Fish Clip

[bassquatch]

Anybody have any experience with the fish clip? Caught some deep smallmouth the other day and they definitely needed to be fizzed (released them after realizing it). Anyone know if these clips are worth a shoot or if it is just good advertising and the bass will die anyway? Or anyone have any video or info on fizzing a smallmouth. Seems like the only info I can get is on a largemouth. Any advice is appreciated. Thanks

mark

[motocross269]

Most of the conservation guys I have talked to reccommend fizzing.....The problem is the Air bladder will expand and cause further problems....

All the weights do is keep the fish alive enough to get through weigh in....If you want to increase long term survivability, fizz them...BASS reccommends going through the side of the fish not the mouth..

Bass has a video on their website...I fizz a smallmouth exactly like a LM...3-4 scales back from the pectoral fin...

It is critical that if you are not tournament fishing that you release deep fish ASAP....Taking pictures or any other delays will greatly increase the chances that the fish won't make it...I was on the river Monday and the fish that I caught were in distress as soon as they hit the deck..When I released them they immediately headed straight down..My wife struggled unhooking a Bass and the you could see the Airbladder expanding on the side of the fish and out of it's mouth...

If anything I wish I had one of those deep release devices...

[Lightningboy]

I've got and have used the fin clips.  They are part of my supplies for my "fishy ICU".   

Bass undergo different degrees of barotrauma, depending on how deep they were.  Some will visibly bloat, while worse ones will have visible swim bladders in their throat.

Now, a bass is built to decompress their swim bladder naturaly, but it takes time.  If they couldn't do it, how could they live at different depths?  A bass with an inflated swim bladder will decompress themselves in the livewell given time.

The problem is that the bass can't keep itself upright in the livewell with an inflated swim bladder.  When bass turn on their side, they will suffocate and die.  That's where the fin clips come in.  A clip or two attached to the anal fin will keep the fish upright as it recovers. 

However, if the swim bladder is visible in their throat, you must fizz the fish; the bladder has inflated too much, and is pressing on their internal organs.

I don't fizz fish unless it appears I need to based on observation of the fish.  The clips do a good job of letting the bass recover with minimal invasive procedures. 

They work for fish having other problems too.  Sometimes a post spawn bass is exhausted after the fight, and is too tired to keep upright; they will die if on their side.  On goes the fin clip while the bass rests, and they usually recover very nicely.

[djkimmel]

Good advice. I have never fizzed a bass. I have used fin clips a few times because it does reduce stress on the bass to not have it stuck floating at the surface and livewell stress will kill the bass too. It can help keep a weak bass from banging on the livewell lid in rough water also.

[motocross269]

lightning boy....The only problem I see with your theory is what happens to them when you hand them off to the TD and he puts them in the holding tank for release after weigh in...  I assume you don't send the clips with them....

Yes the fish do control their air bladders...but when they go from the pressures at 40 feet to basically "0" It is a problem...


I have friends that still swear by the clips but I am not so sure.....Everyone has their own way of doing things and if it works great....I just would think that if the clips were the hot setup BASS and the FLW would be more into it...As far as I know they still run fizzing stations at the weigh ins...

Just my opinion...Not trying to start an argument but a discussion....

[Manxfishing]

Nice to know

As a guy that Walleye fishes
I have tons of snap weights but never thought about useing them to weight bass down in the
live well
I'll have to keep a few in the boat

[bassquatch]

Thanks for all the advice, definitely will get some clips for exhausted fish as well as learn how to properly fizz sm and lm. Thanks again!

[Mojo]

Well you guys touched on an area that I want to expand.  Those fish in the Flw holding tanks do NOT look healthy or cared for. It kills me to see so many high quality fish floating, gills turning pink, fins too depleted to help. 

I know they survival rate is calculated by total fish caught being the denominator while the living fish that leave the dock in the holding tank is the numerator.

All the dead fish plus the one that don't survive while waiting for weigh in are your dead fish, but what about the number that are found floating once those fish are dumped ? Anyone seen how many dozen wiggle on the surface and die ?

I wonder what could be done to get our quarry back in LSC safer ?

[Lightningboy]

In clarification of what I said above, it depends on the level of swim bladder inflation.

I've had bass from 20-25 feet show signs of barotrauma.  As long as the basses belly is only a little bloated, they should be able to deflate themselves over a couple of hours.  The clip just allows them to rest in an upright position while they decompress.  I've had morning caught bass that didn't need a clip by weigh in.

I've also had bass from 25+ feet show signs of severe barotrauma.  Extreme belly bloating, and swim bladders that protrude into their throat.  These fish are beyond taking care of themselves with time.  The pressure of the swim bladder pushing against the internal organs will cut off the blood/oxygen supply to the organs, causing tissue death.  Even if a clip kept them upright, they will not survive.  These bass must be needle decompressed, either through the side or through the mouth.

Now, the depths mentioned are not written in stone, each fish must be examined for signs of barotrauma.  Any time I fish anywhere near 20+ feet, I keep a close eye on the fish for signs of problems.

I guess my reasoning is from a lot of years in a hospital setting; keep the treatment no more invasive than need be.  So I watch my bass.  If they appear to be able to decompress themselves, I clip them & leave them be.

[motocross269]

Makes sense to me......

[Mojo]

Ok this is cool. I talked to the BFL director today concerning this very issue. His statement was that he was taken aback by the size. And weights brought in, so he is going to change the post weigh in final release rules so as to not overload the release boat past capacity. he wants to get as many 3-5 lbrs.  Back alive. So the concern has drawn positive attention.

That makes me  .   .

[Team houston]

I have used the belly clips on occasion with very good results.

[djkimmel]

Reducing stress for bass in the livewell should always or usually help.

I never fizzed a bass. I didn't spend lots of time fishing below 30 feet give or take 5 feet either in tournaments.

In approximation, the pressure at sea level is 1 atmosphere - the pressure and weight of the air above that spot. Every 33 feet of water is 1 additional atmosphere so the pressure on a bass at 33 feet deep is double that at the surface. At 66 feet of depth, the pressure on a bass triples.

Bass are able to move up and down pretty fast for short periods of times according to some studies. It takes them a while, as mentioned above, to adjust if they move from one depth to another and stay for a while. Where the bass has been spending its time for a while has a lot to do with how it is affected when you catch it and put it in the livewell.

Even if you caught it from 15 feet, it might have just come up from 25 or 30 feet to feed for a minute. Or maybe it was sitting in 8 feet and swam down to 35 feet to feed for a few seconds.

Not all bass that are wobbly in the livewell are having problems with air bladder adjustment. I always called it 'livewell sickness' where some bass just didn't handle being in the livewell very long. It is possible that even though I caught the bass from 8 feet, it may have just come up from 30 feet? It is also possible that it just isn't enjoying being confined in my livewell - just stress from being caught and put in a strange environment.

If you do catch a bass from deep water that was not hooked deep and stays at the surface on its side, it may need to be fizzed. If you see a bulge on the side (uncommon) and especially if you see the air bladder protruding from the throat, that bass needs to be fizzed now! Not at the weigh in.

In general, bass that really need to be fizzed and are fizzed - say by the tournament staff at weigh in - more than an hour after being caught - have a poor prognosis. As mentioned above, the damage has been done to the internal organs if that is the problem.

Using the same needle over and over, as they do at most weigh-ins, is a great way to share diseases. Anglers should do the fizzing right away if they see that a deep caught bass is showing clear, obvious signs of depth sickness.

Since most DNR biologists know that the weigh-in is too late to fizz bass that were caught deep more than an hour ago, that using the same untreated needle over and over can spread disease and that if the tournament staff is fizzing every single bass that looks less than vigorous they are fizzing bass that don't need it, they tend to believe that our goal is to 'destabilize' unhealthy bass so they sink to the bottom and can't be seen floating dead later.

I can't really blame them for thinking this or fault their thought process. I've tried hard to be vocal over the years against PR-type behavior of anglers whenever there are real or better answers that can protect our bass better. I also know that the last thing an already weak bass needs is to have too much air removed from its bladder. That is often a death sentence to a bass that will sink to the soft bottom to die from suffocation/stress. That is DEFINITELY NOT how I want to treat any bass I catch.

This means anglers have to know how to fizz right (along with some of the other things discussed here and elsewhere that help reduce stress and take better care of bass headed for a weigh-in). If you don't know how to fizz correctly it is easy to do more harm to the bass than good. I know there's a good video posted on the forum from one of the DNR's about the safest way to accurately fizz a bass. I believe it is the one that encourages fizzing through the throat. Of course, if you can see the bladder in the throat, you can be pretty sure that is a bass that needs fizzing now, not at the weigh-in! Too late!