Air bubbles in sauger/walleye

[HopkinsFishN]

Alright guys, I'll give up here k. I was not promoting fizzing, just simply saying you can do it (as in, you can learn about it and same a few more fish rather than the fish dying). I have never seen this happen during the winter, that is my personal experience. I have only seen it during mid summer when the water is warm, sorry. I am not wrong on saying this is an option, I am wrong for saying what's his name doesn't know his facts because apparantly I don't. I was tought this by a pro and he said it has saved more fish than if he didn't do it, pretty much makes sense because if ya don't do it than what????? The fish is for sure going to die with its bladder in its' mouth right? So why not LOWER that number to save these fish from the depths? Yah if someone doesn't do it right, they will almost certainly kill the fish I KNOW! But what if they have some knowledge of fizzing and can atleast make an attempt? Isn't that going to greatly reduce the number of floaters? Come on here guys, I am not saying it is "the way" it is an option, and as far as I've ever heard there has not been another option out there. Is there?

[TylerS]

Let me get this straight. The chance of a fish surviving that has to be "fizzed" is something like 30 percent. And since you guys don't necessarily want to keep every fish you catch that comes from deep water, you "fizz" them so they swim away and "maybe" survive.

Let's put that in perspective. You're up on LOW. The fishing is hot and you're in something like 35+ feet of water. You end up catching 300 fish made up of a combination of walleyes and saugers. Of those, roughly half, or 150, had their air bag stuck out of their mouths. So, you "fizz" the 150 and feel pretty good about yourself that they swam down the hole.

So 30 percent of 150 is 45 fish. Of the 150 problem fish you caught, roughly 45 survived. That means you killed over 100 fish.

Again, this is roughing it, but if you're that worried about a fish's survival, and you knowingly are fishing in deep water, I'd think you'd be willing to keep everything you catch until the limit and call it a day. Call it the hazards of fishing deep.

Maybe I'm off base, but, if the bite is deep, I don't fish until the bite goes shallow again. Why? Because I don't feel like keeping a bunch of dink eyes or, worse yet, breaking the law because I couldn't successfully release slot fish.

We always have the same problem with crappies in the winter. Even shallower, they just give up about halfway up the hole and don't got back down. Usually I set them in the hole and try to revive them for a bit, but if they don't go down, it goes in the bucket. Makes for a lot of dink meals, but that's what happens sometimes...

[Beast26]

I also saw the show one of the previous posters mentioned last weekend. They also mentioned that every boat fishing offshore in florida is by law supposed to have a "fizzing" tool in the boat at all times. I guess I don't have an issue with it if the mortality rate isn't too high. I do have an issue with only 30 percent of walleyes surviving when fizzed. Just show some constraint and reel up slowly. We were up on the pond a few weeks back and both of my buddies ended up keeping a few that should have gone back because it took them a while to learn to reel up slowly on the smaller fish.

[gn83tm]

I do some volunteer work with an organization called Recycled Fish. Some of you may have seen them on their "On Ice" tour. Their web site has some good info and links on this issue and may help answer some questions. I'm not sure that I can post a link here but their site isn't hard to find - just add a dot org. Search the site for fizzing and there's some good info that comes up.

[mainbutter]

It works well with large saltwater species. In fact, florida regs I believe now state that if you fish deep in the gulf, you have to have de-airing tools aboard.

[Zoob]

I'm with TylerS on the topic. If you pull one up that hocked up its bladder - keep it. Get your limit, call it a day.

Not every time out needs to be some sort of technological race to get the best.

Since when did "sportsman" become a term that means every gadget and every tool possible to rake in the biggest, and pooch what gets passed by? So - some days you keep nuggets.

Out of sight, shouldn't be out of mind.

[tgruenke]

The safest thing is to just real them in slowly so their bodes have time to adjust.

[Double A]

I find this happens just in the 9-14" fish. you can pretty quickly tell if that's what you have on your line and work it slow so you can release it safely.

Is it common to have a 17, 18, 19" fish from 33 feet come up this way?

[goblueM]

i'm pretty sure it doesnt matter what size fish it is. the laws of physics and chemistry aren't discriminatory

they're still going to have dissolved "air" bubbles in their blood, which depressurize when they are quickly brought up

[wahoo]

Goblum is correct, size is not a factor.