Bloated Rock Cod

[daperrin]

So I was out fishing in about 200ft of water yesterday and from a far, I noticed a guy catching small rock fish. Good for him. Then I see literally a trail of small, floating, bloated fish, thrashing on the surface down current behind his kayak. This is not the first time I have seen this.

Probably all of us who fish deep, have found ourselves in the position of pulling up Jr. size fish, bloated from the decompression. We try to release it, but the little guy just can not overcome the air pressure in its stomach or bladder. What to do?

Personally I hate to unnecessarily kill any creature, including fish. After all, fishing quality continues to declined in this country, especially here. In CA we pay a fortune for the right to catch a few meager sized fish. So we need to do what we can to maintain or INCREASE the fish population. Especially since kayakers have a limited range, we should be eager and willing to preserve our fishing grounds for next years outings.

Seeing a fisherman who throws back fish after fish, knowing they will all die makes me feel a bit irritated (on a good day). Of course, catching an undersized fish is not necessarily our fault. but not taking the initiative to be ready with a solution to return the fish is. So with that in mind I decided to create a little video. As I was out there fishing, I show how easy it is to release just such a fish. In fact I sent down a few of the other guys dying fish as they floated twords me.

The hope of this post is not to accuse but to educate and encourage all who are willing, to take the extra step and preserve our limited resources.

The little tool I use in the video cost literally 50 cents and took me 5 min to make. You just need to keep an extra rod available for the task. There are many other more sophisticated tools but this is the most simple and cost effect one that I know of. Best of all it works. If you have other ideas please share them. Thanks.

https://youtu.be/FI5-uk5NykM