C & R question

[trollingguy]

Need some help with a catch and release question.

I mostly catch and release all my crappies. Occasionally, the crappies (most of the time it is the smaller size fish) will not go back down the hole. I hate to keep the small ones that float around. Any suggestions?

I do try to bring them up slowly so there bladders have time to adjust to the change of pressure, but that does not seem to work.

[blueroof]

I have the same problem, them little crappie come up too easy and many take forever to recover.

Reel even slower than usual if the fish feels small, then give it lots of slack if it doesn't start fighting in hopes it gets itself loose half way up. You might want even want to go barbless, it would allow you to dump small ones easier without dragging them all the way up.

I've had plenty of crappie that feel small, then start fighting like a dickens once you get them up 20'.

LB

[Infishquinn]

If reeling them up doesn't do the trick and their swim bladder isn't protruding out of their throat, lip them, and blow right into their mouth. It has never failed me. I couldn't believe it them first time I saw it, but it works. CPR for fish! Give it a shot, I'm sure it will help.

[b1gf1sh1]

the proper way is called ''venting''. what the fish is going through is basicly just the gas expanding in it's bladder to fast for their automatic adjusting abilities to work. then. POP!! their body cavity fills up with the gas from their bladder and it can't escape. extreme cases involve the stomache comming out the mouth eyes bulging out and guts comming out the anus. to ''vent'' a fish you need a hollow tube/needle with a point. you can buy ''venting'' tools. i made one out of a 1/16 o.d. brass tube from the hobby store. put it not quite half way between the front fins and the anus. a little more toward the anus than the front fins. slowly insert underneath a scale at about a 45 degree angle untill you hear the gas escaping from the tube. NO FURTHER. you don't want to skewer the insides. don't help the air escape by pressing on the fish. over time the bladder will heal. survival rate when done this way is good. never push body parts back into the fish. they will go in by themselves. infishquinn. never heard of this way you talk about. you may want to question someone on this. you may be unwillingly harming the fish your trying to help. just say this because venting has been done since before Jesus with hollow bones and no info anywhere on blowing into a fish. WHAT IF IT'S GOT TEETH lol

[Infishquinn]

I've always heard it called fizzing, but it doesn't really matter. Fizzing crappies, I've thought about it, but never done it. I know its the "cat's meow" with walleyes and bass, but I guess it works with crppies too. The placement of the needle is critical though, you can do a lot of damage if its in the wrong place. Some biologists are experimenting with it through the mouth! It can work better than in the side, check out the In-Fisherman 2008 bass guide when it comes out. I'll inquire about fizzing crappies and other fish and report my findings.

I've been doing CPR on crappies for many years and haven't noticed any harmful effects, nor has my Dad, and he has an extensive background with fisheries biology. It certainly doesn't work when they are overly inflated, but if they are mildly, and kicking around a bit, it works every time.

[b1gf1sh1]

cool. nice to hear your dads got knowledge about the cpr. i keyworded ''venting fish'' and got way to many hits to read. even some with video's to watch how it's done. plenty with diagrams. i personally trust scientificly backed info over some backwoods guides info. read a few pages of one place and learned a few things and confirmed others. check it out anyone? the conflicting info is mostly about pushing body parts back in. backwoods bill says do it, scientific sam says no. and in reading them i learned it ''is'' ok to apply gentle pressure to help air escape. i learned this from living down in florida for a year. was told not to. always good to confirm things i guess. now i won't have to wait as long for the gas to escape. regular practice in saltwater fishing is venting as most fishing is done deep. anyway check it out.