Bloated Rock Cod
 

So I was out fishing in about 200ft of water yesterday and from a far, I noticed a guy catching small rock fish. Good for him. Then I see literally a trail of small, floating, bloated fish, thrashing on the surface down current behind his kayak. This is not the first time I have seen this.

Probably all of us who fish deep, have found ourselves in the position of pulling up Jr. size fish, bloated from the decompression. We try to release it, but the little guy just can not overcome the air pressure in its stomach or bladder. What to do?

Personally I hate to unnecessarily kill any creature, including fish. After all, fishing quality continues to declined in this country, especially here. In CA we pay a fortune for the right to catch a few meager sized fish. So we need to do what we can to maintain or INCREASE the fish population. Especially since kayakers have a limited range, we should be eager and willing to preserve our fishing grounds for next years outings.

Seeing a fisherman who throws back fish after fish, knowing they will all die makes me feel a bit irritated (on a good day). Of course, catching an undersized fish is not necessarily our fault. but not taking the initiative to be ready with a solution to return the fish is. So with that in mind I decided to create a little video. As I was out there fishing, I show how easy it is to release just such a fish. In fact I sent down a few of the other guys dying fish as they floated twords me.

The hope of this post is not to accuse but to educate and encourage all who are willing, to take the extra step and preserve our limited resources.

The little tool I use in the video cost literally 50 cents and took me 5 min to make. You just need to keep an extra rod available for the task. There are many other more sophisticated tools but this is the most simple and cost effect one that I know of. Best of all it works. If you have other ideas please share them. Thanks.

https://youtu.be/FI5-uk5NykM

And if you want a free one...
 

This is great! Thanks a million for taking the time to make the video. I haven't really targeted rockfish too much in the past, but with the new kayak I am. Generally I release 99.9% of all fish I catch. When I do, I always take the time to let them come out of shock before letting them go. Last thing I want is to let them go only to have them drift dizzily into the mouth of a sea lion... So I'll definitely be using this technique when I'm pulling stuff up from deeper water!

Good to hear. I have been wanting to do some rock fishing down there in La Jolla with that canyon so close to the launch area. You have a great place to practice your new skill.

Thanks for posting this.

Agree! 100% hate to see waste. In Florida, the FWC gave out hypodermic syringes with instructions on how to deflate the bladder, but the latest studies show that the survival rate for this method is not good. Now they suggest using a milk crate to send them down, or a hydrostatic release device that costs $50. Last out of season grouper I released with my downrigger weight connected to a jig that was barely hooked in the fishes lip. In theory, I was going to yank it free. Grouper skin was tougher than I though, and had to wind him up again to get it right for release -- wasting precious prime time fishing. I look forward to trying out this device -- Thanks.
:you_rock:

this x10.

works fantastic, i use a 16 o weight with it as its pretty sure to over come ny positive buoyancy in the fish. drop it down and when it gets past about 100 feet stop the free spool and yank it up.

additionally, you can use larger hooks to avoid smaller fish. smallest hook i used over the weekend was a 2/0 circle, and once I caught a shorty, I upsized to 4/0 circles, 5/0 and 7/0 j hooks, and didn't have a too-small fish for the rest of the day.

I have a rig that I use for catching bait. It is a short section of sabiki flies with a weight on the bottom and a clip swivel at the top. I just attach this rig to my fly-line setup's hook when looking for bait and remove it when it is time to fish.

It would be easy to attach an upside down hook to the sabiki rig to be used for this purpose. That would eliminate the need to pack another rod to return bloated fish home. I am going out on Wednesday and will give it a try.

I have a Roklees descender that is comprised of a simple spring loaded lip gripper so no need to repuncture the fishes lip. Hook a bit weight to the bottom, drop your fish down and give a big upward jerk on the rod and the lip gripper opens letting the fish off.
Here's an article showing some of the better options available...
https://www.sportfishingmag.com/fish...lease-fishing/

I don't think many topics deserve to be stickied.



There's a strong case for this one.

I got one of these and they are well made. I’ll try it out next time I’m out.

Also, I only use 3/0 hooks when rock fishing. Yes, those pesky little rockfish steal my bait. In addition, if the fish feels small I will leave the line down and hope a big Ling jumps on it. 😂

lol I like it

I agree
 

This works great and is easy to use.

Hydronaut

in a pinch without a descender, I will just repin the small rockfish on my jig ever so slightly on the exterior of the mouth membrane. Then drop them down half way and lightly shake them off. Works pretty well but maybe not the best for the fish.

Thanks for this thread. We all treasure the resource and sometimes we need a little nudge to do what we know is right. Nothing is a bigger bummer in the SM Bay than watching guys catch 6 inchers and letting them float. (Then complain about all the dick fish they catch.) To save space on the yak and avoid bringing an extra rod, I just used a big old line spool with 100' of 40 lb. terminating in a 10 oz. jig head, barb crimped and tied at the bend. Handline it up and down. If a furbag grabs the rocky on its way back down we'll just hope for the best!

Descender device
 

Thank you for the free descender device I was able to use it yesterday and saved 5 small rockfish and sent them back home.

:you_rock:

:luxhello:

iddy biddy rock fish
 

yeah, that's good! and, as i've said a million times, use bigger hooks. 4/0 min. i use 6/0 depending on brand. no problem hooking decent sized fish. their mouths are big

agree'd.