Lathem 2/8/09 ... plus how to bleed a fishs' bladder

Ok, so I'm going to get a little more discrete with these posts.. there are a lot more people showing up where I fish (there were 10 boats in the water today, usually it's just me and another guy).. anyways, everybody showed up at the ramp at the end of the day and I was the only one who had fish... so I'm not giving up my spots.. I will give Brine and Poolie info though if they come up here and fish... so any lurkers out there reading this post and you're in GA, join up and I'll share the info, but you're not going to get free tournament advice!

anyways... started out the morning as the first one at the gate and I was on the water and to my spots at 7:55am. I was having a hard time getting any bites... this warm front seems to have given the bass some tight lips. I caught this first one at 9:30 in the one spot I'm almost guaranteed a fish



The second one came in a place I wasn't expecting... but after my next cast I saw why.. Finally found some submerged trees in deeeep water. Looked at it on the graph and there must have been 20-30 fish in it. Might not all bass, but I know there was atleast one there



So I thought there might have been a pot tournament there today, so I took my livewell just incase. I also wanted to try it out incase I caught something. The first fish I caught went belly up about a minute after I put him in.. I thought there might have been some fumes or something, so I threw him back in the water before it was too late. Never thought about bleeding his bladder. The second fish I caught, I decided to see if he would go belly up, and sure enough, same thing. But this time I was ready because I had my needle ready to go. This is the first fish I've done this too, but it's much easier than I thought.

Locate the 2 "tonsils" right above the throat (usually pink). Holding the fishs' lower jaw, insert the needle dead center of the throat and gently slide the needle in. I heard the air come out, thought I was done and put the fish back in the livewell... a few minutes later, I looked in to check on him and he was belly up again. I thought for sure I did it right, but this time I put the needle in the throat, then put the fish and the needle submerged in the water and pushed it on in a little more... bubbles! I didn't bleed him out all the way the first time. Guess I'll be putting them in the water from now on to see it come out... unless it's a BIG keeper and I'm in a tournament. Now that I just wrote that, I should have done that part in the livewell and that's how I can see the big ones' bubbles.

Right after I caught him...



a few minutes after being in the livewell



handy dandy bends mender...





and the throat right below the "tonsils"



and push it on in...



and about 20 minutes after bleeding...

Nice job Russ, and good instuctional. I thought you only needed to bleed them if they came out of like 50+ feet of water, and it was usually smallies.

I know you said you arent giving away much info right now, but this time of year are you almost exclusively using a shaky head?

Nice.Never seen that done to bass.

ilinimud said:

Nice job Russ, and good instuctional. I thought you only needed to bleed them if they came out of like 50+ feet of water, and it was usually smallies.

I know you said you arent giving away much info right now, but this time of year are you almost exclusively using a shaky head?

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yea, shakey heads are the way to work them right now... color doesn't seem to matter either. I caught those 2 on 2 different colors and different scents and color sprays. not chartreuse or garlic like usual...

Those fish came out of water that was about 25-40' deep.. not sure why they both floated like that, but bleeding the one settled him down to where he wasn't ramming his nose into the corners

Thanks Russ! Good to see it in action. =D>

FYI....The Fishing reports are members only so If you worried about lurkers...no need.

Nice catch! 8) . Neat instructional also!

Jim said:

Thanks Russ! Good to see it in action. =D>

FYI....The Fishing reports are members only so If you worried about lurkers...no need.

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I didn't know that.. then expect full reports from now on with pictures and lures/action used

very cool, ive never seen that eather. what happens inside the fish that makes you have to let the air out of there bladder? is it just the pressure difference? your livewell looks good with a fish in it!

when you pull fish from deep water up quickly, their swimbladders expand with gas and they are unable to release the gas (I don't know why they can't fart..) from the changes in high to low pressure in the water...
I didn't bleed the first fish (didn't know that's why he was floating in my livewell).. but I released him (like I'll explain below) and about 5 minutes later he kind of busted the surface, but after that he was gone and I didn't see him anymore.

anyways, most times when I release the fish caught deep, I put a hand under their belly and let them slide in face first to the water - for some reason this gives them a little more push to get back down to the deeper depths

(I don't know why they can't fart..

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lol now its clear to me.. ive never had a fish do that out of a lake just grouper when we fish in the gulf

Here is where I got my Bends Mender... https://www.tacklewarehouse.com/descpageBMA-BMDNP.html. It's $5.00, but if you fish tournaments, it's a good tool for having live fish at weigh in

Nice!

I was watching a replay of the BASS tounament at Erie and saw Aaron Martens do that. He's the only pro I've ever seen do that.

Nickk said:

Nice!

I was watching a replay of the BASS tounament at Erie and saw Aaron Martens do that. He's the only pro I've ever seen do that.

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that's what made me think of bleeding out the second fish I caught... I'm glad I saw that one too!

I read about it in an In-Fisherman issue, maybe a Bassmaster mag too.

Speaking of Aaron Martens, was that worm in the pic a Roboworm in the Aarons Magic color?

it was either Aaron Martens... or it was the purple weenie... with hot pink colored garlic spray. They were out of chartreuse spray (I like the spray 10 times more than the dip because it's not as messy, but it doesn't last as long either) so I bought hot pink and orange.. both sprays caught a fish Sunday

Ive never even heard of doing that to a fish, i guess because the deepest water around her (besides erie) is like 25 feet, most averaging 10 feet.

I never heard of anyone bleeding the air bladders around here....most of our lakes are no deeper than 6 or 8 feet(with a few select deeper spots)....with the exception of Union Lake which my lake book says 20' (I've seen 15' on my FF)

Good Job Russ! Keep posting those great reports! =D>

Is going through the mouth something new? I was told you draw an imaginary line between the anal opening to the space between the spiney and soft ray portion of the dorsel fin, located the middle of that line, hold the bass firmly, remove a scale, with a swift smooth motion insert a hypodermic needle at an 45 degree angle towards the head of the fish. Lightly press on the bass's stomach until you hear air escaping and continue until it stops.

Way to stretch the line =D> , keep the reports coming.

I don't know if it's something new or not.. the Bends Mender that I bought came with instructions on how to do it both ways.. they did mention that it was a new technique, and it's idiot proof.. all you do is stick the needle down the throat and push until you hear the air come out... then push just a pinch more to make sure it's all out.. I had to do it twice - the first time I was scared I would hurt the fish (I wasn't planning on keeping it, and was afraid to kill it).. but when I put him back in the water when I was finished, he just sat there in the same spot in the water for about 5min (literally, 5 min) and then swam off like nothing was wrong.. it was cool

Thats cool, I'd be afraid of being the first one to make them eat that idiot proof statement, can ya feel me?

It is a good feeling when you try something for the first time and it works.
Congrats =D>