Closed dam season?

It would be nice if they could somehow rope off the deeper holes and leave the shallower spots open to fishing. But I really don’t think it’s feasable.

Herb, The no cull idea is a step in the right direction. But if 30 to 50 boats are bobbing around and there are two men per boat. It would almost take a warden in each boat to enforce it.

Exactly! Like I’ve said in previous posts, no matter what new rules are implemented, enforcing them will be the biggest problem, especially here in Ia. where I read they might be doing away with 11 more wardens. The timing is so perfect.

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Ok…we keep discussing the ill effects of pulling ‘eyes/sauger out the deep water. We also keep discussing educating other anglers…..So lets look at what/why this happens?

Would you all agree the the bladder pops out its mouth because it is brought up to the surface too quickly?? Or is some other factor at play?

Do you all think a way to help prevent this from happening is to work the fish up at a much slower pace instead of yanking it out the water? Will the extra time you take to land the fish prevent this from happening, or is it too late??

I’m not the biggest walleye fisherman around , so some of you other guys who fish for them exclusively I would love to hear your responses/thoughts on this !!

I’m enclosing a picture of a sauger i caught last year ice out that had this happen to him. It was the only fish I kept, knowing that it would’ve died if i released it. If you look closely you can see the bladder hanging out of its mouth.

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Slop Bass, we’ve had some excellent discussions regarding this in the past. I haven’t searched for the threads but the consensus is that even if you know how to properly fizz a fish, it’s bad odds for the fish you catch below 25-30′ deep. Fishsqzr had enlightened us on the bladder expansion and it’s effects the last time this was brought up. He mentioned that while fizzing can work, it still puts tremendous pressure on the other internal organs, practically crushing them from the expansion. The BEST way to preserve fish below this depth, summer or winter, is to NOT FISH FOR THEM…….period. You can’t reel them up slow enough to accomodate the pressure change. It can take a fish 24 hours to make the same adjustment on their own so unless your prepared to fight one fish per day………….all day……….it’s not an option. It’s been said that the best thing to do is reel them up as fast as possible and immediately release them so they can get back down to the depths. They still experience a heavy strain on the internal organs and can still perish up to 7 days later.

The studies have been conducted and the findings strongly suggest that deep fishing is going to adversely effect the health of the individual fish regardless and may, over time, have ill effects on the numbers of the fishery.

Fish ’em above 25′ guys……………… just do it.

Hey Kid,

Thanks for the response. I haven’t even been a member for a year yet, so i probably missed those earlier threads.

What’s interesting about fizzing is that i’ve seen so many fishing shows on t.v. where they actually PROMOTE the fizzing of fish to fix the bladder issue on deep fish. They swear by it?

Have any of you noticed that it’s more prevelant in the “bigger fish” as opposed to those 6-10 inch males many people catch?

I can’t speak with any personal experience so I couldn’t tell you which is more prevalent. In comparing to stress studies, I do believe it’s more damaging to bigger fish……….or at least that’s the impression I’ve perceived. How accurate that statement is or isn’t………….I really don’t know, but Fishsqzr has a much better insight on the whole subject and would be a great resource for a solid, straight forward, knowledgeable opinion.

There is still a ton of controversy over “fiszzing” in the fishery community. I rely on biologists that have studies or researched the problem for my information. The following information comes from “A review of Fizzing – a technique for swim bladder deflation” by S. J. Kerr. Fisheries Section, Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources, Peterborough, Ontario, Canada, Nov., 2001.
Some studies have concluded that “fizzing” is not harmful to fish, while others have expressed concern that this procedure adds injury to handling trauma. There are opportunities for infection and the possibility of piercing another organ, particularly during periods of rough water. In Alberta, they found a high frequency of kidney punctures and hemorrhaging in walleye which had been “fizzed”. Some mortality resulted from fungal infections of “fizzed” fish. There also are some indications that “Fizzing” may not be appropriate for all species. In several marine fish species, fizzing has significantly reduced mortality due to gas bladder overinflation. A study on largemouth bass (Shasteen and Sheehan 1997) concluded that artificail swim bladder deflation should be done for bass caught from depths greater than about 18 ft. However, for perch family species the results are somewhat different. Kamke (2000) reported greater mortality for tournament-caught walleye which had been “fizzed” compared to those which had not been treated. A three year study by Ohio DNR on Lake Erie tournament-caught walleye showed substantial mortlaity with this procedure, especially during bad weather. As a result of this study, Ohio does not recommend “fizzing” for tournament caught fish. In an Alberta study, swim bladder deflation did not affect the survival rate of walleye captured from depths less than 7.5 m (about 23 ft) but for fish angled from 7.6 m to 10.1 m (about 23 ft to 31 ft) there was a higher mortality rate for “fizzed” fish than “unfizzed” fish.

With respect to “fizzing” policy from state or provincial DNR’s – the overwheliming majority do not promote the practice.

So as you can see, there appear to be differences with respect to species, water depth from which fish were captured, and also possibly water temperature. All of which adds to the unkowns.

But to the person that says “I simply punctured the swim bladder and the fish swam away – so it must be OK and the fish survived” must consider the following – these observations of bringing fish to the surface from deep water come from S. Kerr (2001) and Feathers and Knable (1983).

– over-inflation of the swim bladder causing it or the inverted stomach to protrude through the mouth or gill opening.
– abnormal swimming after release (increases predation due to the “injured minnow” response).
– floating on the surface resulting in increaed predation due to fish-eating birds.
– severe internal hemorrhaging in internal organs (delayed mortality)
– gas embolism (gas bubbles in the blood – leads to delayed mortality)
– expanded swim bladder causes the eyes to bulge out or internal oragans to protrude out of the cloacal opening.
– Not well understood is the role of water temperature in this whole process. Sauger handled in Tennessee at 50 degrees water temperature remained upright and swam away rapidly – handled in the same manner at 32 degrees water temperature, the fish remained floating up-side down in the holding tank for long periods of time.

So – lots of things we do know – still lots of thing we don’t. Hope this helps, or maybe clouds the issue more??

Thanks again for that valued input fishsqzr! While the data may not be conclusive, I still find it strongly persuasive that it’s best to just avoid circumstances that may call for “fizzing”.

As noted this will be next impossible to keep track of as
of this date, and most likely into next year. the ILL DNR
has not adopted this rule. So If You Have a Ill lic. you
can fish up to the dam.I also think Wisc. has not adopted
It also so in dubuque you could fish up to the dam with
a Wisc lic. I will Look for the News clip on this an post it

There is a medical exam that needs small amounts of air introduced to the gut to take the kinks out of gut so a scope can exam for possible tumors. It is so uncomfortable (Painful)that patients are usually slighted sedated. Bet if they used enough air to turn the stomach inside out and out the mouth, the request for sedation would be major. Point is this has to be a major trauma for the fish even with fizzing.

Illinois has passed the regulation – will go into effect on April 1, 2004. Wisconsin has also passed the regulation and it went into effect on December 1, 2003 (Dubuque Lock and Dam 12). Iowa passed the regulation and will go into effect on January 14, 2004. You are right in some things, not on others. No tailwater fishing at Dubuque and none at Clinton after January 14, 2004. The area in question will be at Bellevue where the Lock and Dam is on the Iowa side of the river and most of the fishable tailwaters is on the Illinois side. We are getting clarification from both Iowa and Illinois enforcment branches on how this will or will not be enforced.