I think you are right on, Rev. Fizzing is tough to do well, and it is much better to just play the fish quickly and let it go. You definitely risk poking an organ when you try to fizz.

BassAholic - If your fish swam down fine and then came up floating later, it is unlikely that a bloated gas bladder had anything to do with it coming back to the surface. Once a fish gets back down to the depth it was at, it would be almost impossible for its gas bladder to pop it back up to the surface. The pressure of being underwater wouldn't allow that to happen.

Chris

It's possible that more fish die than we are aware of, but in the winter time I may spend all day in one area - and I've still never seen a fish floating in all the 17 years I've fished the lake.  (with the exception of perch, that is)  But that doesn't mean there wasn't something else wrong with the smallie you caught.  Like people, there are healthy ones and unhealthy ones.  Maybe it had a bad ticker or something.  The depth you caught her in was not that deep.  We may never know what caused it.  I've heard other folks tell me they've  had a "floater" after catching them in 3 feet of water - so go figure!

Chuck I might have played the fish little to long but every time I got her next to the boat she would make a run back down. When I let her go she went straight back down. I would wonder how many times we let fish go & think they are ok but later they die.
I returned to the spot 1 hour later only to find her dead. When you pull a fish out of deep water how many times have you gone back to check that fish did not die?

Absolutely - playing a fish too long is extremely harmful!  During the winter I bring fish up from 50 feet and NEVER fizz the fish because I get them up to the boat on a fast elevator!  I then watch them swim straight to the bottom on my depth finder.  No trouble!  The fact is, most of the time those smallies are heading for the surface themselves - even to the point that sometimes I can't wind fast enough to catch up to them.  Why (if depth change alone was harmful) would a fish voluntarily commit suicide?  They wouldn't!  

Sometimes in a tournament, I've seen an angler who doesn't want to loose a fish and so they play it, and play it, and play it.  I've forgotten the scientific language that explains what happens to the fish's flesh during an exhausting fight, but it's bad news.  I'm not against fizzing, but you have to know what you are doing or you end up doing more damage than you fix.  

By the way I did get out on the lake Monday for a couple of hours in the morning and managed to catch 6 smallies - the largest was 3-8oz.  They came out of the mid 20's in terms of depth.  But the experience also confirmed my belief that more North Winds occur on Mondays (my day off) than any other day.  Just a theory - but then my perception is my truth, heh?

That's a heck of a day.  I went there yesterday from about 2-5 and was only able to get a 2.5lb as the biggest bass of the day with other 1.5-2lb fish.  I was fishing mostly in the 20-35ft range.  Maybe I should've gone a little deeper for the bigger fish.  I think someone on this club that said that if you fight the fish too long, the overdose of adrenoline (spelling?) can kill the fish.

Bass,

I would fizz all fish caught 20 feet or greater. You will notice quite quickly when the fish has trouble going back down.

Russ

I hit WA yesterday 9-10-07 Got there at 9am fist hour I got a 3.5 2.7 1.3 I never counted how many I got the rest of the day but it was a lot 30+ Lot of 1.5-2 lb. I only had one fish lost all day it was a 3+ got her right to the boat & my line broke. At 2pm I got a 5 lb out of 35 feet of water  Was a very long fight she was very old cause had cataract in both eyes I released her & she swam down but when I went back to that spot an hour later she was floating belly up    I am not sure if I should have fizzed that fish I don't catch many fish from water that deep & have never fizzed a fish b4. How can you tell if it needs to be done?
Any how after that I got a 3.7 & a 2.1lb around 6pm called it a day.

unfortunantly the best of the northwest circuit is cancelled for this year, so there will just be tons of boats out prefishing for nwbass.

Just looked.... Best of the Northwest is this weekend.....12th-13th................Northwest bass is next weekend...19th-20th

What tournament is this weekend?

Awesome Says.  I thought about going out there this weekend, ton's of pre-fishers I'm sure.  Go get em Wolsky/Hendrickson 

Went out today caught 8 from 1-3.5lbs.  I hit the mother load and caught 5 in about 30 minutes.  My buddy managed to catch one about 2.7lbs.  We both missed many other bites as well.  Lots of boats out there prefishing for next week's tournament.  What a day!

I saw someone saturday along the Eastside shoreline of Lake Wa by the newcastle exit in a Nitro. Was that any of you?
Just wondering how they did. Seems like they were fishing fast.

I was just driving around checking things out. I just got a boat. I will be out soon. I will need assistance getting to know some starting spots on the local lakes around here.

I kind of introduced Russ to the canals a long while ago. We used to go in there and catch 50 or 60 pounds a piece in about 3 hours after work. The good old days.. Remember those days Russ?

Russ,
Remember when Lake Washington was pretty much an untouched fishery? Well, I had fished the canals at least 12 years ago, and then was using the dropshot about 8 years ago to boot. Pretty amazing fishery..... 2.5# was the SMALLEST fish you would catch, and the average was 3.7#.........