Hypodermic Tackle for Bass Fishing

21 November 2006 - Dealing With Deep Caught Bass

The idea and acceptance of the catch-and-release ethic by anglers is certainly one of the most important developments to modern bass fishing. However, if catch-and-release is going to be successful, you must take special care when handling fish to ensure their survival. Don't think that a bass darting off when let go will be fine, just because it looks lively. There is often a delay -- sometimes up to a week -- between the release of a seriously injured fish and its death.
Catching bass from deep water is probably the most common situation where you will injure fish. Fish that adapt to deep water are under greater pressure than those living in relatively shallow water. At 30 feet, for example, the pressure is about twice that at the surface and at 60 feet almost three times the surface pressure. The sudden reduction in pressure when you crank in a bass from deep water has the potential to cause critical injuries.

Learn how to use a hypodermic needle for deflating the swim bladders of deep caught bass. To release air from the over-inflated swim bladder of a bass caught in deep water, remove a single scale from the midpoint of an imaginary line between the anal opening and the space between the spiny and soft ray portions of the dorsal fin. Insert a hypodermic needle at a 45-degree angle and exert pressure on the fish's stomach.

I never knew. Not that it applys much around her but interesting none the less.