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Posts: 6
| i caught my pb muskie a few days ago and have a question regarding the release. I had 30 ft of line out, so it was a very short fight (it only fought really once it was netted). The fish came from <10 ft of water. The hook was in a good spot and twisted out in the net. Total time out of water id say definitely less than 30 seconds. Fish swam away relatively quick, on its own power, but kinda stayed on the surface. A minute later though it resurfaced on its side. We went over and grabbed it and revived it again, spending a lot more time. I had to move us back out or we would be beached, so we also got water over its gills that way, gently moving back as slow as my motor would let me. My friend pushed it out, and it turned around and dove under the boat. I maneuvered us using the oar, and we didnt see the fish again after staying for 15+ minutes, and the water was clear with no waves so we wouldve seen it.
So i guess my main question to the more experienced muskie guys is: will a muskie most likely survive even after needing a second recovery, as long as it can stay under (trouble controlling the swim bladder was my first thought when it went on its side - and it didnt resurface for 15-20 mins. i tried "burping" it but didnt notice any bubbles come out.) |
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| Sounds like you did what you could. I wouldn't ever attempt to "burp" a muskie though. |
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Posts: 6
| Baby Mallard - 8/25/2012 10:23 AM
Sounds like you did what you could. I wouldn't ever attempt to "burp" a muskie though.
By burping i mean gently messaging the belly area where the swim bladder is. If the fish is having trouble diving, ive read it might be because of excessive air in the swim bladder and the "burping" process can release that air and let the fish stay upright / dive.
If its problem was indeed the swim bladder having air, and it didnt resurface could that indicate that it fixed its problem and was ok? |
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Posts: 619
| Should probably onlly be burping babies, not fish though. How would you burp a catfish? They have stingers on the fins.
Edited by Slow Rollin 8/25/2012 11:20 AM
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Posts: 6
| Slow Rollin - 8/25/2012 12:18 PM
Should probably onlly be burping babies, not fish though. How would you burp a catfish? They have stingers on the fins.
Haha, no clue!
Heres where i read about this (along with various other places):
"If when you let them go they turn sideways or upside down (which my muskie did - went sideways), they may need to be "burped". Muskies swim bladder is below center, and some tired muskies cannot overcome excess air contained therein. Should this be the case, hold your fish's back against the side of the boat by the tail and using the other hand, gently press the stomach starting near the anal fin and push along the stomach towards the head. This will help to remove the excess air from the bladder and give the muskie a much better chance of regaining its equilibrium and swimming away in good shape."
http://www.larryramsell.com/DOCS/Muskies,%20release%20them%20right.... |
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Posts: 6
| I have no doubt that "burping" a fish does no harm, my main question is:
What are the survival rates on fish that surfaced once but recover, swim away on their own, and do not surface within 15-20 minutes?
FWIW, i went back the next day and did not see it floating or on the shore, but if it did surface, the current (even though basically non-existant where we were) could've pulled it away or a turtle |
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Posts: 62
| My guess would be you did it right, and getting to the fish quickly the second time to revive it might have saved it. I would vote on it surviving. Congrats on the pb. I lost my pb last night and the headshakes have been haunting me all day.....
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| Burping is fine. I meant don't ever "fizz" a muskie, which you didn't anyway.
Edited by Baby Mallard 8/25/2012 1:25 PM
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Posts: 619
| was the fish by chance hooked on the lower area near the tongue or that lower portion of the head near any gills? |
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Posts: 734
Location: Watertown, MN | Slow Rolllin my thoughts exactly
troy |
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Posts: 6
| Slow Rollin - 8/25/2012 2:34 PM
was the fish by chance hooked on the lower area near the tongue or that lower portion of the head near any gills?
pretty sure not gills, as for the tongue... hard to tell the hook came out so fast. It bled maybe a couple drops - but nothing serious or even really obvious. |
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Posts: 619
| yeah, the only reason i ask i have had fish hooked in and around the tongue - lower upper gil and for some reason if anything whatsoever gets even a little torn in that area the fish twirls and cant get down - all of those have died on me. so now, when i get a fished hooked in that area i really take my time and i know all i can do is lightly jiggle the hooks out, cant be forceful and try to quickly pop those hooks out in that area...pretty tough do if the fish is thrashing all over, especially a big fish that is not behaving and thrashing all over in the net. even on top that, even tougher if your fishing by yourself |
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Posts: 656
Location: Forest Lake, Mn. | Sometimes taking the fish into real shallow water can help. Take them in shallow enough so they can rest their belly on the lake bottom. That can help hold them upright and give them a chance to recover with body support and not expend energy in staying upright while the naturally burp and recover. I've done that with fish that didn't want to go and kept flippiing on their sides. It worked, after a bit the fish slowly swam off. I stayed in the area and watched it until it took off on it's own, that way no one else can come along and harass it or take it and you're right there should it need other help. |
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Posts: 6
| Slow Rollin - 8/25/2012 3:14 PM
yeah, the only reason i ask i have had fish hooked in and around the tongue - lower upper gil and for some reason if anything whatsoever gets even a little torn in that area the fish twirls and cant get down - all of those have died on me. so now, when i get a fished hooked in that area i really take my time and i know all i can do is lightly jiggle the hooks out, cant be forceful and try to quickly pop those hooks out in that area...pretty tough do if the fish is thrashing all over, especially a big fish that is not behaving and thrashing all over in the net. even on top that, even tougher if your fishing by yourself
I see, and Il take more notice of that in the future, but I really dont think that this happened because eventually my fish DID go down.
I released it in about 6 ft of water which is pretty shallow - the shoreline was incredibly weeded, but maybe in the future if the fish has troubles like this again il try releasing it in very shallow water like you suggested, and we did stick around for a while. |
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