I had to post this tip on here. I have seen tons and tons of articles on bleeding a fishes swim bladder with a needle. There is an extremely effective alternative that very few people seem to be aware of. I saw this on a tv show a long time ago on Roland Martin’s show, yet for the life of me I can’t understand why it is not more commonly known. I have used this method to release and save somewhere around 50 fish. This includes a healthy 12.90 lb which is my personal best. I also successfully depressurized a bass that won big bass in a tournament that weighed 7.87 lbs. I do not have a name for this method of bladder depressurization and I did not develop it.

First what causes this over expansion of the fish’s swim bladder? What happens is the fish comes up in the water column too quickly either being pulled or swimming upward during a fight. Air in the bass swim bladder compresses as it goes deeper in the water column due to pressure from the water. This means that the air will expand as the fish rises in the water column. Bass have air in the bladder and as they come to the surface that air expands. If the fish comes up too quickly the air does not get released and sticks the fishes swim bladder too full. If the fish is immediately released often it can return to depth quickly enough for the air pressure to be relieved naturally. However, with tournament fishing the fish is often held in a live well for extended periods of time. The longer the bladder is over expanded the harder it is for the fish to recover.

The solution is simple allow the water to naturally equalize the pressure. I have setup which I keep in my boat at all times just for this occasion. For a home made version take either an old reel with a heavy cord attached. I would recommend 100 lb test to be on the safe side. You don’t want to get into another fight with that trophy you just caught. So make sure you build it heavy. For my setup I use a Cuban hand reel, but really any kind of reel will work as long as it will hold enough heavy line to sink a fish as deep as the deepest fish you catch. For me that is only around 35 feet or so. For a release only rig take a small hook and tie about an 18 inch leader line to it. On the end of the leader add ample weight to sink the fish. I use about 8 to 12 oz’s of saltwater weights. Now Tie the line from the reel to the bend of the hook so that the hook will hang pointed down. Flatten the barbs on the hook also. If you wish to use it for tournaments and release, which I do, use a high quality saltwater snap clip. I would recommend the interlocking type to prevent accidental releases. Attach the clip to the hook eye and then the leader to the snap and down to the weight. This will allow you to use the hook for release or the clip for tournaments.

To use the rig is also very simple. First, you need some deep water. I usually look for water slightly deeper than the water I caught the fish in. For release take the hook and push it down into the hard part of the nose of the fish. You want it secure enough to get the fish down before it can flop off. If you are in a tournament use a clip or in my case I used two just in case one popped open. Now sink the fish down. If you are tournament fishing hold the fish there for a little bit then SLOWLY pull the fish up . I can’t emphasize this enough S L O W L Y. If you are releasing the fish just hold the line for a little bit and you will feel the fish kicking and stuff. When you feel it has had enough time to equalize simply snatch the line sharply enough to pop the hook out of the nose of the fish and leaving the fish at that depth. Hang around for a few if it failed it shouldn’t take long to see. I have had one fish I could not get down and stay down. This fish was a 3 lb bass blown up to the size of a six lber that somebody else caught and weighed in. I had no idea how deep the fish was caught or how early in the day it was caught. Other than that I have been extremely successful with this method.

This method should work for pretty well any species of fish. Please practice catch and release often and help protect our resources.