YO wrote:
OK,
I got a good little tidbit ot add to this discussion..
How about the big girls caught while downrigging. I've never used riggers for eyes before, so help me out here. Say I get a big fish (or a slot fish for that matter) off a downrigger. She comes up quick and is suffering because of the pressure change. Can I release this fish? If it's in the slot, I have to. If it's a big fish, should I put it in the box? I'd much rather take the chance of releasing it and hope that it recovers and makes it through at least one more spawn. Last thing I want to do is kill a big walleye, I'm not about to eat it, and not likely going to get a mount done unless the fish is over 15.
Should I even bother with riggers? I can get a stretch 20 down over 40 ft off in line boards with a snap weight. I think tto bring the fish inhe plus side to that is that you have a lot more line out and it forces you slower.
Nice to see that no one responded to your post YO.
This is
VERY VERY important and everyone that fishes the bay should learn as much about "The bends" as possible.
Firstly, I am not an expert on this and I have killed first due to my lack of knowledge on this topic. So please
if someone is an expert on this please post information on this board about the problem.
Here is what I know:
The bends is when a fish comes from deep water (30-40 feet) and rises too quickly causing the air in their air bladder to expand. The explanation for this is as follows. Since the water pressure is greater as you go deeper, the air in their air bladder is compressed at the great depths. If the fish is unable to slowly release air as it rises from the depths, the air in the air bladder expands as the water pressure decreases. Since the air is trapped in the Walleye's air bladder, and the bladder is obiviousily instead the fish, a fish that has the bends will have it's stomach start to come out of it's mouth. The more air trapped, the more the stomach comes out.
If you get anything from my post understand this,
a fish that has the bends will NOT survive if simply released. I had one fish get the bends this weekend and I put it in my livewell with fresh oxygenated water in the hopes it would survive. The air bladder
did NOT deflate and the fish did not survive. I keep this fish for the table.
The only way that I know of to successfully release a fish that has the bends and ensure it survives is to use a need to deflate the air bladder. I have never done this and read that it works but never seen it done. Hopefully someone that has done this can enlighten us.
In terms of your question about having to release a slot fish even though it has the bends. Well, the MNR regs are not so clear on this but they are clear on any fish in the slot must be released. I was in this situation this weekend (yes, a second fish got the bends) and I release the fish. I made all attempts to revive the fish but I knew it wouldn't survive. I will be sending an enquiry to the MNR about this because it doesn't make any sense to me to release a fish cause it is in the slot, knowing it won't survive.
I plan to research this topic this winter and hopefully become more educated so that I can successfully release a fish that gets the bends.
Just remember, bring the fish up as slow as you can. If you are trolling remember that there is a constant pull on the fish if you don't put the boat in neutral while fighting it. If you keep the boat in gear, you need to go even slower.
Cheers,
Mike
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Just wondering how many keep their (one) BIG HEN fish. I did last year, and I swear I'll never keep another big HEN fish again. When I seen the eggs that was in that fish I was embarressed. Little ones are better eating anway. Just a thought. I'm not bashing anyone if they want to keep their one fish. I keep my fare share of fish too. Pictures tell a thousand words anyway.
....For a photo only, well, maybe 
