[Texeye]

I have always just assumed that when a fish died it floated to the surface.From what I have read and what some of you have stated is that most fish sink to the bottom.As they decompose and fill with gas they float to the surface.If the gases escape they will sink again.The ones we see floating will sink again or drift to shore.

Just because a fish I release, doesn't float back up within a few minutes ,doesn't mean it survived.It may take a day or two to decompose and fill it with gas so that it will float.

I know this is boring to most, but some of us who fish deeper reservoirs may not be helping anything by releasing fish caught deeper than 30ft if we do not use the best method we can.From what I can gather, the best way to release a fish caught deep is by getting back to the depth it was caught as soon as possible.

They catch sea bass in 50ft. of water and the way they are released is with the weight system.(some have already explained)A clip is put on their lip that is tied to a large weight.When the bass reaches the desired depth it is jerked loose.I think I'll invest in 50ft. of nylon string with a weight and a close-pin on the end.Seems like a small investment for what it can do.