A Slap On The Ass ~ More Research Needed

I was talking about the time it takes for a sturgeon to recover before being released a while back with a DNR biologist. Sometimes they swim off like they were never caught, sometimes they need to “burp” first and other times they just take a long time before they swim away.

My boat won’t release a sturgeon unless it’s able to swim away on it’s own power.

He was telling me that when they are electro-shocking they sometimes see similar effects with paddle fish. When they are taking a long time to “come around” they give them a slap in the tail section and many times that triggers them into swimming away. “Might want to try it.”

Well, last weekend I had a 40+ inch fish that taking a while. I thought it was odd because of the gear we use, we certainly are not over playing them. After about ten minutes of the sturg being in the water, I gave her a decent slap on the ass… Nothing happened…

And then just about the time I was saying to myself, “that was embarrassing”, she swam away. I’m guessing it took about 5 seconds for the slap to register(?)

Anyway. One fish does not a rule make and I’m sure going to try it again when I have a slow to go sturgeon.

Al Lindner does pretty much the same with his fish. In theory they need a jolt, so he tosses em overboard. Seems callous with everyone else gently placing them in the water, but it’s saved a few fish for myself from going home with me cause couldnt revive.

Who knew as kids, all those perch on the dock doing double backflips and triple axles actually was helping them

I like the idea of an a** slap better though, don’t have to release the fish to try. Will remember going forward.

Personally, my fish spend zero time out of the water if I’m not going to photograph.

Otherwise they are out of water on average less than 45 seconds for a length, weight, and picture.

Afterwards, And even before reviewing the pictures (while camera is still snapping)
I set them in the water, let go, and away they go. Nothing more than that.

Very very rare they aren’t ready to go.

Though, I have slapped a sturgeon, I’d rather see people remember how to quickly release than to remember to slap em.

2c

So don’t ever fall asleep in a green Lund

nhamm wrote:

Who knew as kids, all those perch on the dock doing double backflips and triple axles actually was helping them

Funny brings back good old memories at the cabin.

Slapping paddlefish during release is something we did 35 years ago while snagging on the Missouri River downstream of Gavins Point Dam. We never did have one turn belly up after doing that. Now, having said that, those fish were out of the water a minimum amount of time; just long enough to unhook. No photos were taken, I am not sure either one of us owned a camera at that time.

BuffaloFishhead