Fish-Hawk.Net

I've been trying to break into some Walleye fishing to change things up a bit (and not having a lot of success), but it seems all I keep getting are Smallmouth bass. This football was last nights highlight. Pulled him up from the bottom in 50 fow. I tell ya though, those St. Lawrence smallies sure are fat.

Wow 50Feet! Nice smally.

Helluva Football!
A great practice would be to fizz them smallies before releasing them, especially coming from 50 fow.

What a beast ! How well did it release after coming up from that deep?

LiplessCrank wrote:What a beast ! How well did it release after coming up from that deep?

Really well... it swam out of my hands almost immediately and went straight back down. I think what helped was after I hooked it and brought it up a few feet, it swam up on its own and broke the water twice before I got it to the boat. I also didn't have it out of the water very long, perhaps 30 seconds, if that.

Two weeks ago we were pulling them out in 40-70ft of water on the Larry out of Cornwall area. 99% of them went back down with no issues after being pulled up from that depth but two needed to be revived a bit. One had the bulging eyes and the other had the stomach in the throat issue. We were with a guy who knows what he was doing and they all swam away in great shape. It is pretty cool catching bass that deep in the water column and I never thought of fishing that deep but after getting a 5.5lbs smallie in 56ft it has changed my tune...I am now a huge fan of the Drop Shot!!

almontefisher wrote:Two weeks ago we were pulling them out in 40-70ft of water on the Larry out of Cornwall area. 99% of them went back down with no issues after being pulled up from that depth but two needed to be revived a bit. One had the bulging eyes and the other had the stomach in the throat issue. We were with a guy who knows what he was doing and they all swam away in great shape. It is pretty cool catching bass that deep in the water column and I never thought of fishing that deep but after getting a 5.5lbs smallie in 56ft it has changed my tune...I am now a huge fan of the Drop Shot!!

That is one thing that Team 28 learned this year.
If you don't drop shot or drag a tube in the depths of the Larry or the Franny: "Last, shall be thy place."

Great to hear about your success. That's a beautiful Smallie, for sure.

About Fizzing; I feel it is a really important technique to learn to help out those fish you are catching in deep water. The reality is they are likely in serious trouble if you brought them up from that deep.

I personally am not good at fizzing but I do want to learn the technique so that my catch survival rate can increase. It's just a fact that most of those fish you catch in deep water are likely going to die if you don't fizz them, regardless of if you saw them swim away or not. They just can't handle the extreme pressure changes.

I want to avoid that as much as possible so in the next few weeks I will be working with a local Angler at developing a step by step process that can be shared online on the basics of fizzing... My feelings are that those bass are big and old and deserve to live another day as opposed to suffocating to death with their stomach ballooning through their mouth. I know Youtube already has videos on it as well, I want to learn from this old Pro for my own personal development as well. I will be sure to link to it here when it is available online.

Cheers, and tight lines!

~OAO~

OutdoorActionOntario wrote:It's just a fact that most of those fish you catch in deep water are likely going to die if you don't fizz them, regardless of if you saw them swim away or not.

Yup!

Great fish! Love hooking those deep smallies!

TheMaverick wrote:

OutdoorActionOntario wrote:It's just a fact that most of those fish you catch in deep water are likely going to die if you don't fizz them, regardless of if you saw them swim away or not.

Yup!

True if you are keeping them at surface atmosphere for extended periods of time, I.e taking a bunch of pictures or putting in the livewell. If you let them go ASAP most fish, even ones taken from 30+ feet will be able to get down and the pressure of the water will compress the air in their bladder. If they show obvious signs of barotrauma, bulging eyes or stomach in mouth then that fish is in deep trouble no matter what you do. Fizzing will give him a shot at survival but having all their organs squished by the expanding bladder makes me think they will fall into the delayed mortality category if they can get back down at all.

Save the fish, and save yourself the headache of fizzing! Get some fish clips!!!

I know how to fizz, but I will never use a needle again! I donated hundreds at the first shootoutseries event in brockville, and had them for sale all year for less than cost at every shootout event all season! I will continue to carry them at every event I run, including the franny event in just over a week in Cornwall!

Do I work for fish clips! Nope, I just believe in the product so much, and want no dead fish brought to our scales ever! I'm no biologist! Are you?

Our live release rate at the OBN qualifier was ridiculously good, and a huge part because of the fish clip! We went through 6 packs (30) and every fish lived that had one! The event had a total of less than 1% kill rate! Over 1600 fish weighed in over 3 days, 14 died, 11 of those brought to the scales already had died!

I think paddletales sells them also!!!

Yes we do and I'm a believer in them too.

Ed

Fish Clips seems like a good idea. I am pretty sure releasing a fish as soon as possible is a good idea too. If a fish looks like it won't make it... Fish Crisp is a good idea.
By the way, that's a nice small mouth. I have caught them steel lining for lakers at depth and they have all survived when released. It is a more gentle rise to the surface..but if you plan on jigging fish from the deep, you have to expect some casualties.

how much weight do you use for drop-shotting and dragging tubes in that deep water?