Deep perch- Air bladder expands, kills em? What to do?

[busler15]

I was jigging for perch in my home lake, and the only place I could find them was 30' of water. I caught two, both were about 7" and each the air bladder was expanding out of their mouths because of the pressure change. I do not want to kill every perch I catch, and I only got two, but

is there any way to stop the perch from dying due to the pressure change. I tried reeling slow, and making multiple pauses, but it didnt work. What can i do to fish for perch, but not kill every one I catch?

[pcsminer]

we have caught perch in 30+ water and never had that problem before don't know what to tell you

[wyoutdoors]

is there any way to stop the perch from dying due to the pressure change. I tried reeling slow, and making multiple pauses, but it didnt work. What can i do to fish for perch, but not kill every one I catch?

Maybe mouth to mouth and if that doesn't work, send an email to these folks they'll know how to save perchies. 

~ G

[pcsminer]

Maybe mouth to mouth and if that doesn't work, send an email to these folks they'll know how to save perchies. 

~ G

 
PETA = People Eating Tasty Animals

[ice dawg]

I have taken a fairly large snelled hook and cut the point off behind the barb. I attached it to a line with a large bell sinker, hooked it a fishes mouth and let line out until it hit bottom. It seems like when the sinker hits bottom the fish just swim away. It works in deep water on walleyes in summer. I don't know why it wouldn't work on perch also. You have to let your line free spool so the hook doesn't come out of the fishes mouth. It might be worth a try.

[Scientist]

It is not the air bladder that is coming out of its mouth it is the perch’s gullet and stomach. The air bladder expands and has no room to expand and pushes the stomach out. Often times the perch will regurgitate half digested food on the way up from the depths. The advice the guy gave previously might be your best option with the barb-less hook and weight because it is fairly simple to do and requires nothing special. The air bladder can be purged of excess air by inserting a #10 gauge sterile hypodermic needle 2 inches below the lateral line in the proximity of the dorsal fin, but if done improperly the organs will be damaged and kill the fish. I don’t recommend the needle purge unless extreme caution is exercised for safety.

[perch-man]

I wounder if a slower retrieve from that depth might be better

[Scientist]

I wounder if a slower retrieve from that depth might be better

Nope, you can take 20 minutes to bring in the fish and you would get the same result. The difference in pressure is what causes this phenomenon.

[busler15]

So basically, I should just stop fishing that deep if I want to release fish at all,

Sounds good, Kinda stinks it is the only place ive been able to mark perch!

[axtell31]

I had this problem with crappie this winter to and I didnt realize it was happening cuz the fish would take off but would end up floating under the ice, I found that after the snow melted, but I experimented and found rubbing the area around the air bladder helped big time. It was succesful and I even did it to a few walleye this winter.  Never had a problem with the stomach coming out though.

 I did drill holes and get them fish out so you guys dont think I just let them waste.

[KingFisher1]

Batter, deepfry, and enjoy

[jimski2]

You can not take too many perch. The little guys will make fine potato chip morsels if you clean them right. The other perch will grow bigger faster since there are less fish for the forage available. Too many perch eat their own young, the walleye fry and stunt the whole biomass down.

[Van_Cleaver]

You certainly can take too many big perch; if you think that's just opinion read the article in  in the 2008 "In Fisherman Ice Fishing Guide." (Our Fragile Fisheries; Pounding Perch) In a remote area with light pressure, it might be true that you can't take too many, but lakes that see a lot of anglers get decimated by greed frequently. More on topic, I have had the expanding bladder or stomach problem when catching perch in water over 25'. As a result I "try'' to do my perch fishing in shallower water, though it isn't always possible.

[ice dawg]

You can not take too many perch. The little guys will make fine potato chip morsels if you clean them right. The other perch will grow bigger faster since there are less fish for the forage available. Too many perch eat their own young, the walleye fry and stunt the whole biomass down.

If you don't think you can take too many Perch, do a little research on the Perch fishing at Devils Lake, Nd. I live in SD and tons of people come here for the Perch fishing in the winter. I have seen several lakes fished down to almost nothing in one winter. I one of them 14" Perch were pretty common and at this time you are lucky to catch a dink. I can remember one day when there were about 200 shantys on This lake and it teed me off so bad that I left and went elsewhere. The lake that I went to was so crowded that you  couldn't see the south shoreline because of all the shantys. There is no longer any fishing on this lake because the land owner won't allow it and it is tied up in court at this time.

[Mainehazmt]

In Northern maine alot  reel em in faster  just for that

[TomToolery]

7"ers are 2 healthy forkfulls from the frying pan   dont sweat it    enjoy  TT

[jimski2]

Devils Lake North Dakota? Isn't that where the FLW is going to hold its next big tournament for walleyes? I stand by my statement that you can't take too many perch. The reproduction capacity of perch dominates the lakes biomass and we don't take enough perch for other species to flourish. When the perch are fished down, other species flourish and the perch that are left have a good growth rate. It is too bad we concentrate our efforts so much on walleye and ignore the perch. Too many times limits are put on perch to stop selling them and the perch are unharvested and the walleye fishery collapses.

[Haywood]

When ever I pull up fish out of deep water that doesn't look like it is going to make it, I do the same thing and it works 100% of the time.  I take my fillet knife and I go right behind the fishes gill and make an incision to it's back bone.  Then I pull my knife along the back bone, all the way to the tail, flip the fillet over so you can see the swim bladder, then I cut out the ribs, fillet off the skin, dust it with some fry magic and stick it in some hot oil. 
Unless it's out of season, I never release an injured fish, even if it is small and going to count against my limit. 

[river_scum]

last years thread but ill chime anyhow. i wondered this same thing a couple years ago. i wondered if i could fiz them like bass. i took a few home and used a friends hypo needle to try it. it worked as far as getting them to swimm up-rite! there was a bit of mortality, from what im not sure. could have been the fizing or the stress(i did have to aclimate them to my fish tank) a few fish lived in the tank for a few weeks so its at least feezable.

i think i posted this elswere on this site too.

[panfishman13]

never had that happen

[jayswimmer09]

slow retrieve is better. much better!!!

[taxi1]

I had this problem with crappie this winter to and I didnt realize it was happening cuz the fish would take off but would end up floating under the ice, I found that after the snow melted, but I experimented and found rubbing the area around the air bladder helped big time. It was succesful and I even did it to a few walleye this winter.  Never had a problem with the stomach coming out though.

 I did drill holes and get them fish out so you guys dont think I just let them waste.

How do you know the fish you released didn't eventually die?

[taxi1]

You can not take too many perch. The little guys will make fine potato chip morsels if you clean them right. The other perch will grow bigger faster since there are less fish for the forage available. Too many perch eat their own young, the walleye fry and stunt the whole biomass down.

They are very prolific species but you may able to fish down particular age classes which I think is what Vancleaver was getting at. Don't forget along with angling pressure you've got predator fish pressure too. Even though a perch produces a few hundred thousand eggs only a few survive to catchable size and even less to trophy size.

I was one of those people that went to Devil's Lake via Amtrack's Empire train. I was actually quite disappointed. We did much better on a nearby lake call Lake Cavenaugh. The size of the perch I we did catch were not any more impressive than my region -- about 12 - 13  inches.

Another thing to consider is fish populations go in cycles depending on a lot of varibles. Could be Devil's Lake is just in a down cycle for big perch. Or some other species is taking over a niche. Our perch population in Lake Michigan has crashed but is coming back. But it's forecasted to decline once again.

[Danderson]

try pushing a needle in to the belly to let the air out slowly. fishery biologist suggested that one

[Perchcrazy]

try pushing a needle in to the belly to let the air out slowly. fishery biologist suggested that one

I've heard that before.  Did the biologist have any proof of it working.  I've caught many Perch in 60' of water and they all have their belly sticking out of their mouth when you get them to the hole.  I never worried because I was keeping them anyway, but was curious how to release once they have gotten that way.  I wonder if this happens in deep sea fishing?  PC

[madmichael365]

i agree with King fisher, try dippin em in hot oil

[Collin]

Isn't there something to be said for keeping em?  I know MassWildlife encourages anglers to take perch for lake ecosystem (at least in pontoosuc), i'm sure this varies lake to lake.  I was planning on cooking some up last sunday, cleaned the fish but found a nice old guy jigging...should have seen the look on his face when we gave them to him.   Don't get me wrong I catch and release regularly esp. trout and bass in the warmer months.  Curious what fish biologist say though, I've been told before when fly fishing for bluegill I'd be doing the lake a favor if I threw the small ones in the woods instead of putting them back.  Never had the heart to do it though.  Thanks for any insight!

[David Barber]

you could try and Fizz them.  Fizz walleyes for tourneys... not released so I really don't know how it would affect them going back down.  Catch and Release tourneys don't seem to have a problem with Fizzed fish.

[wnybassman]

Most of the time when I have seen the bladder/stomach in the perch I have caught, I can actually hear it "pop" when grabbing the fishes body to get the hook out.  I guess the added pressure from being lightly squeezed does it.  Sometimes they just come out of the hole like that to.

The new preffered method of fizzing bass is through the mouth.  I have often wondered if this method could be used on perch to.  I have never tried.

Many times, after catching a "popped" perch, I'll release them and I watch them swim right back down to the depths on the Vex.  Will the pressure down there push things back to normal??  I've wondered that to.

[bucketbass]

Batter, deepfry, and enjoy

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