oxygen for bass

Bass caught in deep water 20ft or deeper that are brought up to the surface too fast will suffer from the Bends. Air bubbles will out gases from their blood stream into the blood vessels. The same thing can happen to scuba divers that come up to the surface too fast. You should never come up faster than the smallest air bubbles. Fish too have to decompress on the way back to the surface. They undergo a 1 ATM (760 mm HG or 29" Hg) water pressure change when you take them out of 33ft deep water to the surface. And you deprive them of the needed oxygen when you haul them out of the water. Not only that but water at 20ft deep is much colder than the surface waters in the summer months. You may have a 15 deg F temp difference or even 20 deg . Gas expands as it gets heated so you are really putting the hurt on deep caught bass in the summer months.

There needs to be more research on how this effects the fish after releasing them in the hot summer months.

To decompress a scuba diver the either have to dive back down into the depths or be put into a chamber under higher pressure and then slowly the pressure is released until they are back at normal atmospheric air pressure. To do this to a fish would require putting a weight on the fish to put it back down to 20 to 30ft deep water and then have the string attaching the fish to the weight dissolve after 30 minute to release the fish. They use dissolvable sutures in surgery these days and I know that there are ropes or strings of some type that dissolve in sea water after a while. I have seen the shows on TV where they attach a critter cam to a great white shark and it eventually is released from the shark's back after the material has dissolved in the sea water. This could be easily used after a bass fishing tournament along with some weights to put the fish back down into deep water so that they can decompress over time and then be released.

The air bladders only hold so many molecules of air and that only can change when more molecules out gases from the bladder and dissolve into the small capillaries that surround the inside membrane of the fish's air bladder. Air is exchanged from the blood stream in and out of the fish's air bladder or swim bladder. Fish use the air bladder to remain at a neutral buoyancy. Without it they will either rise or sink in the water column. Pressure acts on the fish in all directions. Increased depth means increased water pressure on the fish's body. High pressure on the fish makes gases dissolve into the blood stream. If you release the pressures on the fish the gas can go out of solution and into a gas phase again.

Also cool or cold liquids hold much more dissolved gases. So if you cool the water down in the live well the fish's blood stream can hold more dissolved oxygen as well as the water in the live well.

Please guys don't stick needles in the fish to pop the swim bladders. That may kill the fish and introduce more bacteria into the fish's system. These bacteria once they enter the body cavity can multiply and kill the fish from the inside. The toxins that the bacteria release will kill the fish for sure if you get bacteria inside the fish's body cavity. Besides it won't help to pop the swim bladder in most cases.

If you can release a fish asap and it's able to swim back down to 20ft then it may be OK. But it's hard for a fish to get back down to the depths in hot water months and it may need a little help. The faster the fish is put back into the deep water where it came from the better for the fish's survival.

Now if your catching your fish in shallower water then this may not be a problem. And if you catch big fish in the wintertime the colder water temps helps the fish survive this trauma. As cold water will let the fish survive easier the great pressure changes.

Charles law is all about how increased temp increases the air pressure of gases.

Boyle's law is about gas volumes shrinking as the pressure increases on the gas.

Both the laws of nature are important when you talk about the blood gases in the fish and the air bladders volume and it's buoyancy.

Regards,

Moose1am

I have about 12 bottles of water frozen in my freezer. I need to get myself a bigger chest freezer so that I will have more room for my other frozen food.

I got the idea to free water inside plastic bottles from Cane Pole on crappie.com. Only I don't drink the water inside the bottles after it's melted from being in my minnow bucket like Cane Pole does. I spray a 10% chlorine bleach solution onto my bottles after they come out of the minnow bucket and before I put them inside my freezer at home. Leave the bleach solution in contact with the outside of the bottle for about 10 min to kill any harmful bacteria. But only put pure tap water inside the plastic bottles. So far this has worked great for me. I use the frozen water bottles to keep my minnow bucket's water at 60 deg F or lower. I can ensure that 1/4 lb of chub minnows will last all day long in my big minnow bucket even when it's 90 deg F air temp outside. It helps to have a Styrofoam insulated minnow bucket for this to work.

I also carry two extra 20oz or larger frozen water bottles in my cooler along with some soft drinks and ice. After half a day I can add another frozen water bottle to my minnow buckets to further cool down the water.

You can do the same thing inside you live wells.

Remember that fish will survive longer in cold water than hot water for many reasons. Cold water holds more dissolved oxygen. Also the fish's metabolism is slowed down by colder water and they release less ammonia into the live well or minnow buckets. And cold water lowers the blood temp and allows it to hold more dissolved oxygen in the blood stream. It's much better to hold your fish at 60 deg F water inside a live well than at 85 deg F water.

I do one more thing that really helps cool the water inside my insulated live well. I stuck about 6" of flexible thick walled vinyl tubing inside the inlet hole on the transom of my boat where water enters the live well pump system. Then I added a 90 deg elbow PVC fitting and to the flex hose. I stick this into the hole to make the water go though the 90 deg elbow before it enters the live well. Then I attached a 6ft long PVC solid pipe to the other end of the flexible vinyl tubing. This allows me to draw intake water from below the surface of the lake. This water can be as much as ten deg F colder than the surface water. I can do this because I am fishing on a small lake that only allows the use of electric trolling motors. If you are fishing a bigger lake and use the gas motor you may want to unhook the pipe before you take off to the next fishing hole. LOL I don't recommend going over 3 mph with pipe attached to the back of the boat. You may pull it out and lose the setup. I have lost one pipe so far but it was easily replaced as I only lost the 1/2" OD solid 7ft long pipe and the elbow and the flexible vinyl tubing stayed on the boat.

Regards,

Moose1am

It is interesting to read about people aware of bass mortality with tournament fishing. The best thing that can be done is to not hold tournaments during the summer. Several posts here explain far better than I ever could as to what a bass is up against being caught in the hot months and surviving being held for hours, weighed in, and finally released. Larger fish (which are the one we want to protect the most) are the first to die. Study after study shows that even when the bass swim off after the weigh-in in warm water conditions up to 70% will die within a few days.

I caught a 4 lb smallmouth last week end at night out of 6 - 8 feet of water, did my usual of unhooking her quickly and putting her in the live well so she could revive and calm down a bit while I finish fishing the spot. About 10 minutes later I quickly measured and weighed her and she was not out of the water more than a minute or two and she wanted to roll on me when released. After working with her for a couple of minutes beside the boat she finally swam off and I only hope I didn't kill her. No way would she have survived a tournament experience. Fish have a hard time surviving the rigors of being caught when the water is warm and their best shot at survival is immediate release. I pray that tournament anglers will one day get the message and only hold tournaments during more favorable times.

kc

What I did to help that is to use the release me formula in every weighin bag and have another bag with water ready for after weighing with release me in it. then take to the water, so fish are out of water no more than 15 seconds and the water they are in before and after weighin has an abundance of O2 in it, just something to hopefully get them through that time of turmoil after released.

Elijah Orr
Kentucky Lake Bass Club
Asst. TD
270-354-5285
[email][email protected][/email]

>It is interesting to read about
>people aware of bass mortality
>with tournament fishing. The
>best thing that can be
>done is to not hold
>tournaments during the summer.
>Several posts here explain far
>better than I ever could
>as to what a bass
>is up against being caught
>in the hot months and
>surviving being held for hours,
>weighed in, and finally released.
> Larger fish (which are
>the one we want to
>protect the most) are the
>first to die. Study
>after study shows that even
>when the bass swim off
>after the weigh-in in warm
>water conditions up to 70%
>will die within a few
>days.
>
>I caught a 4 lb smallmouth
>last week end at night
>out of 6 - 8
>feet of water, did my
>usual of unhooking her quickly
>and putting her in the
>live well so she could
>revive and calm down a
>bit while I finish fishing
>the spot. About 10 minutes
>later I quickly measured and
>weighed her and she was
>not out of the water
>more than a minute or
>two and she wanted to
>roll on me when released.
> After working with her
>for a couple of minutes
>beside the boat she finally
>swam off and I only
>hope I didn't kill her.
> No way would she
>have survived a tournament experience.
> Fish have a hard
>time surviving the rigors of
>being caught when the water
>is warm and their best
>shot at survival is immediate
>release. I pray that
>tournament anglers will one day
>get the message and only
>hold tournaments during more favorable
>times.
>
>kc

Well put and you are dead on, but good luck it is not going to happen.

A few weeks ago, on a very hot day, my fish weren't taking to well to the warmer water in my live well. So, I bought a bag of ice and put it into the livewell. Ten minutes later it had melted, but the fish were doing better. The water temperature was still quite warm, so I thought since my livewell is huge and very very deep I would put in two bags of ice this time. Again, they melted quickly! But this time, I noticed in the bottom of the livewell the fish were laying on their sides! I freaked out! I stuck my hand down all the way to the bottom of my livewell to grab one of the fish. I then realized what was going on! The cold water sinks to the bottom of the livewell! Duh!!!! The water was so cold down at the bottom that the fish were in a state of hibernation! They would just barely move and seemed kind of mellowed out! Later that day, at the weigh-in, the fish began waking up once they were out of the cold water. They seemed just fine and were released unharmed. Has anyone else ever had their fish go into a state of hibernation like this?

The fish weren't hibernating they were in shock. It is safe to drop the water temperature in your livewell 7-10 degrees. Anymore than that and you will chance putting them into shock.

Also the bags of ice you buy have chlorine and other chemicals in them that could harm the fish.

Next time take some water from the lake home in some of the empty soda/water bottles you have and freeze them. Better yet, add some Please Release Me or Rejevunate to the water before freezing. Then you've got ice from the lake thats been treated and can be added to the livewell.

Charlie

You seem to be a very good protector of the fish. I wish everyone took as much care with their fish as you. People can learn a lot from your example. Keep up the good work.

The new tournament bags that have the portable battery powered air pumps on them are great. I do wish that they would put a white surface on them to reflect the light and keep the inside of the bags cooler for the weigh in. Maybe a manufacture will read this and take the hint. White may get dirty faster but it does reflect the heat or light off the outer surface of the bags and that will keep the water inside the bag a bit cooler as apposed to a black colored surface on these transport bags.

Adding the proper chemicals to the water can help the bass survival. I use some chemicals to treat my minnow water before I go out fishing with live bait. The blue color you see in the minnow water is the result of this chemical treatment.

These chemicals help to neutralize or tie up the Chlorine compounds that are found in city tap water. Most well waters have a different pH and these chemicals help stabilize the pH and put it at a more neutral pH level. pH of 7.0 is the best in most cases. And if you can cool the water and reduce the amount of ammonia excreted into the live wells by the fish you can make the fish survive longer. Ammonia is very toxic to fish. It's what kills the minnows in a minnow bucket before the end of the day if you put too many minnows in the bucket and don't keep the water cold. The same principles apply to bass in a live well as apply to the minnows in a minnow bucket.

Regards,

Moose1am

I'm shocked!!! you were fishing in this hot weather, with the hot water? You almost killed that big old small mouth, and probably with delayed mortality, you did, all for your own fun!!!!

Just messing with you dude... but that is simply put the message you put forth with the idea of no summer tournaments.

That idea won't fly, ever.

What I would love to see is to first of all, do away with culling. If you decide to keep a fish, it's yours for the tournament.

I'd also support smaller limits, especially in hotter months.

Imagine a three fish limit for tournaments in the summer, and NO CULLING!!!

OK, maybe I'm supporting the smaller limit in hopes I could finally weigh a limit...LOL

Another thing is the chemical additives. Uncle Lee's has started carrying Please Release Me, just because I have asked them to. If I do ever keep a fish in the live well, I make sure I put in the chemicle, tournament or not.

Also, don't fill your livewell until you catch a fish to go in it, and don't put your fish in the dry livewell untill you get enough water in there for it to be covered. Then make sure to completely fill your livewell.

I love to see everyone sharing ideas to save our fish. I really like the frozen bottles of water. I usually keep a couple of frozen bottles of drinking water in my cooler on the boat, just so I'll have some cold water left after all the ice melts. I never thought about carrying a couple extra for the livewell. So thanks for the idea.

Danny

Purity Party Ice is made from natural spring water and contains no chemicals. It's always worked fine for me over the years. I've only lost two fish over the last ten years of tournament bass fishing and both were a result of being hooked in the gill plate. Seems like a hook in the gill plate is almost worse than a fish swallowing it! Of course, I've had fish swallow the hook and released them alive. I've even caught fish that have had a hook in them for a long time, judging by the rust on the hook!

Anyone else ever caught a fish with a rusty hook in it?

Had several fish with old rusty hooks in them. The fish seem to be healty and once the hooks were removed they done just fine. As far as the chemicals go, how much do you all use for the livewells and do you use more if you have more fish in the livewell, not that I ever do. Looking to get some for the dog days of summer.

Scott,

I've caught fish that were passing soft plastic baits and part of a hook, but that is it.

Yes, passing as in defacating.

Danny