What do you consider a "caught" fish?

[woodrivertroutbum]

This thread is a very important tool for this forum. We now know who to trust when posting about all the fish they caught, but don't have any pictures to include. Haha

If a fish comes off because of something it did or a mistake you made, you didn't catch the fish. If the fish came off because you purposely let it go either after having it in your hand, net or buy getting the fish in close and then purposely putting slack in the line to let the fish off, you caught the fish.

[plecain]

It's caught if I could have taken it home and eaten it.

[theboz]

In saltwater if your intent is release once you touch the leader it is a catch!

[dillon]

Originally Posted by ant

Up until recently, unless I had a fish in hand, I never considered it caught. But this weekend I had a number of them get to my feet and then slip the hook. Which got me thinking, does it really matter if I get my hand wet/covered in slime for the fish to count? I fought it, I played it in, and at the last second it slipped away. Which really doesn't matter when I'm just going to release it anyway.

So, what do you guys think shoudl count as a "caught" fish?

It doesn't matter to me. If one came unhooked at my feet I'd simply say I lost one at my feet. Getting it that far was accomplishment enough. Why be hung up about whether it was landed or not. Counting fish hooked and landed is like keeping score. I would have enjoyed golf a lot more if I didn't have to keep score...

[troutbum1982]

In hand, anything else is lost.

[trout champ]

They only count if they are in the net and hooked in the mouth. Foul hooks don't count!

Randy

[nick k]

In freshwater, I count a catch as any fish that is lifted above water, even if it flops off before you actually get a grip on it.

Once it's above water, my goal is to unhook it and put it back in anyway. It just saves me the trouble at that point.