Found several YouTube videos about fizzing a bass. Looking for input. It's just when fish are buoyant then . Really don't need to know at what depth they came from . Just if there buoyant.

Never heard of this before . Guess I really didn't fish on water to deep

Thanks Ed

You should not fizz a bass unless the air bladder is extending the stomach out it's throat.

Bass that roll over may be suffering from stress not associated to over inflated air bladder caused from deep water pressure change when brought to the surface for depths deeper than the bass can tolerate.

Bass loose their equilibrium and roll over from severe stress caused by several factors; thermal shock, low dissolved oxygen level, loss of blood. Fizzing a over stress bass may kill it, fizzing a healthy bass with over inflated bladder can help the bass to swim back down into deeper water it came from.

Tom

Fizzing or venting is more prominate in saltwater when fishing for species like snappers and groupers.  No need to vent any fish if the bladder is not in the fish's mouth.  I do not believe I have ever fizzed a bass but have done it many times with grouper.

I have caught tons of smallmouth over the years out of deep water on Lake Erie that have blown up like balloons in the livewell, and not once have I ever seen the stomach coming out the mouth.  Perch, yes.   Walleye, yes.  Crappie, yes.    Bass, no. (at least smallmouth)

 

There is a fine line between taking enough air our, or taking too much.  Having them lay on the bottom of the livewell/lake is not a good situation either

I know that the late Doug Hannon did a utube Vedio on fizzing bass and my friend Don Iovino sell fizzing kits, with all that said, I am not a fan of fizzing bass to relieve the air bladder, unless you must keep the bass for a tournament.

There are alternatives like weights to lower the bass back down to the deeper depths, this method does not damage the air badder.

The issues not discussed are brain damage caused by sudden pressure changes, the bass may temporally survive being released when caught deeper than 2 atmospheres of pressure change, however the long term affects doesn't look promising. Lane Gergerly of Sure-Life was conducting research into post mortality rates on deep caught bass and I haven't read the report yet. Out west we catch LMlB during the winter from depths that exceed 50' and those bass are severely stressed after being fizzed and held in livewells. The released bass are often seen swimming about 5' below the surface like a zombie, dark color and no interest in anything.

It is obvious these bass have brain damage and not eating.

The bass stomach is tough and doesn't protrude out the mouth, it does protrude up the throat and can be seen and the bladder fizzed through the stomach wall. 5 scales below the lateral line, about where the front dorsal fin ends, is the suggested place to needle the air bladder, if you must fizz the fish.

Keep in mind it takes several days for the needle hole to heal and serveral more days for the digestive gasses to re inflate the air bladder. During the healing period, the must swim or sink to the bottom.

Tom

There are much better ways to deep-water release a fish, including commercial clamps made for the purpose, an upside-down heavy barbless jig hooked into the lower lip, or even just a weighted milk crate. These are all methods I've seen used on ocean rockfish that allow it to properly recompress and are much better than "fizzing" a fish!

 

http://www.adfg.alaska.gov/index.cfm?adfg=fishingSportFishingInfo.rockfishconservation

 

https://nrm.dfg.ca.gov/FileHandler.ashx?DocumentID=36345&inline=true

 

http://seagrant.oregonstate.edu/sgpubs/onlinepubs/g05001.pdf