deep death?

[samIam]

Perhaps this has been discussed at legnth here before but I am new so please humor me.

I know that in years past it was a commonly held belief that any walleye caught below 20 to 25 feet would inevitably die. I also hears that some pros are using a srynge and needle to somehow relieve the pressure. Is this true?

On my local lake it has become increasingly popular to troll for suspended fish at depth down to 40". Large fish are routinely caught and released by many anglers due to a slot limit. Do all of those fish die?

[Sebastion]

Yes this topic has been discussed enough, so lets drop it. If you want to learn more, search the archives. As to fish caught 40" below the surface, no they probably wouldn't die considering that is only slightly over 3 feet deep.

[JBL]

We really have beat this topic up pretty good in the past, search the archives for fizzing, you'll find quite a few opinions.

One of the best ideas for live release involves hooking a single hook to a large weight, and placing this onto the fishes lower jaw and thumbing the line under pressure until the fish is back at or near the depth you caught it, then a quick snap to release it. In theory this should work well without poking the fish with a needle.

[TK_551]

Man, what's with the tone? The guy was just asking a question and he said he was new. And I am sure he meant 40 feet, not inches.

As JBL said, there have been quite a few postings on fizzing. I for one wouldn't mess with it. Most of the areas I fish are shallower anyway. Just look through the archives.

Tom
#551

[SUPERTROLLER]

>One of the best ideas for live release involves hooking a
>single hook to a large weight, and placing this onto the
>fishes lower jaw and thumbing the line under pressure until
>the fish is back at or near the depth you caught it, then a
>quick snap to release it.

I don't understand how you can "snap" the hook out. Seems like you'd just be banging the fish in the face with a heavy weight.

I've heard the latest "best" idea was to just release the fish as soon as possible if you weren't going to put it in the livewell. They will supposedly be able to swim down before their air bladder expands too much and the faster they get down the more water pressure pushes it in and makes it more comfortable for the fish to recover.

[Melonbob_ON]

yeah, whats with the tone anyways? Seems to me though that over 90% of the people who flame have "Guest User" under their name. Don't take it to heart, even topics that have been beaten to death will get responses, or at least a polite, "Check out the archives" from members.....(:

[Hawgeye]

I too say stop with the tone! This site has become this valuable because new people log in and provide new ideas and solutions. Had I received that kind of reply the first couple times I posted, I may have gone elsewhere. This site has been the ultimate and a few people with attitudes like this can spoil it for some in the same boat we were in when we started.

Sometimes the archives are just that, archives. New ideas can come out since the "fizzing" idea is still theory and there are no real quality facts that support either pro or con. If done wrong you are going to kill the fish for sure. I have heard that if you quickly catch the fish and quickly release the fish, it is able to return on its own and yes, survive. Smaller fish do better than larger fish. To me fizzing will do more damage than good. Until I see true studies giving results, I will keep my mind open.

Personally, I feel catching fish over 25 -30' deep is irresponsible by fisherman. I catch eyes in 100' of water but catch them when they are suspended at 20'.

The only way to do a true study is to plant transmitters on fish that have been fizzed and the same amount that have been just released. I don't know if that has been done but it sure would be nice to see some data on that. Sounds expensive.

[The Great Guide]

I'm no expert and my answer is based on observations over many years of deep water fishing. I fish Rainy Lake MN about 30 days a year. We fish an average depth of 30 to 40 feet and routienly go to 50. Presentations are gennerally verticle jigging and pulling spinners. There can be 10 to 15 boats on a reef all catching lots of fish. I would say that if there was a high mortality on fish that are hooked deep, that that kind of pressure would produce quite a few floating fish. Rarely do I see an injured or dead fish.

I wonder if pulling cranks at higher speeds would produce more mortality.

TGG