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Have noticed that alot of the fish I return to the water seem to flop around on the top of the water for a quite some time, and even the larger ones in the livewell seem to be in shock,
Im not really wanting to do the Needle and deflate the blatter every time I return a fish, so my ? is should I just clean the small ones as well, or will these fish recover?
I didn't think you were catching them in that deep of water that you need to deflate the bladder but it sounds like this is what is going on. I can't say for sure they will recover if this is what is needed.
most of the fish if have caught for the last month have come from 20 to 33 fow, not sure what others consider deep?
If they are floating on top, push them down with your rod tip to about 3' deep and they will take off! Learned the trick from WSD!
Oh I thought you were fishing 15-18'.
Good to know Redge!
If the fish are coming from approx. 30 fow then the fish have compressed air in their bladder equal to two (2) atmospheres, which upon coming to the surface, will expand causing the subject problem. I would suggest harvesting the fish and not waste the resource. You can always plant them in your garden this Spring for fertilizer.
try bringing them up slow
when you release them, make them hit the water nose first. I do not know what this does, but you will not have another one float. they will swim right away. Maybe it is shoving them to that 3' mark Redge was talking about.
I will try that, thanks everyone!Quote:
Originally Posted by fishn_a_ledge
Due to air bladder expansion, The Texas Dept Of Wildlife requires on most lakes in Texas you keep what you catch from Dec 1 to March 1, even lakes with length limits. They determined the mortality from bringing them up from the deep is too high.Quote:
Originally Posted by dstreet
Been having this trouble with ones caught in 10-12 ft water. Water for my bucket and livewell comes off the surface. Water temp this time of year is colder on surface sometimes than deeper water. I had two a week or so back when it was cold start floating when they hit the bucket. Started taking bucket of warmer water with me to catch bait. Problem solved.
The closed mouth, nose first, forceful drop usually does the trick for me.
Odie
When did you start releasing fish!?
I have found that throwing them in nose first like throwing a dart seems to work fairly well.Quote:
Originally Posted by fishn_a_ledge
Back in my Bass fishing tourney days, we had issues with structure fishing bass dying when brought to the surface like is described here. Only difference it was in the summer months on clear lakes like Beaver, Tablerock and Grand.
We had to night fish and by tourney rules, it was catch and release. Mid morning after the fish were released a lot were found dead floating on the water.
The ODW did a study using baskets suspended at different depths to hold the released fish on Grand in the late 90's. Some were at 20', some at 15' and some at 10'.
The mortality rates of fish caught at depth and released into these test depths resulted in high mortality rates with the bass overall, so they assumed it was the temperature difference, and requested a lot of tournaments to not fish during the hottest summer months.
I know this thread is about crappie caught at depth in the winter, but I wanted to throw this in here as I don't know for sure how that study progressed. Did they finally find out it was temperature related or bringing up the fish too fast similar to a diver coming up to fast and getting Nitrogen Narcosis?
I've fished a lot for striper on Beaver in the summer at 90'+ depths in the past. When we brought the shad or perch bait up from that depth, their eyes are out of their sockets, and the air bladder is hanging out of their mouth.
Similar results with catfish and others coming through the Hydro at Kaw. In seconds, they go from 70 fow to surface pressure. Bladders out their mouth, etc.
I say keep em and eat em.
Every time I throw em in like a dart, I kill em?
Hey guy's check out my videos on YouTube under Timmytomsjigcompany and on the Hinkle video you will notice when I turn the fish loose after catching them 40' deep I use my rod and slide it behind their gills and push them down in the water about 2-3 ft and they will go back down. WSD
We have released thousands of fish at Hefner when tube fishing in the winter. We kept the floaters, until one day one of the guys flipped a floater into the air about four-five feet. It hit the water and immediately sped away. We started doing that every time we pulled one up from 30-36 feet, and nearly every fish has recovered. Occasionally, one will float back up and wind up in the grease.
Maybe that’s why I don’t haveany issues with floaters. When I’m fishing at the dock and I catch one that I don’twant to keep, I normally toss him out the front of the dock – he’s usually 5-6’in the air and doing a couple of flips before landing in the water and takingoff.Quote:
Originally Posted by Bigskyfisherman
I have use what WSD stated above in the passed and had good luck with the crappie go down. I am not sure if later they float up somewhere, but they do go down. I have not tried the dart trick. It is probably safest just to harvest them.
I would hate to get checked at Tenkiller/Gibson with five or six short fish, I wonder what the Game Warden would say about it if you explained why you had them. Maybe we need to talk to someone at the Oklahoma Fish and Game Department if anyone has a contact?
Uh oh, do you realize the can of worms you just opened?Quote:
Originally Posted by rdjj71m
If anything, makes me want to design a sling shot to shoot them suckers nose first to get em going.
they sell rubber fish in all sizes. Don't worry about Doug!Quote:
Originally Posted by rdjj71m
Your always so helpful Ledge. Now if you would just post your credit card number I could go ahead and order 15. :biggrin