Pulling Fish Out Of Deep Water

[sikaso]

We were catching crappie out of 50' of water, but had to keep some of the smaller ones just because they wouldn't recover after being pulled up from so deep. Any comments?

[Burnham]

just reel them up real, real sssslllloooowwww, lol

[WalleyeGuy85]

Even when you reel them in slow its still pretty tough on the fish and most still wont make it back down the hole, it just comes with the depth you fish

[Burnham]

yea i usually only fish about 30 feet at the max of water so i suppose there is less pressure than 50 feet, i do know you can pop something to improve their chances but not sure how...after all i think it is the pressure that keeps them from making it, but not 100% sure

[fishinJohn]

Small fish are good too, just scale, take the head off and the guts out. If you fish deep water you really need keep 100% of the legal fish you catch or you shouldn't be fishing there. I would say lake trout would be the exception since they are able to rise fast naturally.

[FishinChad]

I would suggest only fishing over 30 feet down unless you plan to keep the fish, but if you do catch and release these fish about the only things I have found that help are reeling in slow like said and also picking them up by the tip of the tail and dropping them in head first so the get a little boost to get down under the ice, I have seen many swim away after doing this. I beleive sometimes the slap in the face when they hit water gives them a kick of life, I have hear of kinda slapping them on the water to get them going also.

[south_metro_fish]

I have not pulled them out of water that deep but I pull up little ones off the bottom in about 30 feet and get most of them to go down. I usually put them in the hole and see if the head down if they don I grab them by tail and give them a couple of dunks and on the last one I give them a good push down and they usually take off. Some times it takes a few tries, but the longer you let them float in the hole the less chance there is for their survival.

[fishersofmen]

Same for me south_metro. And even at 30ft sometimes they won't revive. Thats the downside of fishing deep, and the slower you reel them up the more chance of loosing them. It is way funner for me to fish in shallow water.

[JimBuck]

Fish shallower. Unless you plan on keeping most of what you catch. Sight fishing pannies is a hoot anyways.

[Northlander]

Out of 50' of water you will either wind up keeping all of what ya catch or killing what you try to release. Unless you reel in painfully slow. Even then I think a lot would get the bends.

[merc]

I was fishing in 35' of water right of the bottom and got all of them to go back down. Maybe just luck but one thing I found was reeling slow made little or no differance. I would put them back in the hole and they would't move but if I laid them on the ice or the floor of my house for about a minute or two they would take off like gangbusters, I've done this on a couple of trips and so far it has worked. But maybe I was just lucky!! Good luck!!

[BLACKJACK]

I think we're killing a lot of fish, pulling them out of deep water. Several years ago it was an eye opener for me, I was fishing a crappie hole over 40 foot of water and the ice was really clear, you could walk around and see a dead crappies every 10 feet. Several weeks ago I was fishing a 30 foot hole, catching crappies at 20 feet and experimented by throwing several in a 5 gallon bucket to see how they reacted. Yeah they gave that 'swim effect' that people see when they swim down the hole but pretty soon they were laying on their side in the bucket. Even experimenting with a slow retrieve they'd go belly up. I stopped going to that spot because I didn't want to sort thru/kill more crappies.

I think we're killing a lot of fish, pulling them out of deeper water, and it doesn't even have to be that deep.

[charliepete2]

I've also done the slow real and drop head first method. I think a good majority of them just make it far enough under the ice and die. Shallower fishing or keeping them all is about the only answer.

[smeese]

Who fishes 50 feet? I am lucky to break 10

[carpmanjake]

bring a hypodermic needle tip. and do the same thing as u would for bass. the crappies anatomy is very close to a basses. just take the tip off the tube. and poke the gas bladder. i caught a 14", 2lb 5oz crappie in 65 feet of water. as well as many 12"ers. i poked the gas bladder. and i marked the biggest crappies tail by putting it against the stove (makes the area u heat go white) just as an experiment to see if i would see her again, and know it was her and that she survived. i caught her again this winter while sight fishing. she is now 15" and she weighs 2lbs 14oz!

thats proof that the degassing technique really does work

[eyewarrior]

I think we're killing a lot of fish, pulling them out of deep water. Several years ago it was an eye opener for me, I was fishing a crappie hole over 40 foot of water and the ice was really clear, you could walk around and see a dead crappies every 10 feet.

I think we're killing a lot of fish, pulling them out of deeper water, and it doesn't even have to be that deep.

I've had the same experience if you catch them in deep water you might as well keep everything you catch. After catching a few small fish in deep water you need to move or just quit after you catch your limit.

[fishersofmen]

What is it exactly that happens to these fish to where they can't revive anyway??

[carpmanjake]

What is it exactly that happens to these fish to where they can't revive anyway??

the deeper the water the greater the water preasure. and if the fish come up to fast the drastic change in water pressure causes their gass bladder to expant. which makes them unable to swim down.

alot of times (in my case with perch anyway), the gas bladder will expand so much that it pushes the organs so they start to come out the throat, and through the u know where

[RainyEye]

Besides reeling them up slowly, I've found that by squeezing their air bladder that more of them will revive.

[BottomPounder]

Close there mouth befrore you send them down.

[Nutty Fisherman]

After I have released some from 30ft of water, I took the camera out the next night to look under the ice and there was the 2 that I released the night before on there side under the ice. I also reeled them in very slow. I now don't release them if they come out of 20 feet or deeper.

[Tom7227]

I've caught crappie and sunnies in 10-12 feet of water and put them in a bucket with water only to see them roll over. However, I brought them home and put them in a large aquarium and by morning 80% of them were swimming just fine. The rest were dead. I don't know what the dead coming back to life thing is but it was wierd.

[Bottle Fish]

Did you fatten them up and then eat em?

[slurpie]

only one thing to do that is keep what you catch from deep water. For me thats around 20' or so. I've seen lakes where the rumor was a good and big 14" crappie bite, people released 10" and 11" and that spring there was alot of dead crappies around the shore. I keep all from deep water and fish shallow water to catch and release.

[gulllakeguy]

Anyone try giving them a little squeeze while they are in the water? We call it burping them. You will see the bubble of air come out and they take off like gangbusters. Try it once.