A very good study and each species differs but should be considered when fishing all species. Depth matters

Interesting study, thanks for sharing. I don't recall seeing a barotrauma study done on crappies before, usually the studies seem to focus on Lake Trout that are pulled from the depths.

Link says page not found, but if this video is what I think it is, their methods are "questionable" at best. Uncut Angling on youtube has basically tossed all of their results in the trash.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6AdfSoPfxr0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n9Nrcu1fNyY

TOO DEEP

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6AdfSoPfxr0&pp=ygUNdW5jdXQgYW5nbGluZw%3D%3D

Not saying I agree completely with him but what he is saying makes sense to me. He mad this video in response to this study by AnglingBuzz/ MN DNR.

With that being said I won't release deep caught fish.

Challenge to the study

20 years or so ago we were ice fishing on the Canadian side of LOW, chasing crappie in the afternoon after fishing Lakers on Crow in the morning. Decided to try out by a mass of fisherman, fishing in 35' or so.
By the amount of holes around, you could tell that they were getting pounded out there. One of our guys had one of the first underwater cameras. Folks were targeting the slabs and were releasing fish under 12".
He called me over to take a look at his monitor, there were literally hundreds of smaller dead crappies floating around pinned to the bottom of the Ice. It was a pretty disheartening sight. We packed up and searched elsewhere, finding plenty in shallower water a few miles away.

One of my favorite spots on the Kawishiwi River to fish walleye also holds crappie on occasion, it's 32'. And I have to remind myself not to reel up so quickly in case it is a crappie, sometimes the close the mouth trick works and they are able to swim back down, but I tend to have to keep crappie for dinner rather than walleye in those situations. They definitely are more susceptible to barotrauma than walleye are at 30'.

Oh, was Ice fishing for Lakers on Trout Lake in Crosslake once and hooked into a nice 3 lb walleye in 65' of water, that thing was DOA by the time it hit the bottom of the hole.

It's an issue that the casual fisherman doesn't think about or even know about.

ForestDuff: "20 years or so ago we were ice fishing on the Canadian side of LOW, chasing crappie in the afternoon after fishing Lakers on Crow in the morning. Decided to try out by a mass of fisherman, fishing in 35' or so.
By the amount of holes around, you could tell that they were getting pounded out there. One of our guys had one of the first underwater cameras. Folks were targeting the slabs and were releasing fish under 12".
He called me over to take a look at his monitor, there were literally hundreds of smaller dead crappies floating around pinned to the bottom of the Ice. It was a pretty disheartening sight. We packed up and searched elsewhere, finding plenty in shallower water a few miles away.


One of my favorite spots on the Kawishiwi River to fish walleye also holds crappie on occasion, it's 32'. And I have to remind myself not to reel up so quickly in case it is a crappie, sometimes the close the mouth trick works and they are able to swim back down, but I tend to have to keep crappie for dinner rather than walleye in those situations. They definitely are more susceptible to barotrauma than walleye are at 30'.


Oh, was Ice fishing for Lakers on Trout Lake in Crosslake once and hooked into a nice 3 lb walleye in 65' of water, that thing was DOA by the time it hit the bottom of the hole.


It's an issue that the casual fisherman doesn't think about or even know about."

VERY GOOD READ. THANKS.
I am sure you know but many people don't realize a fish after release from deep water, especially crappies are so delicate or frail. They can swim away still but because of coming up so fast their air bladder expands, when released that fish condition still exists and the fish may swim away, but will die later.
What you see in the mouth often is the stomach pushed out from the air bladder expansion.
Some people get carried away and keep on fishing in certain conditions which will leave more dead fish than what they kept. Sometimes it is time to say I caught enough and maybe time to sit around the fire etc.

BWfishingfanatic12: " Challenge to the study "

The Kid is good !!