Washington Halibut...........4 Days and done
- Thread starter blackvelvet
- Start date
blackvelvet
Member
fshnfnatic
Well-Known Member
Looks like a friendly bunch!! LOL
Aces
Well-Known Member
That's the BD salute!
Sculpin
Well-Known Member
Yup the black and red sites way of saying welcome, hello, goodbye etc. ha ha
. Nice haul there BV! Nice boat and gear too
. Is that Gary on the swim grid to the left?seadna : Your assumption that bulged eyes and swim bladder equals dead fish is 100% wrong and that attitude is the heart of the problem with our deepwater bottomfishery. The DFW has studied survival of decended rockfish and according to their college educated experts.....90% of decended rockfish will survive. Your observations of death on a bloated rockfish is true in your case cause if you leave them floating which leaves no doubt about their mortality.[/QUOTE]
umm u sure about that?...please post the link to the study.....just wondering how they survive with no eyes and airsack?
umm u sure about that?...please post the link to the study.....just wondering how they survive with no eyes and airsack?
Sculpin
Well-Known Member
It does work. Not sure of the percentages but I posted a video not that long ago in regards to this very matter. They will decompress if put back down properly. The video I posted was some scientists using a cage. Pretty impressive comeback really.
tains
Crew Member
Interesting. Never heard about recompressing rock fish until I read this thread.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Zactl_VsyQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EiZFghwVOyI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Zactl_VsyQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EiZFghwVOyI
Sculpin
Well-Known Member
Time to start thinking about it folks. Nothing worse than that floater everyone passes by. Do your part and get or make a decent device.
"Oh an eagle will pick it up" or "a sealion or otter will eat it". Sure they will but it's all about optics. Regardless of what happens it's up to us as sports fisher people to help out. Just look at the image of the commercial fleet with their bi catch crap. Do they make it ok...........NO!
"Oh an eagle will pick it up" or "a sealion or otter will eat it". Sure they will but it's all about optics. Regardless of what happens it's up to us as sports fisher people to help out. Just look at the image of the commercial fleet with their bi catch crap. Do they make it ok...........NO!
not sure how their eyes decompress.....the only way ive been able to save the odd rockfish is bring them up really slow...how do u put them back properly when their air sack is coming out their mouth, that s what makes them float....
cohochinook
Well-Known Member
If you don't have a beard now, you'll need one, before Osama ever consider adopting you!
Sculpin
Well-Known Member
Charlie
Well-Known Member
Haven't looked, but I think the shrimp season for Area 11 remains ONE day!
blackvelvet
Member
The way a decending device works is with atmospheric pressure.
33 feet down is double our atmospheric pressure and 66 feet is triple and so on.
The bloated rockfish will usually revive and swim off the decender at or just below 66 feet.
Washington biologists have done many hands on studies of mortality on bloated rockfish and according to their studies 90% of bloated rockfish will survive if decended within 2 minutes of hitting the surface.
You can make a decender with a large upside down single hook with the barb removed. Tie your mainline to the curve of the upside-down hook and tie a foot or so of line on the eye with a large snap swivel where you can add weights to pull the fish down. Most the time you will feel the fish swim off at around 70', but sometimes a larger fish may require 100' before it revives, then a slight tug up always does the trick to cleanly release the fish............Haven't had a single one float back to the surface yet, so they do decompress and swim down, whether they live or not.....I can't say, but I believe they a least have a chance, rather than leaving them to float away dead.
Here is the device most guys in Washington are using...........and a pic of a rigged one that worked flawlessly on my boat.......It easily attaches by poking it down thru the lip area..........for larger fish more weight can be added.
33 feet down is double our atmospheric pressure and 66 feet is triple and so on.
The bloated rockfish will usually revive and swim off the decender at or just below 66 feet.
Washington biologists have done many hands on studies of mortality on bloated rockfish and according to their studies 90% of bloated rockfish will survive if decended within 2 minutes of hitting the surface.
You can make a decender with a large upside down single hook with the barb removed. Tie your mainline to the curve of the upside-down hook and tie a foot or so of line on the eye with a large snap swivel where you can add weights to pull the fish down. Most the time you will feel the fish swim off at around 70', but sometimes a larger fish may require 100' before it revives, then a slight tug up always does the trick to cleanly release the fish............Haven't had a single one float back to the surface yet, so they do decompress and swim down, whether they live or not.....I can't say, but I believe they a least have a chance, rather than leaving them to float away dead.
Here is the device most guys in Washington are using...........and a pic of a rigged one that worked flawlessly on my boat.......It easily attaches by poking it down thru the lip area..........for larger fish more weight can be added.
Attachments
spring fever
Well-Known Member
Great idea guys-going to get that done this morning-tough on the gulls!!! LOL
blackvelvet
Member
Absolutely, that is how most guys are doing it.
I use a fin-nor reel with 60+ pounds of drag on a hali rod so I can reel up the dead weight of the lead, but downrigger is easiest and works great.
Sculpin: Good eye brotha, that is Gary on the swimstep.
Last edited by a moderator:
The rates of survival are somewhat smaller than that and range from 30-80% depending on species and depth. But you are correct in that fish can be successfully returned even when brought up from greater depths than I realized. Here's one publication that is of relevance in this regard. http://www.usc.edu/org/seagrant/Publications/PDFs/Jarvis_Lowe_rockfish_barotrauma.pdf
Interesting how you ASSUMED that I don't use a descender. I do or I keep the first limits worth that I catch. I also note that in area 5, in Wa, you are required to keep the first 3 that you catch so a descender there is not useful. However, to clarify, my main point was that I don't feel so bad about being restricted to fishing inside of the 20fathom line as I cause less damage to rockfish caught at the shallower depth and I don't have problem finding and catching plenty of rockfish with those restrictions (at least in Area 4). However, I recognize that rock fish in all areas greater than area 5 are under severe restrictions. I do miss the days when I could catch rockfish in areas 9 and 10 and I can see the future in area 4 may look more like the present in area 9 and 10.
Do some research on rock fish decent devices. Google is your friend
ya ive done research....google will solve this problem...when their eyes explode out of their head, there is no fixing that, poking a pinhole in the airsac or sending them down with weights wont save them, they may live for a bit, but not for long.....when bringing them up from deep water, poisonous gas fills the airsac and goes directly to the bloodstream! like i said before u get lucky sometimes if u bring them up very slow and they will live....not doubting your google research or nothing, just dont see the survival rate that u guys(guy) r talking about!!! regardzzz
Similar threads
