How to properly pop a fish

wl1193 · Post by **wl1193** » Wed Sep 06, 2006 3:48 pm

How do you properly "pop" a fish and when do you need to do it? What gear do you need? Thanks.

MIKE TREMONT · Post by **MIKE TREMONT** » Wed Sep 06, 2006 4:58 pm

There are different methods that have been discussed and illistrated on this site. I'm computer a illiterate, so I can't help with that, maybe someone that has that expertise can find some of that stuff (if he get off the Russo's/FPT thread

) and give you a hand.

I just follow the fishes butthole (can I say that?) with the point of my neeedle upwards towards the latteral line. When you get right below the lateral line (you don't want to hit that and you don't wan't to be to low either) where the air bladder is. Go under a scale puncturing the fish at about a 45 degree angle going toward the fishes head. If you've done it right you hear the air release, sometimes I got to massage the fish a little bit. Make sure and clear your needele after every use.

That's the way I learned to do and have never lost a fish. I also got A's in biology so that may help

.
I've heard of another way that sounds like there is not as much risk, but I 've never done it. I'm sure someone that has will let you know, Good luck.

Ken C. · Post by **Ken C.** » Wed Sep 06, 2006 5:28 pm

There are actually a couple of articles in the WesternBass.Com Library. Here's a good one by Marc Marcantonio that'll give you some info:

"Fizzing" a Bass

I also found this PDF file on how to do it:

Deflating A Swim Bladder

I have seen another article on doing it through the fishes mouth (I couldn't find it right away...). Apparently the bladder will push against the back of the fishes mouth and bulge out. You can poke your needle in there and deflate the swim bladder. To me I would think that would give me less chance to poke the fish in the wrong spot on its side. But don't listen to me as I've never had to "fizz" a fish before!!!

What you need is a small gauge hypodermic needle about 2" long. I'd guess like a 20 or 22 gauge needle so you don't leave a big hole when you're finished.

Scott Shambre · Post by **Scott Shambre** » Wed Sep 06, 2006 5:48 pm

You will need an 18 guage needle which you can find at most feed stores, they use them on horses and other large farm animals. I then take the needle and shove it into the barrel portion of a white Bic pen and either super glue, silicone or hot glue it in place. Do not cut the barrel of the pen down, you will need the entire length of it for this technique.

YOU NOW HAVE THE TOOL FOR THE TECHINIQUE.

THE TECHNIQUE.....

As I demonstrated last year at the FBL season opener on a live bass, I go thru the mouth and have about a 99% success rate of hitting the bladder and deflating the fish without harm. I choose the mouth over the side of the fish because we hook these fish everyday in the mouth and there is very little if any after effects from this, however going thru the side can introduce infection, harm the slime layer or you could hit a vital organ displaced by the bloated bladder and kill the fish.

Holding the fish by either lipping or grasping over the top of the gill plates, look into the fishes mouth and you will see the gullet opening in the back of the throat. Above this opening and at about 11 and 1 o'clock are the "crushers" that aid in crushing and softening the food these fish eat. Above the gullet opening and directly between the crushers, insert the needle until you here the pop similar to opening a can of Sprite. Holding the fish securely and holding the needle in place, put the fish into you livewell and watch the air come out thru the needle. When it stops, your fish has been fizzed, place into a livewell treated with Please Release Me or Rejuvenaid and continue fishing.

This technique works about 99% of the time without harm to the fish becuase as the bladder inflates and moves forward towards the head of the fish, it pushes the vital organs near the heart down below the level of the gullet opening.

I will be doing this seminar again at the FBL opener on October 29th right after awards for anyone that wants to learn this valuable and necessary technique for caring for our deep catch fish.

Scott Shambre
FOLSOM BASS LEAGUE
www.folsombassleague.com

Ken C. · Post by **Ken C.** » Wed Sep 06, 2006 6:09 pm

Thanks Scott, that's what I was looking for. This seems to be a much safer way to do it!

Scott Shambre · Post by **Scott Shambre** » Wed Sep 06, 2006 7:14 pm

Go deep now and let them get good and bloated, then go to it. If you kill a couple in the learning process, eat them and learn what didn't work before you have to do it in a tournament. 99% of the time if you put the needle where I told you, you will get nothing but swim bladder. Good luck.

Scott Shambre
FOLSOM BASS LEAGUE
www.folsombassleague.com

wl1193 · Post by **wl1193** » Wed Sep 06, 2006 7:41 pm

Thanks for the answers.

Brian · Post by **Brian** » Wed Sep 06, 2006 9:17 pm

At what depth do you typically have to start to worry about popping fish?

gt5bass · Post by **gt5bass** » Wed Sep 06, 2006 9:27 pm

Brian,

I have had to fizz fish caught in 20' of water. It that case I believed the fish had just moved up from deeper water to feed.

wl1193 · Post by **wl1193** » Thu Sep 07, 2006 2:15 am

Assuming you caught the fish deep enough,, how can you tell if it's from got a belly full of food or an air bladder problem?

nipples · Post by **nipples** » Thu Sep 07, 2006 2:50 am

wl1193,

If a fish floats and has problems staying upright in the livewell, it probably needs to be deflated. Sometimes they look normal, sometimes they look fat. I have caught alot of bass on topwater that I had to deflate (shasta in the late spring, early summer on spooks, the spots can rise from 20 to 30 feet down to nail a spook)

Here is an article I wrote awhile back on deflating bass. I think it will explain everything. The links at the bottom are still good, I just updated them.

Deflating Deep Caught Bass

Anyone can get catch a bass from 30 feet on a drop shot rig. But not everyone has taken the time to learn the skills necessary to keep that fish alive. If you release that fish right away, it will still have the energy to swim back down to 30 feet unharmed. If you put that fish in the livewell without deflating it, and you might as well of clubbed it over the head and put it on a stringer, cus that is a dead fish, and all you are doing is making it suffer. How can you tell if you need to deflate a bass? Real simple, it floats, usually belly up, and try as it might, it just cannot right itself. Release a fish in this condition and it will float on the surface and flounder around. It will get baked in the sun, killed by birds, and or suffocate.

In Asian philosophy, before you learn how to injure a man, you must first learn to heal him. We need to apply the same philosophy to fishing for bass. Before you learn to catch bass, and inadvertently kill it, you should first learn how to keep them alive. Adding â€œcatch and releaseâ€

Scott Shambre · Post by **Scott Shambre** » Thu Sep 07, 2006 3:42 am

floating belly up in the livewell and will be UNABLE to right themselves.

Brian, like Gary said, I've caught them at Oroville out of 20-25 ft. that needed to popped. Typically, if I'm fishing over 30 ft., I've got my needle ready because they're gonna need some help. The livewell additives are important here too, it calms the fish down right after popping to help them adjust to the new pressure.

Scott Shambre
FOLSOM BASS LEAGUE
www.folsombassleague.com

MrSkeeter · Post by **MrSkeeter** » Thu Sep 07, 2006 4:40 am

Here's some info on how to deflate a bass:

http://geocities.com/ninja0@sbcglobal.n ... eflate.htm

swordfish · Post by **swordfish** » Fri Sep 08, 2006 5:11 pm

Preserve the resource and bleed the bladder , but learn to do it properly, good info, nipples????
it's usually 40 foot plus.... and as stated belly up in the well is your sign...