Bait fishing from bridges

[pvansch1]

I understand most of these guys are doing it for meat, they want to eat there catch, don't have a problem with that. What angers me, and I see it constantly as I drive over the Collinsville bridge twice a day, are guys catching fish and throwing them back, no easy landing 20 plus feet and splat. I have seen them thrown like a football in fits of laughter, competition to see who can throw a fish further. Is there any regulations against this type of fishing? If not, there should be!!
Pete

[Troutfitter]

This stuff irks me as well when I see it... and I see it way too often. Disrespecting a fish should be a crime and probably is.

[Smoked Trout]

I drove by the stocking truck as they were throwing (I mean stocking) fish at the wall, just below the 219 bridge. They were dumping buckets of fish 15 or 20 feet into the river. I just drove by shaking my head and wondering how many fish they killed doing that. Thought it would be more humane to just hand fish out to the lifter at the wall.

[Housy Dave]

Dropping or throwing a fish in the water is actually not harmful at all. It is the preferred method of the stocking crews. Dropping or throwing the fish into the water, actually gives them a little jolt and gets them swimming. When they are simply placed in the water, some come out floating belly up and you actually have to go nudge the fish to getting it to start swimming away. If they go belly up, and then float into a slack area near the bank, they can suffocate themselves. Throwing stocked fish off a bridge is not a big deal. The DEP does this ALL THE TIME...and I think they've stocked enough trout to know what they're doing.

When people fish from bridges and throw the fish back in, there is nothing necessarily wrong with this in particular. The fact that the fish is rod lifted up 30 feet, and grabbed with a dry hand (or flopped in the dirt) is the real danger.

[treehooker]

There's a difference between "pouring" fish by the bucket off a bridge and throwing them "like a football".
Simply as a matter of physics, if you chuck them like a rock, they'll have less chance of recovery.
Chances are, if you smack them down thirty feet you aren't going to worry about taking their body slime off either, or the fact that you gut hooked the fish and let its own body weight tear its throat up while you yucked it up over the abutment.
Competition to see who can throw a fish the farthest is just sick---and I know bait fishermen who practice catch and release who feel the same way.
Maybe this comes down to more than just the method of catching and returning them, but you know, I think everyone who has posted here so far, and I mean everyone, has shown their respect for the fishery.