Venting and Barotrauma

I generally fish from 60 to 100 FOW, so I'm getting quite a few puffy fish.

Personally, I think we should fish shallower. There's plenty of good sized fish in the 60' realm and you'll rarely get fish w/ barotrauma. The verm in my avatar (personal best) came from 50'. It's all good karma in the end and doesn't mess w/ shakers. Every now and then fishing deep is fine but it shouldn't be the norm IMO.

Z

My biggest ling to date came from 20 feet of water.

I've been using the shelton descenders for the past 3 years. Like Pete suggested, it is used on a rod dedicated specifically for fish suffering barotrauma (heavy jigstick).
I rig the shelton inline 20" above a heavy (6-8oz) leadhead or iron. So I can simply attach the puffy fish and send it down to the bottom---and once it releases I jig around my big swimbait/scampi/grub/iron for lings. Heck, maybe the puffy fish will attract the attention of a ling and lead it to my huge lure!? A relatively heavy weight is needed to send down bloated rockfish.



Problem w/the shelton is that the fish don't always release quite so easily (sometimes I reel up and the fish is still attached).

And towards the end of last season, I observed a few bloated rockfish resurface. That was kind of a surprise because I have monitored the fishes' descent on my FF and never saw them float back to the surface before...until last October. After re-descending a 10" gopher three times, I had to accept the fact that it doesn't always work and this fish needed to go on my stringer. And I was sending it down to approx 80ft before releasing...only to have it pop-up 5 seconds later.

Another problem w/the shelton is that they are not very sturdy. The wire is weaker than a paperclip and the included swivels/hardware is inadequate for heavy rockfishing. In other words, if you get snagged, the shelton will break rather easily.


I've been making some prototypes out of plastic potato-chip-bag clips. And alligator clips. [Patent pending!!!]

Last summer if you fished in 60 FOW in the Mendo county area, you were in the thick kelp.  Lings and cabbies often are in shallower, but they are not the problem guys.  Norm and I could never find the verms or coppers in anything less than 70.

I finally did get a chance to read the article, and indeed the point was that if you've got an obvious puffer, it's likely that it is already the swimming dead.  Not only does the physoclistous bladder over inflate, but due to the partial pressure of the gasses in their blood increasing they also experience hemorrhaging from the heart, liver, other organs, and arteries.  It's likened to an embolism, and if you're a SCUBA-er you know what that's about.  Also the optic nerve often is broken.

I agree, when you can - fish shallower.  But when you're deep, rockfish are not a good C&R species.  If you fish in more than 60 ft - you catch it, you keep it.  Also, it helps a lot, even with the shallow fish, to reel in slowly.  Enjoy the fight especially if you're doing C&R

I've been making some prototypes out of plastic potato-chip-bag clips. And alligator clips. [Patent pending!!!]

Someone may have beaten you to it - but they're called downrigger/planer release clips... 

Interesting article on fizzing Bass http://ozarkanglers.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=561&Itemid=47

Interesting article on fizzing Bass http://ozarkanglers.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=561&Itemid=47

That is interesting; I didn't even know this happened to bass. I'm inclined to think, though, that most people should not be attempting to do this procedure. As with rock fish, I'd bet they usually end up doing more harm than good.