Releasing fish from the deep??

[canvsbk]

Just returned from Tennessee and our usual extreme cold front fishing trip. Our smallies mostly came from 55 - 65 feet of water on white hula grubs. We wondered all week if we were killing these fish by releasing imediatley them without any further care. Any thoughts out there?

[djkimmel]

I've seen the depths of 45 feet or deeper to be very hard on smaller fish, but larger bass don't seem to show the effects immediately at times. I haven't fished that deep much at all, but if the seemed healthy when you released them and the bass swam right down without coming back to the surface, they may have been able to get back deep enough before the effects did any damage to them.

That's the key. They need to get back deep enough to equalize the pressure close to where they were before.

Or the fizzing trick can be used to relieve pressure from the bass. Everything I've read says 1. the best thing to do is keep fish you catch that deep to eat. 2. Get the fish back to the depth quickly; the fish may swim down on its own if it seems strong (they seem less stressed in colder water) - I've read about using an upside down basket on a rope with weight - put the fish under the basket and lower the fish down to the depth, then pull the basket away. I think this is used if the fish is struggling to right itself, in obvious distress. 3. Fizz the fish and then let it go; make sure an expert shows you how to fizz (I've never done it and have seen it done poorly), using a sterile needle so you don't pass on any disease from fish to fish.

It's a good topic of discussion. I've caught perch deep like that that have died quickly or had their bladder sticking out of their throat by the time I got them to the boat in a short fight. I don't often fish for bass below 30 feet.

[canvsbk]

The surface temps were in the mid 40's and fell all week. We found a few "active" fish on the very ends of long tapering points very deep.  ( River chanel? ) Was it warmer down there? No way for us to tell. When we released them they would swim away mostly in a horizontal path, slowly descending. The bladder in the throat like you see in deep water perch wasn't evedent at all. They just kinda looked stunned, hope we didn't kill 'em.

[djkimmel]

If they were really distressed and you stayed in the same area a while after releasing them, you should have seen some of them on the surface struggling.

If you let them go right away, they may have been able to make it back down. Did they fight real hard until they were worn right out, or a little more sluggish coming in fairly quick? It would be better if they had a fair amount of energy still without too much lactic acid build-up.

I'm just guessing. I don't know for sure.

[canvsbk]

The fish certainly didn't have that usual smallmouth orneryness about them.
It's difficult to describe, but they just swam away at a not very steep angle, almost like they didn't want to return where they came from. They never just tipped up and went back down like you would expect. I guess that's what concerned us. We usually did spend some time in the area and no we didn't ever see any of'em again and we watched for it.
Kinda like some of that stuff I did back in high school, I guess I'll just forget it. It's not like we caught hundreds of 'em anyway....

[djkimmel]

It's good that you care enough to be concerned and it's a good topic of discussion. The only way to learn more.