I think I know the answer to this, but I thought I'd ask people with more experience than me.

The last time I fished the St. Lawrence during a college club tournament, one of the other guys let me borrow a fizzer that was just a needle glued onto a ballpoint pen body.  I think he fizzed by going through the mouth, but I just used it in the side like I had been taught and seen on the internet.  There was no internal wire inside the needle, just a plain hypodermic needle, but it seemed to work fine, although the pen-body made it hard to keep it in when putting the fish back into the livewell while it was releasing air.

 

I have a small farm and have lots of syringes and 18 gauge needles for treating animals.  I'm fishing on Sunday, and I'm thinking that will do just fine for fizzing.  I'm not sure I even need the syringe, probably just the needle.   I don't think the little reamer is necessary.  What do you think?

 

 

Smallmouth are less prone to bladder expansion then LMB, you may not need to fizz the bass.

Needling the bass through the side requires knowledge where vital organs are located, done right a small hole is better then a larger dia hole. I don’t believe you need to let the gas out underwater in the livewell. Needle the bass when the hear the gas release, leave the needle in and press slowly down on the bass then pull out the needle. This method is quicker and less harm to the fish.

Your syringe should work OK, just need to release a little pressure so the bass can swim normally.

Tom 

 

Tom, thanks. We'll usually let the bass swim in the livewell for a few minutes to see if they will go belly up.  Last time, they basically all did so we ended up fizzing them all.

When you catch bass from water over 30’ deep their bladders will expand as the water pressure on them is reduced going up into shallower water. Your livewell is only 1’ deep providing no pressure. Needle the bass as soon as possible to prevent the bladder from continuing to expand.

Tom

18 gauge is fine, but you do need the reamer to clean it out between uses.  Otherwise it gets clogged and won't work.

 

Frankly, I don't fizz unless the bass is having difficulty staying upright in the livewell.  That can happen regardless of how deep you catch them - and maybe not.  Many times you don't need to do anything at all, even if you caught them deep. You just need to be observant and help them out if they're struggling to remain upright.  Otherwise let them be.