Hooking Mortality of Walleye From Deep Water

Saw this in In-fisherman magazine and thought it would be a good post since there has been more than one discussion on fish mortality/lindy rig hooking mortality. I am quoting this from OCT/NOV 2009 In-Fisherman, article by Steve Quinn, p. 9.

[Field Science-Minnesota Department of Natural Resources biologists at Rainy Lake, where many walleyes are caught from 30 to 50 feet of water in late summer and fall, gathered data to gauge fishing mortality.*

From July through September, volunteer anglers that landed a walleye from deep water called a chase boat to transport it to holding cages that extended from the surface as deep as 56 feet. Fish were measured and dropped in at the surface, simulating anglers releasing walleyes within the protected slot limit. Anglers reported fishing depth and method, handling time and other factors. Cages were monitored for 120 hours.

In total, 31 percent of the 319 experimaental walleyes died. Walleyes caught in 30 feet of water had about an 8 percent chance of perishing–fish from 40 feet 18 percent mortality, and fish from 50 feet 35 percent mortality. For each additional 10 feet of depth, mortality roughly doubled. Experimental handling time was an additional factor, with linger handling increasing the likelihood of mortality.

Steve Quinn]

How I read this is fish mortality is more about the depth fish are caught at and less about fishing method. I was surprised at how high this number actually was!!

Anything over 30 feet you will have air bladder issues. Hence the floaters you see from the guys ripping fish out of the bottom of the scour holes at dams.

Lots of questions to be asked of this survey/study.

Suprise suprise. Something harder on the eye’s than lindy riggin..

They didn’t say whether anybody tried “fizzing” some to see what the results would be. I’d be curious to see if it’d change the study results- – jerr

In my neck of the woods this is talked about regularly. We have so many lakes and a large number of em are very deep. This is not very scientific but I’ve noticed in my years on the water that small fish do not have as many bladder issues 8-12″. Maybe there’s internal damage but they don’t show it and they’ll live in a well all day or go back down easily. If a fish is 15″ or greater they are almost dead right away.

I think fizzing might help some of these fish but many have the I’m toast look in their eye or a bladder poking out their mouth when they reach the surface. Anything I’ve done to them at this point seems to not matter because they’re dead.

One lake I fish has 99.5% 15-16″ fish holding in deep water, so this is the only time I’ll fish deep. In two seasons I’ve only caught one fish bigger than 18″ on this lake.

I also fish a number of other lakes where the size ranges greatly and people fish 50-70 feet of water and they release fish all day. Kinda gets me . Especially when the fish are biting just as good right on the weed lines in 20 FOW.

Interesting report though. Thanks for sharing

Isnt the survival rate much higher if you take em out of deep water real easy and very slow to the boat?

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Isnt the survival rate much higher if you take em out of deep water real easy and very slow to the boat?

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How slow is slow? You would have to spend many minutes to hours reeling a fish caught in deep water to the surface with prolonged stops along the way to allow for decompression. Taking an extra 20, 40, 60 seconds fighting a fish to the surface is a nice gesture but won’t do anything to aid in the survival rate.

So your saying the 5 minute safety stop, 10 feet under the surface that you do when SCUBA diving, won’t work for Walleye ???? Either way… I still think it is a bad idea to Lindy Rig in 80 fow…

big G

One of the Canadian provinces did a similar study on Walleyes that were caught from depths greater than 30 feet. Theirs was a 4 week study. I don’t remember the exact number because it was a couple of years ago but it was somewhere around 90% mortality after 4 weeks. Most of the deaths were due to damage to the fishes other organs caused by the expansion of the air bladder.

I’ll add that the number of small sauager we lost ice fishing LOTW last Feb was appalling when bringing them up from 30′. We tried everything to no avail.

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They didn’t say whether anybody tried “fizzing” some to see what the results would be. I’d be curious to see if it’d change the study results- –

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This was brought up a few years ago. Since I hadn’t heard of it at the time, I started checking into fizzing.

Since it’s against the law in MN, I called the MN DNR to find out why. They felt that unless an anger is trained, they would do the fish more harm that good. Which didn’t make sense to me…so I just left it at “not allowed in MN”.

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Since it’s against the law in MN

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I didn’t know that.

I wish more people would learn to fizz. It’s not a perfect science but in certain situations it GREATLY increases a fish’s odds of survival. I’ve taught a lot of people how to do it and I always show them and then tell them to make sure they practice several times on some fish that they plan on eating before they try it on one that will be released. The more educated you can be on fizzing the better it works!!!

How exactly does fizzing work?

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How exactly does fizzing work?

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I second this question. Is it legal in WI?

In a nutshell fizzing uses a large hypodermic needle, inserted into a fishes body cavity, to puncture and release excess pressure from a fishes air bladder. IT IS VERY IMPORTANT THAT AN ANGLER IS TAUGHT THE PROPER WAY TO DO THIS!!! Anytime a sharp object is near vital organs, damage to those vitals is a possibility. There are a lot of mixed feelings and concerns on this topic but I’m a firm believer that it can be very effective. It’s been a tournament secret for years but I think it should be taught to more anglers and be thought of as a conservation technique.

So what happens with the hole that is in the air bladder? Or doesn’t it bother them if it is there?

With a good sharp hypodermic needle (18 Guage) the hole will seal back up and heal much like when you or I get stuck with a needle at the doctor or hospital.

I caught some crappies this weekend that I was pulling up from no more than 23′ of water that were going belly up. One seemed to have lock jaw, as his mouth appeared stuck open and I could not even force it shut. I began to try releasing them as soon as possible and some would dart to the bottom if they were not showing the signs of trauma.

Considering the depth, I find it hard to believe this was due to the air bladder, but something was going on there.

Anyone else seen this happen before? The pike, walleye and sunfish seemed to have no issues and would swim off fine. But these crappies appeared to be suffering from something, perhaps shock of some sort. They would fight up to the boat but get stiff and quiet out of the water. Air temp was about 40 and I believe the water temp was upper 40s. Any explanations?

Not sure on the crappies, but as far as fizzing goes, seems there’s no real proof, least that I’ve read that it really does any good, if some one has a reliable study on how well it works I’d like to see it.

Not doubting anyone, I just haven’t seen enough proof that it isn’t just a wife’s tale.

Al

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They didn’t say whether anybody tried “fizzing” some to see what the results would be. I’d be curious to see if it’d change the study results- –

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This was brought up a few years ago. Since I hadn’t heard of it at the time, I started checking into fizzing.

Since it’s against the law in MN, I called the MN DNR to find out why. They felt that unless an anger is trained, they would do the fish more harm that good. Which didn’t make sense to me…so I just left it at “not allowed in MN”.

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BK, I was at an FLW tourney a couple years ago on lake Bemidji and they encouraged everyone to Fizz their fish. They explained how to do it and said they were working with the U of M on a study that showed this is our best option as anglers.

IMO our best option is not to fish deeper than 30 to 40 FOW, but during a tournament you don’t have much choice. If fizzing is truly illegal I find it funny they told us to do it? I believe there are always DNR officers at these events as well. Not that I recommend fizzing, I was just curious if this is truly illegal.

Hey Joe, since I can’t tell the difference between a bass and a walleye, I’m certainly no expert on this subject. Just reported what I was told by calling the MN DNR.

I do believe there is a rule…or was at least where tourney’s could get a permit to fizz.

But again, from my understanding we lay people aren’t allowed.

Might want to give the DNR a ring and check this out for yourself and let us know what’s up. Things (laws, rules ect) do change over time.

Here’s the facts Joe from the MN DNR.

“Hi Brian,

We have consistently discouraged anglers from fizzing due to the potential for injury to outweigh potential benefits. Insertion of the needle not only can pierce organs but could be a perfect vector for transmitting disease. Additionaly, research on the subject strongly suggests fizzing offers little beneficial effects over no treatment. See attached paper on fizzing.

The legal base for disallowing fizzing is found in Chapter 343 in Minnesota statutes. MS 343.20.2 defines “animal” as every living creature except members of the human race, which would include fish. Subd 3 of that section defines “torture” or “cruelty” as every act, omission, or neglect which causes or permits unnecessary or unjustifiable pain, suffering, or death (to animals in general).

MS 343.21.1 says no person shall torture, or unjustifiably injure, maim, mutilate, or kill any animal. Subd 7 of that section goes on to say that no person shall willfully instigate or in any way further any act of cruelty to any animals, or any act tending to produce cruelty to animals. These pieces are not limited to pets/companion/service animals.

As Linda explained, our tournament rule will directly ban fizzing.

Sincerely,
Al Stevens”

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MS 343.20.2 defines “animal” as every living creature except members of the human race, which would include fish. Subd 3 of that section defines “torture” or “cruelty” as every act, omission, or neglect which causes or permits unnecessary or unjustifiable pain, suffering, or death (to animals in general).

MS 343.21.1 says no person shall torture, or unjustifiably injure, maim, mutilate, or kill any animal. Subd 7 of that section goes on to say that no person shall willfully instigate or in any way further any act of cruelty to any animals, or any act tending to produce cruelty to animals. These pieces are not limited to pets/companion/service animals.

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sooooo, where does that leave pinching the heads off minnows and worms?

Not that I think fizzing is something anyone should do, but I don’t see where it says it’s illegal? I know you can’t torture or try to hurt an animal, but if the person thought they were helping… not hurting, then it wouldn’t be illegal would it?

I agree there’s a ton of room for error when fizzing that’s why I don’t see a reason to do it myself or promote it. The only time I think I’d ever try it would be with a large walleye I really wanted to let go and that appeared to be the only option.

Thanks for the info BK.