Page 20 - Lady Bass Anglers Digital Magazine July 2023

How to Fizz Your Fish

Fishing like most things in life can contain things that to release some of the excess air and pressure in the swim-
can be considered debatable or controversial. Depending bladder of the fish. Multiple fishery experts have weighed
on who you talk to, their experiences and backgrounds, in on fizzing and through their expertise and research,
fizzing fish can be one of those things. I am not here to show that fizzing is beneficial to the fish. The information
debate or be controversial. I am simply sharing some shared comes as a culmination of their research and
information that you can take or leave regarding the care information shared by credible sources. Do I personally
of fish that are experiencing “the bends”. ore technically know that it works? From my experiences with multi-
hyper-buoyant, hyper-buoyancy or barotrauma. Regardless day events, it does. If you have ever been to tournaments
of the term you associate with it, the fish is in distress and where at the end of the weigh in and the fish are released
without addressing this, the fish will ultimately die. along the shore and witnessed dead fish floating? I am not
saying that all of those instances are fish that should have
How does this distress occur. This occurs when a fish been fizzed, but in multi day events where fish have been
from a depth of 15’ or deeper is caught and brought to fizzed to address barotrauma, I see very few if any dead
the surface before their swim bladder can balance out
the adjust to the change in pressure. Even catching a fish
in 3’-5’ or so of water can encounter this kind of distress
if deep water is nearby. That fish may have charged up
to attack your bait from depth with the plan of go right
back down to the deeper water. Unbenounced to them,
your technique hooked them. If you are not tournament
fishing and releasing the fish shortly after catching them,
they will return to deep water and are none the worse
for the adventure. But if you are tournament fishing and
you drop them in your live-well, that becomes a different
situation. Check your fish regularly. If any are starting to
turn on their side, or upside down, that is a sign they are
experiencing barotrauma. By this point, simply releasing
them does not help. The tension on the swim bladder fish in and around the release area.
is too great and without help, they cannot equalize the Is fizzing largemouth and small-mouth bass the same? Yes
pressure. and no. The locations of the swim-bladder are very close,
but with some slight variations. As such I will show images
for both species using the side method. There is also a
cruncher method. I am not as versed or comfortable with
that method, but it will still be shared.

The materials you will need are simple and can be
purchased from most tackle retailers or you may go
to your local farm and ranch store to purchase. The
purchased fizzing kit includes a fizzing needle with tube.
The farm and ranch version is a syringe with no plunger.
Both options are shown below, but are not to scale.

The kit needle is approximately the same length as the
syringe in the second image. Each, after used needs to have
any debris removed before storing or using again. This
can be done by blowing through them or using a smaller
needle to help push out any debris.
Fizzing is the term used when a 16-18 gauge needle is used

20 Lady Bass Anglers Association How to Fizz Your Fish