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So I didn't want to keep hijacking the Mack report thread with laker-Saver talk so I wanted to start a new one.
For those of you who use them, Do you use them on every fish? or just after you haven't been able to get one to go down on its own?
for using the down rigger, do you clip it along with the ball or just remove the ball and hook the saver on & swap back when the fish is gone?
Ive been targeting big lakers more and more & just trying to be prepared for when I finally do land one & want to be able to get it back swimming for another day as safely as possible.
For those who have made there own, what did you use for molds? I have some left over tire lead from making my own stick weights for dragging FG's bottom and want to make one to keep on the boat.
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You use them only when you have a fish that won't go down, a symptom of barotrauma, a fish that was unable to release air from its swim bladder. This is usually due to the throat being blocked in most cases I see. I ocassionally use mine during the summer months as well, when a landed fish is simply "out of gas" and doesn't have the strength to swim back down due to warmer water temperatures. I can usually feel them start kicking as I lower them back into cooler water, and often they swim right off the release without me doing anything.
My mold was made by someone else with skills beyond mine. Its some kind of steel that doesn't get too hot, is light weight, and . . . well . . . beats me! But it works. I use stainless steel rods that I heat with a torch, bend with another gizmo the same guy made, and grind the tip to a sharp point.
They work great on a downrigger, I'm told. I don't have a downrigger on my boat though. I use it on a rod butt and reel with 130 pound dacron. Others use very small rope like para cord or something a little bigger. You can watch my little video to see how I use mine.
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Not to hi-jack your thread, but TD had a cool mini version of these that we used on the crappie at Pineview last fall and it really worked well to get them back down... I had it set up on one of my extra rods and you could quickly get the fish back down and I didn't have any that floated back to the surface, so I assume the fish were okay or eaten by tigers before they got to the top...
If the laker savers do the same thing for the mac, it would be a good thing... I haven't seen one of Jim's in person, but it looks like a good design and if a guy was going to do much mac fishing it would be a great addition to the boat... I imagine it would be good to use at Bear Lake on the cuts as well... I seen some other guys had released a cut on one of my previous trips that wasn't making it back down, it was floating on the surface and the seagulls were after it.... I've been lucky and my fish have took off and went back down, but I think I'll get one just in case the fish need a little help...
Your tire lead should be fine to use, if you have a mold to do it yourself... I've got to think using the down rigger has got to be somewhat awkward and harder on the fish... Well good luck on your quest and thanks for a discussion on an important topic... Later J
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Thanks for the input, Have you seen or heard of anyone sending a fish back to the depths and it still was unable to survive? I would hate to send one down, think it was G2G and boat off, only for it to float up later on & completely waste a beautiful trophy fish to be picked apart be seagulls....
ill have to do some digging around and see what I can come up with to make myself a mold, I have some decent wire I could use if not ill grab an old coat hanger to use.
Again,
thanks for the info.
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I've never seen one float back up. I watch the descent on my sonar, the separation, the fish swim down and away, and my laker saver being reeled back up. The sonar confirms that the fish is not floating back up.
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[quote Tarponjim]I've never seen one float back up. I watch the descent on my sonar, the separation, the fish swim down and away, and my laker saver being reeled back up. The sonar confirms that the fish is not floating back up.[/quote]
Perfect, I didn't think so either but still wanted to ask just so I know what to kind of look/watch for.
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I have had a Bear lake cutthroat that I descended that ended up coming back up. If you send one down and they dont recover, it doesn't take long before they are floating again. If anyone has fished bear lake much they know how sensitive those cutts can be. I sent him down twice and he never came up after the second time so I assume he made it. All the lakers I have caught that I had to descend never came back up.
One thing ive noticed is if you bring them up slower they have an easier time when you release them. You almost always see a bunch of bubbles come to the surface right before you see the mac.
Anyone who fishes for Lakers or other big fish in deep water should have a laker saver. I highly recommend them and they do work and are easy to use once you have done it a couple of times.
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[quote TRUBBS]
For those who have made there own, what did you use for molds?
[/quote]
Kory made one for me and all he used was an empty can. After the lead solidified he cut the can off. I have a small one, that I purchased several years ago somewhere, and it works great for returning crappies at Pineview.
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[font "Comic Sans MS"][#800000]I have no clue as to what y'all are talking about. Can you post a picture or two and maybe a source for a commercial version? If there isn't a commercial product, how about some instructions on how to make one and description about how it is supposed to work.[/#800000][/font]
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Bob Hicks, from Utah
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[font "Comic Sans MS"][#800000]Got it - thanks.[/#][/font]
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Bob Hicks, from Utah
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Finally got around to remaking some "Stick weights" for trolling the bottom of FG and made a quick, ruff and ugly saver but feel
It'll work just as good to send a fish back home.
I used a smaller energy drink can for the mold and tried to somewhat taper the tip.
I've have to get it on a scale but it's probably 4-5+lbs
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Look at Tarponjim's post above, it's below the Blue Bar at the bottom of his reply, he has been selling them for years.
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[quote wiperhunter2]Look at Tarponjim's post above, it's below the Blue Bar at the bottom of his reply, he has been selling them for years.[/quote]
I know his sells them, but I was already melting lead for DR weights so figured why not try to make my own Saver while I was at it.
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No offence but I was replying to Dubob. BFT is different than a lot of other sites, in that regard, where you can reply to one specific member. Notice above where it says, Re: [TRUBBS] Laker-Saver Spin off thread. My reply before said, Re: [Dubob] Laker-Saver Spin off thread. Again no offence, just thought you might not know.
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Gotcha, yeah I didn't pay any attention to that, my bad
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I'm a bit curious, having caught a lot of lakers in FG, I've never had a bloated Lake Trout, or one that couldn't descend under his own power. Nor have I ever seen a bloated laker stuck on the surface that was released. I was under the assumption that lakers had the ability to release air, hence all the air bubbles that surface when fighting a big laker. Not that this is a bad thing and I'm certainly in favor of helping the fish in anyway I can, just wish a biologist could weigh in on this and answer the question of necessity.
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So Jim, do you still sell those Laker-Savers? I already have one that I keep in my boat but I know someone who may want one.
--- Coot ---
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I own one of those laker savers but have only had to use it one time (but then again, I don't get up to the Gorge to mack fish much).
That one time I used it, in stead of hooking it with the point going down from above into the he fish's mouth, like a dork I stuck the point up from under the fish's mouth. Needless to say, once I got the fish down to the bottom of the lake, the device would not come loose. So, I had to bring that poor fish all the way back to the surface, connect the descender back on the right way, and send the ole girl back down again! Bad ... bad ... bad! fortunately she did stay on the bottom.
So when using one, hook it in the fish's mouth as shown in Tarponjim's avatar picture.
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[quote Wallows]I'm a bit curious, having caught a lot of lakers in FG, I've never had a bloated Lake Trout, or one that couldn't descend under his own power. Nor have I ever seen a bloated laker stuck on the surface that was released. I was under the assumption that lakers had the ability to release air, hence all the air bubbles that surface when fighting a big laker. Not that this is a bad thing and I'm certainly in favor of helping the fish in anyway I can, just wish a biologist could weigh in on this and answer the question of necessity.[/quote]
With all due respect, you've been lucky for barotrauma not to happen to any of the fish you've caught---yet. I see it monthly, and sometimes even weekly. I've had three since ice-out a few weeks ago. All three had black kokanee tails in their throats (and the whole kokanee in the belly!). These fish could not and did not expel their air bladders. Most lakers, over 95 percent, will release the air as they're coming up just like you've observed. But for those few, which are for some reason some of the very largest and oldest, its prudent to have some kind of descender to get them back to equalibrium.
Google "fish barotrauma" or "lake trout barotrauma" or something similar for hours of reading material on this.
As for necessity, I know the biologists at Lake Granby in Colorado, and Scott at Bear Lake, both use a descender (mine I think!) to release lake trout at their lakes when gill netting, and fishing.
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