Catch and Release

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Getting off the hook.

"Beautiful," he exclaimed. "But you mean to tell me you keep these fish like pets just to make bambini to put in lakes and. . . what do you call. . .little rivers?"

"Streams," I translated.

"Streams. But then fishermen have to throw them back if they are too small?"

"Yep. And sometimes they put back everything they catch."

"Throw everything back? Ma, che pazzie."

"I guess it does sound crazy," I agreed.

I should explain something here. Franco comes from a fishing village in southern Italy. His father fed their family by rowing out on the Mediterranean every day in an 18-foot open boat.

"It's called 'catch-and-release,'" I explained as we headed towards the Allegan Forest. "Some streams, or even only parts of a stream, are designated as catch-and-release."

Cousin Franco cut me a sidelong, skeptical glance.

"And we even have 'no harvest' lakes, where you can fish but not keep what you catch."

"But why?"

"Because - for a lot of reasons. We want the fish to get bigger so they're more fun to catch. So kids can be sure to catch some fish the first time they try it. So fishermen can practice new techniques, new baits. That's why."

Franco stared snatched a few glimpses of dogwood in the early-spring woods. "Sounds like you make a - what do you call - a museum for fish?"

"Aquarium."

" Si - aquarium - for children to come and catch big fish. Then the father, he takes a picture of the fish. They put the picture in the newspaper. That fish, if he's not so smart, gets caught again and again. Pretty soon everybody recognizes him... like a movie star. Poor fish. How many times does he have to be caught before he is allowed to die with dignity? To fulfill his purpose in a delicious zuppa di pesce?"