Deep water walleye mortality

[92python]

I've been catching fish in 40 plus feet lately and have noticed the swim bladder has been ballooned out on those walleyes. Picked up a few eyes today and put them in a bucket of water to see if the swim bladder would return to normal size. After 45 minutes or so it was time to leave so I checked the fish and the swim bladder was still ballooned out so I kept them.

What are the chances they would have survived if I released them and they found their way back down the hole?

[Gissert]

Not good. I dont like to fish much deeper than 35 feet, and even then, it is iffy on some days.

[augernaut]

Those fish will show almost 100 percent mortality. The sportsmanlike thing to do is to keep any deepwater fish you catch. Fizzing the fish kills them too, there is no good solution other than simply not fishing them that deep.

[MT Net]

On lakes with slot limits, don't fish for walleyes in deep water. You'll only have to let that slot fish go, only to become food for some other critter.

[Chris Haley]

Definately keep everything in 40ft. You're pushing your luck letting anything go that came out of 25ft+