Bringing perch from the depths?

[WVBoy]

Could you guys tell if what you can do to not kill perch when fishing deep water. I do not want to keep EVERY perch I catch, but I found that today I should have. The air sack that is inside of them was coming out of their mouth when I brought them to the surface. I know the same thing happens to other deep water species and a friend of mine told me that they just pop it and let the fish go. Is this true? Or is there any alternatives other than not fishing deep water or bringing them up extra slow?

[NJ_ICE_HUNTER]

Bring them up really slow......it sucks cause it takes forever, but their air bladder shouldn't inflate

[PERCH_INC.]

Slower the better!!!!

[buzzbomb]

It helps to go barbless, too, as the struggle to yank out the barb'll make them inflate even if they're ok when you get them up.  If you can tell it's a little one it doesn't matter if it gets off anyway.  If it's a big one just keep the tension on.  I tried catching and releasing perch in 33 ft of water from the canoe one afternoon just to see what the survival rate would be like and even when I was real careful 1 out of 4 of those little guys still floated up.

[WVBoy]

Thanks guys for the info. They are little but they have my respect. I will try to do better.

[maine-ly backward]

I don't know about perch, but when I get a lake trout, ("togue" in my neck of the woods), I gently press both sides in a sliding motion from tail to head whn I see that the air bladder is over inflated.

[acsacmboy]

what maine-ly backward said. its called burping a fish. it should work for you.