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Anyone practicing fizzing on fish you wish to release caught in deeper water? I bring up the subject after raking in some PV Crappie from the depths (30+ FOW) not all are keepers and we had some go belly up that we put back.
believe this is not legal in some states (Minnesota comes to mind) but i don't see anything in the Regs for Utah.
I've never done this but have done some research online, just curious on opinions and techniques if anyone has them.
is it something we should be doing when deep water jigging?
thanks for your input
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[#0000FF]I have done a lot of perch and crappies. As you mention, if they are brought up quickly, from depths greater than about 30 feet, they do suffer from a distended air bladder...and are usually unable to swim back down strongly enough to reduce the pressure and swelling under their own power.
Fizzing (sticking something into the air bladder to release pressure) is different for all species. The proper way depends upon the physiology of the fish, the size of the fish and how tough it is.
Perch are much tougher than crappies. You can just poke a small hole in the protruding bladder with a hook point or the point of a sharp knife and the fish will power back down to the bottom with a high percentage of survival.
Crappies are different. In addition to the air bladder thing they suffer distended eyeballs and can have permanent damage. Still, you can quickly perforate the end of the air bladder and send them down with a much higher chance of survival than if you leave them floating on the surface for the gulls.
There are several commercially available sinker arrangements that you can hook into the lip of fish with the "bends" and send them back down to depressurize. I make my own with an ounce or two of sinker and a piece of wire. (see the pic). If you keep a spare rod rigged with one of these you can quickly and easily release a fish by sending it down and then giving a jerk to pull the "saver" free and release the fish.
[inline "WIRE PERCH SAVER.jpg"]
I have recaught fish that were fizzed the day before. And I have watched fish on camera that were sent back down with the releases...and that have survived well. I have also seen some floaters that were recycled back into the ecology by birds or tiger muskies.
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thanks for the info and design of that tool. i'm going to rig one up and give it a try very soon!
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I make a descender for larger fish that has a 4 pound weight, but it would be way, way overkill for panfish. They do work great through. The first crude ones I used were made similar to Tubedude's illustration, only with a coat hangar wire. Make a tiny version for panfish and it should work great. [url "http://www.lakersaver.com"]www.lakersaver.com [/url]
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I agree with Tubedude and TarponJim, these descenders work fantastic. I have used mine on larger trout (cutthroat and lake trout) from Bear Lake where we have brought some trout up as deep as 175' in gill nets. I have descended them back down 50' with a "lakersaver" and the fish have survived. How do I know? We tag the fish (yes, I am a biologist) and I have had several fish that we "descended" show up years later that anglers caught and the fish were doing perfectly fine. That is my testimony on "descenders". What Tubedude posted about making smaller descenders for panfish should work just as well.
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That's awesome Scott! That's the first definitive evidence I've had on that device, though I've also been catching a few that I'm "pretty sure" have been descended with it. No disputing the tagging data though.
Can I use what you just wrote as testimony on the site at some point?
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Yes you may use what I said. I'm a firm believer in the descenders. In fact, I've made several homemade descender units that I have given to friends up here at Bear Lake who are dedicated anglers who have had fish bloated that they couldn't get to go down. I hope they use them with the same ease and success that I've had with them. I like attaching mine to parachute cord and tying one end off on my boat. I lost one to the depths when it wasn't tied off. I use 50' of line since I have had one fish come back up after I put it down about 35'. I know if you go down about 33' its about one atmosphere of pressure, so with 50' it seemed to work better. I guess if you were fishing in 66' or 99', it might better to descend the fish to close to bottom. However, with lake trout, they do release gas as they are fighting and coming up from depths, so going all the way down to depths greater than the 50' of line that I have probably doesn't make a difference. I've said way too much. Sorry to hijack the thread.
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Home spun descender.
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awesome home made job, ill be bending some wire this weekend!
thanks for the other replies . good to know these devices work. dont like to see fish harmed unless they are hitting the dinner table.
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I use captain Jim's (tarpon jim, on here) Laker saver for cutts and Lakers and it works well. I have saved several lake trout with it and highly recommend it. Honestly I don't think anyone should get into serious mack fishing without one...
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