Bruce, can you "over fizz" a bass, where the fish will sink to the bottom, if not swimming? And how long does it take for the hole in the bladder to heal, so it will work properly again?

You certainly can take out to much air. When that happens the bass will be sitting on the bottom for up to two days (as I have been told by a fisheries biologist) immobile. The fish probably can swim some to get away from all of the large animals that swim around in the lake like gar, big turtles, flatheads, gators etc, If not they just get eaten.

I do and teach our volunteers to just take 3-5 seconds of air out. If the bass is then swimming upright I think that is fine. If it is still sideways or upside down I will repeat. Big girls hold a lot of air and get stressed out much easier so we take more out until they are up right too.

Some years back when the lake was low we had the LRB set up by the ramp at Lake Fork Marina and the tournament weigh in site was over by where the McDonald usually sets up. The anglers were walking the fish to us in bags with water. One lazy AH decided it was to far and dumped his bass off of the gas dock. That big fish fish struggled for at least 30 minutes upside down on the surface in that hot water. I got a ride in an anglers boat and netted it. Put her in our cool oxygenated water and when she recovered some fizzed her. When we released the fish she swam away.

I don't know how long it takes for the hole to mend But I do know if we don't fizz them they will surely die from the continued stress of trying to right themselves.

Ten years ago when Cheryl was fishing on the Women's Bass Tour I volunteered on the BASS LRB. And what they did was take all of the air out. I figured that perhaps they figured that no one would see any "floaters" because they were all on the bottom. I did not do it their way and was asked to "not" volunteer. For insurance purposes. Yeah right.

Good write up Bruce.

I know I killed a 10.77 years ago that I fizzed and took too much air from after I weighed her at LFM. I made the mistake of squeezing (gently) the fish to remove more air after the trail of bubbles had stopped coming form my needle. I held onto her for a few minutes then when I released her she sank like a rock. I am almost certain that fish became turtle fodder the next day.

Made me sick.

My $0.02....

Here's a video where TP&W talks about it and demonstrates the procedure:
https://youtu.be/pEeQrsHcwf8


I was surprised that I had to fizz a 7-pounder a few months ago that came out of 15ft of water. I've caught them deeper and didn't have to fizz them, so I didn't check on her until weigh-in. So lesson learned there is to just regularly check on your fish, even if they didn't come from real deep water.

To clear the needle after each use and keep it from clogging, I keep the syringe in a bag with the needle and right after fizzing one, fill the syringe with water, attach the needle, and push all the water through the needle to clear it.

we just blow the water out of the tube using mouth pressure. Nobody has died yet and we have been doing it for at least 15 years.

In my experience, it has a lot to do with stress. Fish that have endured a long fight, too much time out of the water and/or too much time in the livewell tend to be at greater risk. Just my

Thanks Bruce for all the valuable information. Glad you explained the the balance of not fizzing, and too much fizzing. I believe the 3-5 second rule is important, or watch carefully when the bubbles start to slow, pull the needle. Glade you and Cheryl are doing well.

Best rule of thumb I go by is 3-5sec on 6lbs and under & 5-8 sec 6lbs and bigger.

And don't wait till weigh in. By then the fish has been struggling all day. Do it as soon as you see it's struggling to right itself.

Back in the day when i fished Squaw Creek. My partner and i would spend hours at the ramp fizzing fish. We would count the bubbles as we always placed them under the water and did the needle insert. Big fish would be 5 bubbles. Small fish would be 3. I think we saved a lot of fish back than. We would hold the fish ybder the water on her side and the other would insert the needle under the scales.
Those were the days.