Releasing deep crappie

[turkeyfootnc]

I don't know how is the best way to put this but recently I caught crappie in 40' of water. When we released to smaller ones, they floated. Now I know they were very much alive and they have some kind of bladder that was full of air, but can someone explain how they all of a sudden float? Also what's the best way to bust the air or will they eventually make their way by themselves?

[jaxsprat]

Probably all will die with in hours. You would have had to fritz??(spelling) them, to give them a 50/50 chance to live.

[bayoumonster]

As the fish rise, the pressure drops and the tiny bit of air in their swim bladder expands. The expanding air blows the bladder up like a balloon. In deep sea fish, it will even pop out of their body if you pull them up from somewhere around 60 or 80 feet or more. The weight of the atmosphere and the water is what generates the pressure. As they go up, there's less and less weight on top of them and therefore less pressure.

They'll all die from being pulled up from 40 feet. You're even required to keep all of them regardless of size from Lake O' the Pines in Texas in January and February for that reason. Even the dinks count in your limit.

[bowhunter012463]

Some of the newer fish measurers from frabil has holes in them that tells you where to poke the holes to release the air in the bladder according to the size of the fish. Kind of expencive but better that having dead fish floating everywhere.

[skiptomylu]

Since we have new rules I am not sure, but before this on Toledo Bend caught from Dec. through Feb. you had to keep every one you catch and count on your limit. Guess I need to check how it is now because with an agreement with Louisana the limit of 50 per day per person has changed to 25, but also took the 10" minimum off which I am aginst and would have liked it if the minimum was still 10". It's been pretty easy to limit on 25 per day so have to be more careful counting.

[Fishawk]

Some may find this hard to believe but it really does work most of the time. I have found that if you give the fish a toss into the air, not just drop it into the water, the fish will usually swim off right away. Maybe it's the impact of hitting the water that deflates their swim bladder. I've been doing this for about three years now and believe me, it works.

[LBM]

Some may find this hard to believe but it really does work most of the time. I have found that if you give the fish a toss into the air, not just drop it into the water, the fish will usually swim off right away. Maybe it's the impact of hitting the water that deflates their swim bladder. I've been doing this for about three years now and believe me, it works.

I agree here only I don't toss them up. I smack them sharply on the surface of the water like a belly flop motion only in this case its really a side flop/smack motion and they generally seem to swim away.

I used to close their mouths and try and insert them into the water nose first so they went a foot or so deep but it seemed like I sometimes had to do this two or three times to get them to stay down. For me by first side smacking them on the water seemed to work much better and would work the first time.

[Mikie]

I've had good luck with the closed mouth and throw them like a dart trick will have to try the belly flop thing.

[feelay]

Throwing them like a spear or dart has always worked for me.

[albiechaser]

Throwing them like a spear or dart has always worked for me.

Same as when I release Albies @ Harkers Island,