The practice within recreational fisheries to release captured fish back to the wild, known as catch-and-release (C&R), is an increasingly important strategy to protect fish stocks from overexploitation. However, C&R is a stressor and since animal reproduction is particularly sensitive to stress there is reason to suspect that such a practice induces sublethal fitness consequences. Here, we investigated whether and how C&R fishing influenced the reproductive potential in an anadromous population of Northern pike (Esox lucius). First, female pike were exposed to authentic C&R using rod-and-reel fishing in a coastal foraging habitat prior to the spawning period. Next, we observed the migration to the freshwater spawning habitat and compared both the timing of arrival and maturity stage between C&R-treated and control individuals. Finally, to evaluate effects on the quality and viability of eggs we stripped captured control and recaptured C&R-treated females, measured egg dry mass to assess nutrient content, conducted artificial fertilisations and incubated eggs in a controlled laboratory experiment. We found no evidence of C&R causing alterations in either arrival time, maturity stage, or the quality and viability of fertilised eggs. In combination, our results suggest that long-term effects of C&R-induced stress on key reproductive traits of pike, if any, are minor.

休闲渔业中将捕获的鱼放回野外的做法，称为捕获和释放 (C&R)，是保护鱼类种群免受过度开发的越来越重要的策略。然而，C&R 是一种压力源，并且由于动物繁殖对压力特别敏感，因此有理由怀疑这种做法会导致亚致死的健康后果。在这里，我们调查了 C&R 捕鱼是否以及如何影响北梭鱼溯河种群的繁殖潜力（Esox lucius）。首先，在产卵期之前，雌性梭子鱼在沿海觅食栖息地使用杆和线轮捕鱼暴露于真正的 C&R。接下来，我们观察到淡水产卵栖息地的迁移，并比较了 C&R 处理和对照个体之间的到达时间和成熟阶段。最后，为了评估对鸡蛋质量和生存力的影响，我们剥离了捕获的对照和重新捕获的 C&R 处理的雌性，测量了鸡蛋干重以评估营养含量，进行人工受精并在受控实验室实验中孵化鸡蛋。我们没有发现 C&R 导致受精卵的到达时间、成熟阶段或质量和活力发生改变的证据。综上所述，我们的结果表明，C&R 诱导的压力对梭鱼关键繁殖性状的长期影响，