DESCENDER LEAD WEIGHT FOR SMALL PERCH?

[spankmyfish]

I am making my own descender rig and couldn't remember how many oz. to lbs. of fish weight to use. Mostly using for small perch that are not worthy of a fillet knife.

[missoulafish]

Is there an actual formula to use?
A few ounces of lead should be more than sufficient to get perch back to depth.

[Papa John]

What depth are you pulling them up from?  Just curious because I've seen lots of them come up from 40' deep and swim back down by themselves. Never heard of anyone using a descender for perch. I use one for cod and rock fish in the salt. Curiosity is getting the better of me here.

[spankmyfish]

I see them swim back down also sometimes. I've also seen them not make it and float underneath the ice even with a swim out of my hand release. I've seen studies that show that 80% don't equalize back and perish. There was a thread on Holter ice conditions with guys making their own descenders. I have bank sinkers from 1oz. to 5oz. with the heavier just in case I caught a bigger fish that I want to release. I thought it was 1 pound to 3 pound fish ratio?

[spankmyfish]

What depth are you pulling them up from?  Just curious because I've seen lots of them come up from 40' deep and swim back down by themselves.

Over 30 plus feet and there stomachs are pushing out their mouths.

[spankmyfish]

I remember in my diving school that 30 feet is 1 atmosphere below surface level. When you intake compressed air from a tank at depth it is compressed and fill a balloon it will expand at the surface, so if I were to surface very fast I would have the bends ( air bubbles in my blood stream because I didn't allow to excess nitrogen to expel naturally. Same thing happens to fish at a depth past 30 ft.

[Hooked up]

A 1oz sinker works fine.

[spankmyfish]

Thanks! I have bank weights from 1 oz. - 6 oz. to cover all sizes. That will get me in the ballpark. I will add more if needed

[Perch-Eye]

When you pull one up from 50 feet do you have to drop it back to the same depth before you shake it loose ?


Ken........

[spankmyfish]

Or close to. At least 2/3rds the depth is safe. Do a search on the subject. Very informative

[mtcommonwalleyeguy]

I have a homemade setup for Holter perch. I use one of my old, broken poles with an inline reel on it. I tie a hook (flattened barb and filed down tip) with a...I want to say 5 oz weight (it's a duck decoy weight) about six inches below. The 5 oz weight is definitely overkill, but the inline reel allows me to control how fast the fish goes down...you could do the same if you take off the reverse lock on a spinning reel. If fishing in 50 ft, I usually pop 'em off at about 35'-40'. This has always done the trick for me. Before this descender, it was a very rare case that a perch made itself to the bottom without it...usually they wouldn't even get out of hole. 

[spankmyfish]

I hope this thread informs others that this is a serious threat to the survival of released fish. Most people don't  know about barotrauma in fish. A month ago I had no clue what barotrauma was and how important it is

[RAD594]

I have used a lead weight that has the alligator clip molded on it that is for clipping on to your line to check the depth with.  After seeing a picture of a descender I made one from a piece of wire.  I use a cheap level wind reel on an old broken rod. I am thinking that a person could take a bottom bouncer that has the lead molded on it and make a very serviceable rig from it. It doesn't take much weight to send a small perch down.

[WilleyBooger]

The following site says 8 oz weight per lb of fish:

http://www.seagrant.umn.edu/newsletter/2013/05/let_em_down_easy_returning_a_fish_to_deep_water.html

It also says: "You don't have to send the fish all the way to the bottom, ... drop them down 15 feet and that sets them on their way."

[spankmyfish]

 I saw that online too. I have a 1oz. Bank weight on a snap swivel right now. I also have 2 through 5 oz. just in case I catch something bigger that I don't want to keep.

[missoulafish]

The more weight the less time wasted not fishing...

[Born Late]

You need enough weight to keep the fish’s nose pointed down and moving downward at a steady rate or it’ll slip off the hook before it reaches a safe level, in which case you will have wasted time and defeated the purpose. For me, a 6 or 8 ounce river weight is just right.