Last weekend while fishing for trout in the BWCA I caught a walleye that first showed up on my flasher around 40' in 45' of water. When I pulled it up, the swim bladder had expanded into its mouth and one of the trebles had punctured it. I remove the hooks, gently pushed the bladder to confirm that it was in fact punctured (air released). It was 26" and I couldn't bring myself to keep it, so I released it and am second guessing my actions. Did this fish likely die? Is there something I could have done differently to help its chance of survival, besides obviously not fishing in 45' of water? What would you have done?

Most likely the fish will die from the stress and loss of buoyancy.

If it swam back to bottom it has a chance. Certainly more than if you ate it.
Did you see it go to bottom on your flasher?

I'd have kept it, myself. That said, I know deflating swim bladders with a needle is a common technique, so is there really a meaningful difference between puncturing it with a needle and a hook? I honestly don't know.

I think you probably fed a northern pike a dandy meal, but you never know. A 26" walleye is tough to cook, anyway (although it's do-able). Nothing wrong with what you did. I don't recall the regulations on keeping fish that size. One walleye over 19"? Something like that?

Thank you all for the feedback. I found a study online called "Mortality of Walleyes Angled from the Deep Waters of Rainy Lake, Minnesota". Here's an image from that study. My walleye came from around 12 meters which indicates a mortality of about 25-50% depending on handling time. I found some other info about venting (puncturing swim bladder) which indicates that it often just leads to infection and delayed mortality. I do hope that fish is still swimming and it doesn't sound like there is much I could have done. Total bummer.

Is there a better chance for its survival in the winter than summer? No way to know. Did you/were you able to push the swim bladder back inside the body/back down the throat/back into anatomical position? Is all I was ever taught.

Thanks for the honest information. You are always taking a chance someone will respond negatively, although thus site is pretty safe as far as that goes…

As others stated if ya kept it…it had a 0% chance of survival.

I am always amazed at those walleyes that go deep like that. I’ve been lucky, it’s always been keepers so I just kept them.

T

DTrain: "Last weekend while fishing for trout in the BWCA I caught a walleye that first showed up on my flasher around 40' in 45' of water. When I pulled it up, the swim bladder had expanded into its mouth and one of the trebles had punctured it. I remove the hooks, gently pushed the bladder to confirm that it was in fact punctured (air released). It was 26" and I couldn't bring myself to keep it, so I released it and am second guessing my actions. Did this fish likely die? Is there something I could have done differently to help its chance of survival, besides obviously not fishing in 45' of water? What would you have done?"

You probably have seen the stomach protrude up the mouth due to swim bladder pushing it out. Probably the hook tore the stomach. With that much expansion chances are it will die. But you never know. You get gas expansion in other areas of the fish, just like human diver bends.

Yes, chances are much better in the winter because metabolism is so much lower and lactic acid buildups builds up. It happens, you tried, and that is all a person can do.