-15 feet of water.

Debbie & Stan Hauter
Your About Guides to Saltwater Aquariums

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Learn About
Introduction to Collecting Fish
Catch Buckets | Collection Nets | Hand Nets
Decompressing Fish | Transporting Fish

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