hypodermic needle, where to get them

[nitroderrek]

i got some hypodermic needles last year from some guys, but i need to buy more, and i don't know where they got them from.... does anyone know where to buy them at?  thanks for the help, derrek

[smbassman]

Tractor supply company

[fiker]

Perhaps if you know  a diabetic on insulin you could get some from him.

[chase5004]

Try CVS or Rite Aid. I imagine the employees could show you. I got mine from my diabetic in-law.

Pat

[bshaner]

Hollywood and Vine.

[Team houston]

That right there is funny.

[Bender]

I was driving down on 8 Mile last night at about 2 A.M. after finishing some work at a customer's factory. I think I saw some on the ground.

[fishon1219]

I got mine from a freind who is a paramedic. They are 18 gauge needles. That is what I was told to use. If you use the ones that diabetetics use they are 2 small. Thats what I was told anyway.

[Potter]

If you need some, let me know.

Potter

[djkimmel]

Potter - do you have bulk 18 guage - 1.5" needles?

[canvsbk]

Would someone please explain, with details even my partner could understand, how you go about this fizzing deal? When? Where? What are you trying to accomplish? Which ones?
Thanks

[djkimmel]

Fizzing is one way to relieve internal pressure on bass caught deep and quickly brought to the surface - kind of like the bends. The bass uses its air bladder to help with neutral buoyancy in the water.

The deeper a bass goes, the more pressure put on the body and air in the body. The bladder is compressed in deeper water, but any gas brought to a higher elevation will expand. The expansion can be explosive - why the bladder will pop right out of the throat on some fish caught deep.

Every 33 feet of water approximately, the pressure doubles compared to that of sea level or approximately at ground level. At sea level, we are at 1 Atmosphere (A), the pressure of the air column above us pushing down on our body. At 33 feet below water, pressure doubles to 2A. At 66 feet, pressure triples to 3A.

The bass transfers air into and out of its air bladder through microscopic means, not by gulping or burping like a few primitive fish can, so it takes sometimes hours for a bass to adjust its air bladder and therefore its buoyancy.

A bass cannot deal with a rapidly expanded bladder that stays expanded when we put it in our livewell at the surface after bringing it out of deep water. Enough expansion in the bladder - usually from deeper than 30 feet, and the pressure over and hour or less, can cause irrepairable internal damage to a bass. The stress from the rest of the experience for a bass along with a moderately expanded bladder might be enough kill some bass soon, or possibly later after release.

If properly trained with the right equipment, a needle can be inserted into the air bladder to release some of the excess pressure to allow the bass to attain a more normal buoyancy so pressure on internal organs is relieved and the bass may be less stressed by being able to sit upright lower in the livewell.

Obviously, the best thing (if we are going to catch them deep) is fight them to the boat in a manner that does not completely wear them out, and then release them so they can immediately return to the deeper water with enough strength to stay there and recompress their bladder.

In a tournament, fizzing may be the next bess option to fish caught deep, but it has to be done right away and correctly to have the best outcome. One thing, just like humans, don't use a shared needle or you may pass along disease doing more harm than good.

One study showed that walleye that were fizzed actually had a much higher post release die off rate than unfizzed walleye, but I have found no such similar study on bass. Actually, I haven't found a lot of really good study results yet. It needs to be looked at more.

I do have reservations about fizzing bass at the weighins since the weighmaster doesn't really know which bass were caught deep; may be using the same needle over and over; and by then, a bass caught more than an hour ago may not get any benefit from fizzing - any damage would already have been done; doing a lot of fizzing in a hurry may cause too much air to be removed whereby a weak bass will just sink to the bottom and probably die on the bottom.

[djkimmel]

You really need to be shown by someone who really knows what they are doing, preferably trained by a biologist. You need to only fizz bass caught real deep that appear to be unable to roll upright, and float at the surface, looking bloated.

I do have plans to get ahold of the best diagrams I can along with gudelines and post a document here, just not sure yet when I will be able to do it. There are such documents already on the web if you search. Don Iovino sells his own kit with instructions.

[Potter]

I'm still looking Dan!

[DDBethke]

We need to bring this topic back to life!

Having never "fizzed" before it seems like we should all know how to do it properly and how to ID what fish truly need it.

We need to keep the big "deep" Smallies in the gene pool!

Here are some links I found, most important thing I noticed is how important it is not to squeeze too much air out.

http://www.bassresource.com/fishing/diagram.htm

http://www.michiganbass.net/images/buttons/deepbass.pdf

http://www.bassresource.com/fishing/fish6.html

Duane (and where can 18 guage 2"-2 1/2" needles be bought?)

[Vic Cerabone]

18 ga. 1 1/2 needle is the way to go.  My wife has a horse (that's why I can go fishing all the time) and I have her pick them up at the feed store.  They are pretty cheap if you buy them that way

I've been fizzing for several years now.  I'll be glad to show anybody in person how to do it.

Vic

[motocross269]

Everything I have been reading says don't fizz.....Just weight the fish down so they stay upright...(alligator clips with weights to the pectoral fins).
I am new and have never been in a situation where I have had to Fizz, but I did do a lot of reading on it over the winter, so now I am basically confused on what to do. There seems to be alot of contradictory information out there.

[BassinGT]

I agree the information in contradictory. For example you never hear them mention fizzing on any of the televised BASS or FLW tournament shows (or at least I've never heard it). I always wonder why especially when the fisherman says he caught them deep. Nor do I recall any instructional fishing shows talking or educating people about it either. I often wonder if they intentionally omit that stuff so not to cause an uproar from animal activists who already think fishing alone is bad enough. When you are trying to really grow a sport like this that is the kind of bad press you don't want.  Just a thought.

-Gary

[1javelin]

Well I plan on doing some deep water exploration for some monster smallies, and would like to know how to fizz them in case needed in a tourney.  We caught a largie at the BBT that was mouth hooked, no blood, and still turned upside down in the livewell.  He was caught in about 20 ft of water, so not sure if this was the cause or not.  Someone help me out please.

[Slipkey]

I had a conversation with one of the release boat guys at a Stren series event a couple of years back at Elizabeth Park.   I asked him about fizzing and his response was, "No need.  We just put the ones on the top of the tank in a basket, lower it down to about 20 feet and when the bubbles stop, we bring them up and let them swim off."

For obvious reasons, I don't think carrying a basket with rope on it would be a good idea for a tourney angler.  

You can get enough depth with a long-handled net to release a good amount of the pressure.  You can also attach a rope to the net pole to get a little more depth. I've done this with walleyes and smallies and it works pretty slick.   They float upright and swim away.

For tourneys without release boats, fizzing's probably the way to go, though.  It's one of those things I've got to learn too.

While we're on the subject, I ran across this article today with a new technique I might try:

http://outdoorlife.blogs.com/gonefishin/2007/05/got_a_release_m.html