How to release floaters after pulling up from 30+ feet?

Wednesday I caught quite a few dinks off the bottom in 32 - 37' of water. Several appeared to have swollen up coming up from those depths and could not swim back down. I've caught crappie from these depths before (different lake) and never had this issue.

I used to have to manually 'burp' big catfish caught deep with a skinny PVC pipe slid down their throat to their stomach before releasing. Do folks do that for crappie? I stopped fishing for them deep as I felt bad (too small to keep) and fortunately found some shallower.

I wont fish over thirty feet deep but when close to that depth if you can give them a head start back down it helps tremendously. I will point there nose down and literally throw them back into the water nose first.

we have several lakes that make you keep them no matter the size in the winter from deep water ...
most don't survive the ordeal ....
some go down , but most come back up and become bird food ....

There are techniques to puncture the swim bladder with a hypodermic needle but it’s at risk of not puncturing the bladder but rather another internal organ. It’s really not recommended. You can search the web about this for more info.

It seemed to effect the smaller fish more than the larger fish

Nothing you can do, almost all will be dead.

You can shove something down their throat, youll cause damage and they will die.

You can puncture their air bladder to fiz them, theyll go to bottom and die because they are too small and delicate to survive.

You can use a depth release tool, but the damage is already done to their swim bladder, they wont survive.

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Because of it killing the fish and l mostly catch and release l target crappie in 25 FOW or less.


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I rarely fish anywhere close to 30 feet deep.

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Originally Posted by DockShootinJack

I rarely fish anywhere close to 30 feet deep.

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I'm not sure I have 30 foot of line on my reels? :dono :cheers2

Can't think of any docks in my lake that sits anywhere near 30 fow. I knew the swim bladder would cause problems for salt water fish. Never knew it could happen to fresh water ones

Yeah I just don't fish that deep. Couple of the lakes I fish has very little area that deep.

I watch a YouTube series called Kayak Catfishing. He catches a lot of BIG catfish up to 70 feet deep. He will bring them part of the way up then let them rest for a bit until he sees bubbles come up. That is the fish releasing the swim bladder by itself. Might be worth a try if you are concerned about conserving the fish.

Good idea

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Originally Posted by Ketchn

we have several lakes that make you keep them no matter the size in the winter from deep water ...
most don't survive the ordeal ....
some go down , but most come back up and become bird food ....

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shame that happens, BUT BIRDS GOT TO EAT TOO. :dono

And the turtles

Compared to the numbers flushed through the winter at the dam , my numbers would be small . I agree ,feed the turtles .

If cold enough that they are that deep, I fill the freezer. Meat is very firm and very little chance of spoilage.
Granted you must obey any length/size regulations for the body of water you are on.


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I wish I could find it now but there was a video on Youtube in which a gut took a straw and would give crappie a blast of air down their gullet before releasing them back to the depths. I never ever fish that deep so it is not a concern for me.