[onetriphudson]

This weekend we were kayak fishing in north county and my partner hooked a huge fish on an artificial lure. The fish towed him in his kayak for 2 hours before finally coming to the surface. It turned out to be a 200lb+ black sea bass and the fish was exhausted. It went belly up at the kayaks and we knew we had to revive it.

We cut the line because we couldn’t get the hook out. We did not remove the fish from the water and the fish was successfully revived by towing it next to my pro angler - all the more reason to have a hands free drive system. The BSB finally swam back down under its own power. Let me repeat that the fish is alive and fine, it was not harvested and we did not delay in freeing it.

But even though the fish lived and swam off fine, we wanted to know if we did everything right. What is the correct way to handle a black sea bass once you realize what it is? It's easy when the fish is under 50lbs, but what about a truly large fish that is over 200lbs? If the fish is belly up and in danger of staying that way is it alright to revive it? The last thing I would want to see is the fish floating there, getting pecked at by birds.

All the information I can find online just has stories about people going to jail because they either killed it, or brought it up on the beach to take pictures. I cannot see any good examples of how to properly handle the fish and I want to make one. Any assistance or stories would be much appreciated.