Fish release weight...

[Waterwolf2230]

Has anyone seen a store on the island selling these? I'd love to be able to successfully release Pacific Cod. We've had great success jigging for salmon but unfortunately are catching a fair number of these cod. Alternatively if you have another suggestion fire away!

Thanks Curtis

 

[Big_Shank]

I had to look up a YouTube vid just now to even figure out what it is. Looks like a great invention that will save a ton of fish if people implemented it's use into their tackle arsenal. There is almost nothing worse than using your 1per day limit(in most of my area at least) pulling up a small rockfish from 100' deep or more, and then having to bonk and keep it because air is bursting from every little hole in it's body. I am very interested in getting a few of these...

I definitely would have sent the one in this pic back down had I owned one of those weights.

Edit* I also just looked up where to buy them and found several pics of homemade versions. The pic with the weight is not my pic, found on Google but you get the jist of it.

 

[Jammer]

http://www.sheltonproducts.com/SFD.html

I saw this while checking out the FBR a few years ago, looks like a decent design.

 

[dwflyrod]

that is a great idea .nothing worst than killing small rock fish will be doing that for sure thanks

 

[Waterwolf2230]

I wonder how big of a weight that you'd need to send a 8lb Pacific Cod back down...Big_Shank I'll be making myself one of those...looks awesome.

 

[vanislehunter]

I suspect the rockfish in your photo big shank would have been blind even if you had got it back down there. puffed air bladders is one thing, exploded eyes another. It's a tough fishery, i'm lucky I can accomplish most of my jigging in sub 50ft of water and most seem to return fairly happy.

 

[Percy Stipec]

I tie onto the bottom of a squid jig so it is upside down and put a hali ball on the other side to weigh it down. I have often wondered what the survival rate would be though because the inflated swim bladder could crush the other internal organs. Also some times the bubbles in the eyes inflate so that may wreck them. I saw a video awhile back about these devices on fishinbc.

 

[seadna]

I've used devices like that before (the Shelton descender in particular) but found that they are not as easy to use in practice as one would hope. The issue is keeping the fish on the device as you are trying to get it all in the water - e.g. the fish can just slip off before you even start descending. I now use a Seaqualizer. This is a device that clamps to the fish's lip and then releases as a pre-set pressure. You can set the device to release at 50, 100 or 150ft. I attach mine to my downrigger when I'm bottom fishing. Then when I jig up something I want to release, I can send the downrigger down with one hand while I'm getting the jig back down to depth with the other. E.g. the rod keeps fishing while I'm doing the descending and when I'm done descending the fish, the downrigger does all the work to bring the descender back to the surface. That saves a lot of time that is better spent fishing.

 

[Big_Shank]

I suspect the rockfish in your photo big shank would have been blind even if you had got it back down there. puffed air bladders is one thing, exploded eyes another. It's a tough fishery, i'm lucky I can accomplish most of my jigging in sub 50ft of water and most seem to return fairly happy.

Believe it or not, that eye only puffed out and went bubbly after I bonked it. When I brought it up it fought for probably the first 20-30ft then went limp for last 100ft or so, I suspect from it's swim bladder inflating. Once at the top it let itself off the hook(barbless anyway) and floated on the surface hissing with air. The eyes were mint until the bonking.

 

[tubber]

Here is another downrigger attachment. The bulging eyeballs makes me wonder too, but perhaps some can survive.

http://www.reelfishingadventures.net/Extra Pages/theputembackfishrelease.html

 

[wildthing]

Here is another downrigger attachment. The bulging eyeballs makes me wonder too, but perhaps some can survive.

http://www.reelfishingadventures.net/Extra Pages/theputembackfishrelease.html

i like the mans thinking

even making a line snap up that clipped on
would be cool

be nice if scotty jumped on the idea and produced one ....

sure it would sell ....

 

[Big_Shank]

Here is another downrigger attachment. The bulging eyeballs makes me wonder too, but perhaps some can survive.

http://www.reelfishingadventures.net/Extra Pages/theputembackfishrelease.html

I like this idea the most at this point Tubber since I do have all of the required stuff to make one. It's just a halibut spreader with the short end bent and bucked off to make a hook.

 

[fshnfnatic]

X2.Like this design.Easy and affordable to make.Gonna sacrifice a spreader bar for the cause!

 

[Big_Shank]

Just made this one tonight, going to file down the hook point tomorrow when I find my file.

 

[tubber]

Nice work. I guess a guy wouldn't want to send his ball down to a snaggy reef to save a rockfish and anchor his downrigger and boat to the bottom in the process. I'm going to make one for my trip this weekend.

 

[seadna]

Nice work. I guess a guy wouldn't want to send his ball down to a snaggy reef to save a rockfish and anchor his downrigger and boat to the bottom in the process. I'm going to make one for my trip this weekend.

You don't need to send the downrigger all the way to the bottom.

 

[Time]

Kudo's and congrats to those who are taking the initiative to do what they can to reduce the killing and wasting of by-catch.
Well done.

Hope to see some reports on how successful your rescues are.
I guess the only proof of success is if the fish doesn't come floating back up.

 

[seadna]

Kudo's and congrats to those who are taking the initiative to do what they can to reduce the killing and wasting of by-catch.
Well done.

Hope to see some reports on how successful your rescues are.
I guess the only proof of success is if the fish doesn't come floating back up.

There have been studies on this and it's surprising how well fish do when sent back down:

"According to published results of a Sea Grant
study led by researchers at Cal State Long Beach:
The degree of barotrauma in a fish is not a reliable
predictor of its survival. The most significant predictor
of post-release survivorship is the time a fish spends at
the surface.
In experiments with several species of common
Southern California rockfish, 83 percent of fish caught
at depths between 217 feet and 350 feet, survived when
returned to depth within 2 minutes. The odds of a fish
dying following recompression nearly doubled with
every 10-minute increase in time at the surface.
Tagging and recapture studies showed some released
fish were still alive 1.5 years later"

See this link for more info.

 

[wildthing]

well here is a quick version i did and its quick easy and snaps on and off the downrigger line

its only a cable snap and a large hook with a bolt and a cable zip tie

matter of seconds to put on and take off when not needed

also done a more permanent version