The practice of "catch-and-release" has become a permanent part of the recreational angler's lexicon. Increasingly, fishing tournaments also support, promote or even require the release of tournament-qualified fish.

And that's certainly the case for speckled trout tournaments here in North Carolina.

"We're working hard on making this the best tournament possible and, as part of that, encourage catch-and-release by the participants," said David Pearson, tournament director of the Friendly City Speckled Trout Tournament in Swansboro. "We have volunteers that work with the fish until they are revived, and then they release them. The big fish just continue to grow and get bigger for the next time."

Just because a fish swims away, however, there is no guarantee it will live another day, to grow, to spawn and maybe to be caught again. Or is there?

Greg Stunz, a marine biology professor at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi, has been researching answers.

"There is a lot of anecdotal evidence from fishermen that says these fish will just not survive catch-and-release," he said. "Clearly, if you are going to have a regulation that requires the release of fish, you want them to survive."

To that end, Stunz recruited several groups of anglers with different skill levels using different types of hooks and baits to catch varied sizes of trout for a mortality study. The fish were kept in 4x4x8-foot pens under docks for three days, and their mortality rate was studied.

Of course, a cage isn't a natural environment for speckled trout or any wild fish, but that didn't seem to affect mortality.

"We had several hundred of control fish through the study under the same cage conditions," Stunz said, "and every one of them survived. We haven't lost one yet, so it appears that there is no cage effect."

Stunz also said that the oft-cited anecdotal frailty of the spotted sea trout didn't hold up in his study.

"In fact, we saw very high survivorships in these fish. In general across the board, we saw about 90 percent survival, and that is even with our fish having been through a considerable amount of handling through capturing, temporary holding and back to our storage pens," he said. "So, if you are releasing a fish there right on the spot, I can only imagine that the mortality is probably going to be even less."

It was where on its body that a fish was hooked, Stunz said, that was the overriding factor in whether it survived catch-and-release. If the fish was hooked deep; if it swallowed the hook; if the hook was in a gill or tore a gill; or if the fish bled severely, "those fish are the ones representing our 10 percent mortality," Stunz said.

In another phase of testing, Stunz said, he found size didn't matter: Smaller fish survived at the same rate larger trout did.

Another testament to the hardiness of the speckled trout came from the tagging of tournament-released fish.

"We are seeing very good return rates of these tagged fish," Stunz said. "In fact, return rates are the same as the state wildlife standard return rates, and that's a good sign. In fact, some of our fish have been through two tournaments already."

Regulatory limits for speckled trout in Texas are slightly different than the limits in North Carolina.

In Texas, the size minimum is 15 inches.

"You can keep 10 trout per person per day above that minimum size," Stunz said, "but ... in the past two years the state instituted a slot limit where the upper slot is 25 inches, and so you can only keep one per person per day above that length. That still allows someone to potentially break a record, keep a trophy for mounting ... but with the hopes of protecting some of these larger fish."

North Carolina has a 12-inch minimum size and a limit of 10 fish per person per day. There is no upper slot limit.

"[Speckled trout] stocks appear stable, but we need a good stock assessment," said Beth Burns, a marine biologist for N.C. Division of Marine Fisheries. "This year, the assessment was great, and, for the last four to five years, we have had good spawns. The size and age distribution also looks good and stable."

The immediate future doesn't appear to hold slot limits or game fish status as a management tool.

"No, not yet," Burns said. "Maybe an increase in minimum size ... but protection of sows [the largest fish] may not be needed here."

In the interest of protection, Stunz offered some basic principles for catch-and-release.

"The best thing is, obviously, to minimize the time they are out of the water," he said. "Use wet hands; don't use towels; leave the hooks in if they swallow them deeply; and, in general, be careful with the fish and be easy on them."