Does a dead fish always float?

[Texeye]

I went back and read the "fizzing" threads and I apreciate the info, but I still have a question. If a fish dies soon after release will it float to the top or will it stay on the bottom? Does it take a certain amount of time before a dead fish will surface? I have watched them shock fish, and they all come to the top, but don't know if there is a difference.Can anyone explain this? Thanks.

It does not always float, especially if the swim bladder has been compromised.

[old fisherman]

The only ones that float are the ones you see. Sorry.

[Walleye Express]

Texeye.
I'm guessing that if and when the gasses start to build up in the rotting carcas. And there is no puncture for these gasses to escape. The fish floats, becomes dried like a piece of jerky and then will never sink because of the trapped air in the dry skin. I've seen carp on the Bay that look like a kids blow-up rubber floatie.

Well a shocked fish is as good as dead, so I guess they do float if you can see them floating!

[Backwater Eddy]

They may float, then sink, then float again due to gassing and/or water temp.

I have seen lake beds with thousands of fish laying about from assorted kills, with none floating, yet. Such as winter kills or algae kills in summer.

Conditions are what may dictate if they are easily seen or not.


(Some folks try to turn back their odometers. Not me, I want people to know "why" I look this way. I've traveled a long way, and the road less traveled isn't paved.)

Ed "Backwater Eddy" Carlson..><sUMo>

>...................................... If a fish dies soon
>after release will it float to the top or will it stay on
>the bottom?


Are you talking about a fish that dies after being fizzed?

[River_eye]

No, dead fish do not always float. The ones that die of natural causes will sink and decompose on the bottom. They will usually only float till a seagull picks a hole in them or gas is released. Of course, a small number will float ashore.

[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.

[Walleye Express]

Texeye.
One thing I noticed for sure is that if you release a fish caught in deep water right away. He has the strength and abiltiy to get back into the deeper water on his own, where he'll both recuperate and re-pressurize. Keep him out of the water to long and his swim blatter puffs up to a huge size, and he can't get himself back to his comfortable depths. He then may be doomed.

That's why and where the fizzing came in. These fish would blow up in the live wells and turn over. Then the rough ride back in, the depressurizing, breathing upside down all day, the rough treatment in general when being beat agains't 3 aluminum walls, spell's lost points at the weigh-in. Not to mention the fish's chances to survive when they toss them back in the Lake. But most have been fizzed, so the weaker one's sink and die instead. Sorry, got carried away there.