Do fish get the bends?

[cpowell]

I was fishing last night in about 30 ft. of water, catching catfish off the bottom. We caught eight nice keepers and stashed them in the live well. In a sort while I noticed some were going belly up. They were still breathing, fanning their gills, but had rolled over on their backs. Not all of them but a few. They did not put up a hard fight and were boated in a matter of a couple of minutes from setting the hook. The water was the same lake water.
I have not washed out the live well but there hasn't been anything splashed in there like gas or oil or anything else since I have had the boat. There is no oily slick on top or anything to indicate a problem. When I run I usually have the live well plug out so it fills then drains when I start and stop so there is almost always fresh water in. When we stop to fish the plug is still out until we are ready to leave with the catch then I put the plug back in to hold the water.
I was thinking maybe they get something like the bends when brought up from 30 feet or so pretty quickly. Seems that I read something like that on National Geographic once.
Anyone have other thoughts?

 

[licketdsplit756]

Re: Do fish get the bends?

there is a great difference betwen top water temp and 30 feet down you shocked them. and no never heard of a fish getting the bends seeing how they cant hold there breath and dont need to depressurize as they go deeper. keep ice in your livewell will increase the life of your fish. thell be fresh for the cleaning when ya get them home.also if ya dont have a aerator in that well. you smothering them. with that many fish. it wont take long.

 

[jtexas]

Re: Do fish get the bends?

Yes, fish *do* get the bends. Can't speak exactly for catfish but here's some interesting information on striped bass............

Striped bass like most fishes, adjust their buoyancy so they can maintain their vertical position in the water without actively swimming. Stripers adjust their buoyancy by the gas bladder. The gas bladder in fish operates like a buoyancy compensating device used by a SCUBA diver. As depth increases and the gas compresses (occupies less volume). To maintain neutral buoyancy, the fish adds gas to the gas bladder. When the fish ascends, pressure decreases, the volume of gas in the bladder expands, and buoyancy increases. Stripers can remove gas from the bladder with the gas gland, but this a relatively slow process. Therefore, a striper quickly displaced from deepwater to shallow water is helplessly buoyant and suffers “the bends.” Behavioral symptoms of stripers with buoyancy problems include fish that remain at the surface after release and fish that lie on their side or assume a “head-down” posture. These fish can be depressurized by using a #18 gauge hypodermic needle having a length of 1 ? to 2 inches. Insert the needle under a scale, through the skin and into the body cavity to puncture the gas bladder. The location of insertion is important, because sticking a vital organ, such as the closely located kidney can kill the fish. To locate the point of insertion insert the needle where the tip of the pectoral fin touches the 2nd stripe below the lateral line as indicated in the diagram.

Information provided by the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation

Southcentral Region

 

[all thumbs]

Re: Do fish get the bends?

I catch alot of northerns at 30 to 40 ft. depth. Their bladder will fill with air making it hard to revive them when releasing. I've heard of the needle trick but never seen it. What I have seen is standing up in your boat and diving the fish head first back into the water, wierd but it works at times. The other is to use a large barbless hook bent somewhat straight and heavy weight to drop the fish back to the depth you caught it in. If I'am going to keep fish they get iced right away.

 

[roscoe]

Re: Do fish get the bends?

Yes they get the bends.
Exactly why many people frown on deep water trolling for muskies. Catch and release does no good if the fish dies anyways.

Hey all thumbs, where are you catching northerns at that depth?
I don't think I've ever caught one deeper than 20 feet, most were caught less than 12 feet down.

 

[eurolarva]

Re: Do fish get the bends?

We see this in Minnesota during ice fishing all the time. Outside weather seems to have an effect on this as well. If the temp is below zero and crappies are caught at around 30 ft deep they usually die when they hit the surface. Inside the fish house is always around 65 degrees no matter what the temp is outside. If the temps are in the upper 20s then there is no problems with the fish. The lake is a constant 38 degrees from top to bottom in the winter so thermal clines dont exist in the winter.

 

[Tadd_P]

Re: Do fish get the bends?

dont know about all the bends but i do know that if you got a livewell it better have a aereator or those fish will die quickly and its a rule of thumb to throw some ice in there too especially when it is hot as hell out even if you do replace the water often it will literally boil your fish

 

[all thumbs]

Re: Do fish get the bends?

Roscoe, Walworth county,, the biggest lake they have. Catching in 33 to 35 ft. now with large suckers lindy rigged. I've pulled smallies up that deep too. Don't know if I can mention another forum on here but its about fishing and it has two L's in it. They post alot of fish reports all over the states. They have had alot of good info on how to revive deep caught fish. A T

 

[jtexas]

Re: Do fish get the bends?

saturday, caught a few white bass, a couple were near 40 feet, they were swimming belly up in the livewell for 15, 20 minutes but recovered, all were lively as they could be when we got back to the ramp. rarely see that in white bass since most are caught in 25 & under, 30ft at most. surface temp at 2pm was 87? - odd for mid-July, we usually see it over 90? by that time of day.

 

[roscoe]

Re: Do fish get the bends?

Got it all thumbs.

So are you fishing 35 feet down, on the bottom?

I've only sucker fished once. Don't know why. Maybe I will give it a try again this fall.

I visit the lake-link site also.

 

[all thumbs]

Re: Do fish get the bends?

Gee Roscoe looking at your post time your up late or got up early. I fish that rig on the bottom. Alot of times I don't want to spend money for bait so I use a small perch. Was out this morning and pulled up a small laker at 106ft. I have never had a laker do like a northern and fill with air. But you have to release them right away cause the temp change will kill em. Unless you want it for dinner.

 

[brownies]

Re: Do fish get the bends?

There are articles on the net that tell where to insert the needle in order to purge the air bladder.
I've never had to do it, but, For bass...it seems to be a fairly common practice if they are caught deep (30ft or so).
I've heard stories of em dying in tournaments from guys that didn't want to take the time to do this. And from thier co-anglers fish living just fine in the next livewell over due to taking the time to purge.
I would think other fish would be the same, although, rarely does a striper or hybrid live when caught. Been told that was due to the fight though, not anything else.
I've caught stripers in 3' of water, let em go right then, and see them floating a few minutes later.

If you rule out water depth and fish in your live-well die....you may need to upgrade your livewell.
Mine will circulate new water, or, it will re-circulate existing water. (that's all it does though).
In the summer, I fill it up right away with morning "cool" water. Put it on re-circulate, and use Rejuvenade additive. It gets HOT here and I've never had any problem with fish dying.
I'm not a Rejuvenade salesman, but, THE STUFF WORKS!
Not sure what the long term effects are. I do know at the end of the day though, you would think your fish were on speed and their colors would not look like a "stressed" fish.
I only tried that product after making fun of somebody else saying the same thing (several times). I thought they might be sponsoring him...lol. BUT, I now know...he wasn't trying to sell it. It sure keeps em lively.

 

[Ripfence]

Re: Do fish get the bends?

I am no ichthologist but I can't understand how a fish would get the bends.

People get the bends by breathing air which contains primarily nitrogen if the ambient pressure subsides to quickly nitrogen bubbles will form in tissues and bodily fluids and cause damage. Fish however, obtain oxygen from a nearly nitrogen free medium and have little nitrogen to out gas should their ambient pressure suddenly lessen.

I imagine the floating fish problems have less to do with the bends than they do with a failure of the fish to equalize pressure in its swim bladder.

Just my theory your milage may vary.