Strange Behavior

[Crestliner08]

We hit the Quabbin Reservoir for some crappie yesterday. Water temp was 57. Breezes light and variable, which kept us drifting jigs pretty well for the morning. This was a CPR event, as I needed to take it easy after having surgery last month. Most fish were taken about 10' down over 20' - 30' of water. However, releasing some of them - about 4 - they just layed there, on their sides, on the surface of the water! Their tails would rise and lower, but they made no attempt to right themselves or head back down! I found this very strange.

We used 1/16 oz. jigs with soft plastics and these particular fish were lightly hooked in the top of the mouth. We only use barbless hooks. I've fished for crappie quiet a bit over the years, but have never seen crappie acting this way before. We got about 15 - 20 crappie each in 4 hours, along with some big gills. And these were decent fish:







Has anyone experienced this kind of behavior before? We scouted around when repositioning, but didn't find the fish on the surface any longer. I assume they finally got their bearings and moved back down in time?

[Cmj]

Only time I experience this is when pulling them out of deep water during the winter months. I think the quick pressure change damages their air bladder, you might as well throw em in the live well at that point because they aren't going to make it. Not sure if ten feet of water would do it though. Either low oxygen levels, or maybe they were coming up out of the deeper water to feed?

[LBM]

Like Cmj I've frequently experienced that while winter crappie fishing. I use a couple of techniques to get them to not remain on the surface and have no clue whether they eventually survive or not.

The first method is to smartly spear them nose first into the water so they go a foot or so deep where they usually will start swimming away and down. On this method some say to first close their mouth before spearing them into the water but I've found it doesn't seem to make much difference. If after a couple of attempts this way and they remain on the surface I'll then use my second method which tends to sounds like a contraindication if one is really trying to help the fish survive.

That second method is to very smartly throw or smack them sideways onto the surface of the water like you would smack your open palm onto the water for maximum splash effects. Again I can't say whether they eventually survive but have seen them swim away and not remain floating on the surface.

[gregsayers2000]

We had 2 fish last nite do the same as you describe. They ended up in the cooler.