You know that gurgling or belching noise when you pull a 10lb or bigger blue out of 30' or deeper water and are they ok to release or do they die? See what you started Brother Terry
Ps. I havent seen any float yet, just doesn't sound right

they are fine to release, i have never had a fish even act like it was going to die

That's why I try and have a piece of pvc in the boat so I can burp them if I pull them from deeper water. Some fis burp themselves but others don't so I help them before releasing them. And a word of advice, do not have your nose right above the pvc as you are trying to burp them, it is the most foul smell I have ever put my nose on....

Chase, how deep do you have to go with the pipe in it's mouth?

You want the pvc at least 2' long and put a rounded cap on the end and drill a hole in it. To get a good burp out of them you go into their stomach, their throat muscles are pretty strong so you have to force it but it doesn't hurt them and the sound it makes when you get a good burp, good gawd!

Thanks, sounds like something to look forward to . I usually fish shallow but plan on trying to target bigger fish this winter so I'll be fishing deeper. Well that's the plan anyway.

That sounds disgusting!

chase i wont forward that piece of advice about burping cats to coach wharton....i promise!

I've been fishing for blues all my life and never heard of burping them. I've heard that noise from them caught in two foot of water in July. Learn something new everyday. Truthfully, I just give them a Rolaids and go my own way.

I use a piece of 1/2" aluminum pipe cut at an angle and then the edges smoothed off with my buffer wheel so that the edges won't cut the fish's throat and it slides in the throat real easy that way. a lot of fish will burp before you get them in the boat but some don't and you can see the ones that don't and actually need to be burped ... their gut will be really swollen and tight ... the ones that don't have swollen stomaches you don't have to worry about burping as they'll swim back down just fine but you'll get a few in the boat that actually need to be burped from over 30 ft depths. caught a lot last year out of 45 and 50 ft water that had to be burped just to save room in the livewell because they take up twice as much room if they've not been burped. they can be burped with just about anything though as all you have to do is open the throat up just a little bit ... I've done it with a rod butt before by just inserting the rod butt and pushing to the side just a little so the air can escape the stomach.

I have heard of burping fish before but, what do you do if they have gas.....

Yeah, if you give them alka-seltzer they just foam at the mouth.

Tiny, I hope you got good news from your Dr. visit.