Rock fish recompression

[bullbuster]

Kudos to Alaska's own Ray Troll and the Ratfish Wranglers.

http://youtu.be/2c0CN_1veT0

[mike h]

Good stuff.

[kgpcr]

You should try one of these. they are super simple to use and work great! cheap too!
http://www.sheltonproducts.com/SFD.html

[Anythingalaska]

Haha that was a great video.

[Michael Strahan]

We've got a page on recompression AT THIS LINK. Something all of us should be prepared for when we're out there this summer!

-Mike

[Bernard R Rosenberg]

Ray Troll is the most profound fish-surrealist artist in the USA. His work is exceptional. If you ever make it to Ketchikan stop into his Soho Coho Art Gallery and store. Ratfish Ray made it big time first with t-shirts ("spawn till you die"), the on to calendars, pins, hats, and whatever else he could dream up. Money never went to his head, thus the fine video on rockfish recompression.

Rosenberg; Florida

[tzieli22]

Last year out of Seward I was having my early summer check with a trooper and he asked me what I do to release the rock fish. I basically told him nothing (I keep the fish). I tried the needle thing and heard that wasn't good and he agreed, then he asked me if I had an old halibut jig head. 16 oz or heavier, and he pulled his jig head out to show me. He went on to say if you can get a 20-24oz head that'll work better, file the barb down, then tie some 100lb braided line to the hook shank and then 20" or so put a swivel on it so the jig head is upside down. You get a rock fish, have your spare pole w/release jig at the ready. Within seconds you can have the fish back on its way to the bottom with no real harm to the fish. Once you hit bottom, just firmly pull up and the fish will pull away from the jig head. Works great and I bet I've released 50 or so fish last year.

Cheap alternative to the commercial releases and I believe it works really well.

[Kyle Snider]

I have a 48 oz weight that I tied a large hook with barb filed down. It is always on the spare pole ready. Last year though I noticed that even though I used it to release some rocks I still saw a few float back to the surface a ways out from the boat. I'm wondering if a short pause at the bottom to allow the fish to decompress would help with the success rate? Of course, I'm assuming also that those that did float back up did not somehow come un-done before they got down to depth.

[Garyak]

I know they all don't make it. I suppose getting them headed down asap is key. I can't seem to find the youtube link again, but there is a video of one being lowered..camera right on top of him. Interesting watching the fish finally perk up and shake himself free just as the angler was saying he thought it was deep enough to release.

[LuJon]

They have a cobia tagging program that my brother in law participates in as a gulf coast charter captain. They get a tagging kit from fish and feathers and tag released fish. They submit a log of tagged fish released or caught including date of capture, location and if captured tagged fish were rereleased or if it was kept. A similar program would be fairly cheap to put into place for rock fish. An online system would make it super user friendly as well. It wouldn't give hard numbers but it would give some insight into survival rates.

[kgpcr]

You should try one of these. they are super simple to use and work great! cheap too!
http://www.sheltonproducts.com/SFD.html

This one really works like a charm. We tried the hook with the barb filed down but some came off too soon. this one holds them on just fine until you decide to let it go. You can feel the fish tugging when you get it back down.

[fishnngrinn]

This one really works like a charm. We tried the hook with the barb filed down but some came off too soon. this one holds them on just fine until you decide to let it go. You can feel the fish tugging when you get it back down.

I made a similar one with a drapery pin. Works, but the drapes hang with a sag now :-)

[Uncle Zeek]

I know they all don't make it. I suppose getting them headed down asap is key. I can't seem to find the youtube link again, but there is a video of one being lowered..camera right on top of him. Interesting watching the fish finally perk up and shake himself free just as the angler was saying he thought it was deep enough to release.

Didn't Oregon or Washington states fish & game dept conduct a study on mortality of rockfish released at depth, with results of something like 95%+ survival?

[mike h]

It's all in an old thread on here started by a guy that invented one of the release mechanisms. Probably a 2008-09 thread.

[iofthetaiga]

Didn't Oregon or Washington states fish & game dept conduct a study on mortality of rockfish released at depth, with results of something like 95%+ survival?

Yes they did. They subsequently conducted some tag and recapture studies that confirm very high long term survivability as well.

I like the 'milk crate' method. Kept mine tied off to a cleat with 75 feet of line; would place the fish on the water, lower the crate over it and release. That allowed me to continue fishing while the rockfish was recompressing and self releasing.