fizzed a few fish on wa today  with the throat method.  super easy!  just went straight in just above the throat and it worked like a dream. 

troy

Great photo's!! I too am looking forward to being able to apply this info.

Did anyone try putting a pinch of "please release me" on the bleeders? I believe it supposedly has coagulant properties, I've used it on fish where the hook nicked the gills or those where they almost swallowed the hook, and they were bleeding pretty quick. It seemed to help and the fish survived.

I fizzed four fish.....three good, one bad but I suspect the bad one had been gutshot also.
Had pushed the needle too low on the mouth approach and had instant arterial bleeding 

I too suffered the effects of a plugged needle this weekend.  Caught a good smallie and couldn't get it to fizz, waited another 5mins and tried again, no luck, finally decided to check the needle and sure enough it was pluged from the fish I had previosly had fizzed.  Cleared out the hypodermic and instant fizzing took place on the 3rd attempt.  The fish lived happily ever after, only to marry a toad and have malformed children.

Mark

Thanks for the link Chuck.  Good picture.

However, if you read the post, I highly disagree with the 5 "suggestions" listed.  If combined together, you will certainly kill your fish.   Why?  The use of an oxygen system along with livewell additives will create Hydrogen Chloride - a highly corrosive and dangerous gas.  It will outright kill your fish.

The post also recommends constantly circulating fresh water into your livewell.  Again, a bad practice, particularly in the southern climates where water temps soar into the 80's and 90's.  Fortunately, we don't have to worry about it too much here, but anytime that water temp gets around 70 or above, you need to flip that livewell over to "recirculate" and leave it there.  Put in ice every hour or so to keep it about 10 degrees below the surface temp of the lake (a floating pool thermometer works great for this).  Keep the aerator "on"  in order to add oxygen to the water.

Finally, use "Catch and Release" formula.  It kills a whole array of viruses and bacteria, has the right amount of sodium already in it, relaxes the fish, and removes chlorine often found in ice water.

Note that it takes A LOT of ice to cool a livewell!  It's not uncommon to use 10-20lbs of ice during the course of a tournament during the hot summer months.

Definetly want to see that Thayne at the Frostbite.   

Rev


That is a great photo!!!!!!!!!!!!

Now you can see that you want to be in the middle of the mouth and not in the roof or the bottom of the mouth.


As for a needle you will notice that most needles you buy are short. I will bring one of my needles at the next meeting I will also have them at the frostbite if anyone wants to see how to make the needle longer to make it a lot easier to go through the mouth.

Thayne

The photo that Bass aholic has posted is one of the best photos I have seen. If you print out the photo and then compare the photo to a fish when you are getting ready to fizz. It will all come together.

You are basically putting the needle between the roof of the mouth and the bottom of there mouth. You don’t want to be in the roof of the mouth and you don’t want to be in the bottom of the mouth you want to be in middle. This is were most people go wrong and hit the roof of the mouth or the bottom and get bleeding. After you do it the first time you will never go back to doing it through the side


Thayne

Is there any difference in needle placement, for either technique, between Largemouth Bass and Smallmouth Bass?

For a more accurate picture of where to stick the needle in the mouth check out this site...

http://www.azbasszone.com/forums/showthread.php?t=45128

I too would love to find out how to fizz thru the mouth so I don't end up doing the Hokey Pokey. Yes I missed several attempts and had some slight bleeding issues with my fish. I hate missing the bladder since it is not an exact science unless your an emt like Larry is who could find it in a heart beat.

Sure I have looked at pictures of where to probe but those aren't always accurate.

Let the class begin.

Russ

Thane - i would definately like to know how to do that through the mouth.  I have no problem through the side, just seems this is a bit less stressful on the fish.

WCCT,

It sounds as though you and your partner were doing the Hokey Pokey!!

Russ

We had to fizz every fish last weekend also.  At first we couldn't figure out why these dang fish weren't fizzing, but then after several holes and no air release, we realized we were given a bad fizzing needle.  It didn't have a hole in it   Luckily all fish survived the ordeal.