Fishing Forum

Got the chance to hit Pineview last night with my son.  Wasn't able to get out for the dusk bite, but instead fished from about 7:45-11pm.  Bite was best from 8:30-10:30, slow but steady.  Fished off Windsurfer Beach in 32 FOW.  Had fish finder issues, so we were fishing blind but finally found them.  Fish were 2-3 cranks off the bottom.  Everyone around us seemed to be doing about the same.  Caught most of my fish on a glow spoon with gold backside of some sort tipped with a chartruese crappie nibble.  Only 2 hit a rat finkie tipped with a waxie on the upper jig.

Biggest were just over 10".  Is there a way to get those fish back down without killing them?  I tried a couple times, but they'd just lay there in the hole.  The swim bladder thing seems to do them in quick, so i wasn't able ro release the smaller ones.

Had wanted to fish further up closer to the dam, but it was a parking convention there and finding a spot at that time would have been impossible.  This access crap with the FS is gonna be a mess this year. ☹

(01-23-2022, 07:59 PM)MWScott72 Wrote: [ -> ]Biggest were just over 10".  Is there a way to get those fish back down without killing them?  I tried a couple times, but they'd just lay there in the hole.  The swim bladder thing seems to do them in quick, so i wasn't able ro release the smaller ones.

You can try making up some "descenders"...or as I call them "perch savers".  Keep one rod rigged with one of these weighted goodies on it and whenever you get one too small just poke the wire through the lower lip, let the weight pull the fish back down to depth and then give a lift on the rod to pull it free.  There is likely still some mortality, because crappies suffer eye damage as well as a distended bladder.  But even being able to save a few is better than wasting them.

     

(01-23-2022, 07:59 PM)MWScott72 Wrote: [ -> ]Got the chance to hit Pineview last night with my son.  Wasn't able to get out for the dusk bite, but instead fished from about 7:45-11pm.  Bite was best from 8:30-10:30, slow but steady.  Fished off Windsurfer Beach in 32 FOW.  Had fish finder issues, so we were fishing blind but finally found them.  Fish were 2-3 cranks off the bottom.  Everyone around us seemed to be doing about the same.  Caught most of my fish on a glow spoon with gold backside of some sort tipped with a chartruese crappie nibble.  Only 2 hit a rat finkie tipped with a waxie on the upper jig.

Biggest were just over 10".  Is there a way to get those fish back down without killing them?  I tried a couple times, but they'd just lay there in the hole.  The swim bladder thing seems to do them in quick, so i wasn't able ro release the smaller ones.

Had wanted to fish further up closer to the dam, but it was a parking convention there and finding a spot at that time would have been impossible.  This access crap with the FS is gonna be a mess this year. ☹

Nice, were they biting really light? We made a fish decender, kind of like the ones sold comercialy, mine consisted of a one oz weighted hook. I would bent the hook barb flat, hook the line on at the shank where the bent is, then just hook the fish in the soft flesh of the lower lip. Once you put the fish on it and drop it to the bottom, you just do a sharp jurk and the fish would come right off.

Any time you pull panfish up from depths greater than 25' you run the risk of barotrauma. Trout dont seem to be as affected. As Pat said, you damage the fishes eyes and gills by pulling them from those depths and most, if not all, won't make it. If you want to release, you might have to fish shallower.

Some people think if you pull them up slow enough... doesn't work! You'd have to play them for like 40 minutes to make any difference.

(01-23-2022, 10:12 PM)fishnate Wrote: [ -> ]Any time you pull panfish up from depths greater than 25' you run the risk of barotrauma. Trout dont seem to be as affected. As Pat said, you damage the fishes eyes and gills by pulling them from those depths and most, if not all, won't make it. If you want to release, you might have to fish shallower.

Some people think if you pull them up slow enough... doesn't work! You'd have to play them for like 40 minutes to make any difference.

I was told to bring up a panfish deeper than 30 ft, you would have to bring it up in 3 hours. I was watching a video that discussed this. I think it was the Linder boys on their ice fishing series of videoes. 
Gabe

(01-23-2022, 08:34 PM)TubeDude Wrote: [ -> ]

(01-23-2022, 07:59 PM)MWScott72 Wrote: [ -> ]Biggest were just over 10".  Is there a way to get those fish back down without killing them?  I tried a couple times, but they'd just lay there in the hole.  The swim bladder thing seems to do them in quick, so i wasn't able ro release the smaller ones.

You can try making up some "descenders"...or as I call them "perch savers".  Keep one rod rigged with one of these weighted goodies on it and whenever you get one too small just poke the wire through the lower lip, let the weight pull the fish back down to depth and then give a lift on the rod to pull it free.  There is likely still some mortality, because crappies suffer eye damage as well as a distended bladder.  But even being able to save a few is better than wasting them.

     

Fish descenders are big in ocean fishing.  It's mandatory to have a descender rigged and ready on your boat if you're fishing for rockfish.  You can make one yourself, but I made a donation to OCEANS and got mine plus ID cards.  Google Shelton fish descender.  Overkill for crappie, but it will work just fine.

Thanks for the tip guys! I may have to look into that.. No fish wasted Pat - just not much of a fillet on those smaller 7"s although it wasn't much worse than what's on an 8" perch.

(01-24-2022, 01:32 PM)MWScott72 Wrote: [ -> ]Thanks for the tip guys!  I may have to look into that..  No fish wasted Pat - just not much of a fillet on those smaller 7"s although it wasn't much worse than what's on an 8" perch.

I wasn't suggesting that YOU were wasting fish.  But I have gone out on the ice and seen lots of dead dink perch and crappies either laying around the hole...or floating up under the ice around the hole. 

If you do keep some of those small ones, don't worry about filleting them.  Just head, gut and scale them and fry them whole.  When done, the spines pull out easily and the cooked fillets fall off the skeleton.  Also, I like the skin when fried up crispy.

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(01-24-2022, 01:32 PM)MWScott72 Wrote: [ -> ]Thanks for the tip guys!  I may have to look into that..  No fish wasted Pat - just not much of a fillet on those smaller 7"s although it wasn't much worse than what's on an 8" perch.

I wasn't suggesting that YOU were wasting them.  But I have seen a lot of dead dink perch and crappies either laying on top of the ice or floating up under the ice around the hole.  Some folks just don't seem to care. 

If you do keep a few of the smaller ones, no need to even try filleting them.  Just cut off the heads, gut them and scale them.  Flour or batter them and fry them whole.  When done, the spines pull out easily and the cooked fillets fall off the bones.  Also, the cooked scaleless skin is tasty too.  I do that often with smaller bluegills as well.