Extreme Jigging: Dogtooth Tuna, Yellowtail Kingfish (Hiramasa), Amberjack, Samson Fish > Tackle & Techniques

Release weights

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Mads Soendergaard:
Hi

I have been looking for a "release tool" for fish suffering from barotrauma, and I found this release weight: http://www.recfishwest.org.au/content/fish-release-weights-wa/

Does anyone here have any experience releasing 15-20kg+ fish with this or other "tools", without using a venting tool = lower mortality rate?

Im guessing, that larger fish needs larger weights to get to the bottom.

/Mads

Jamie Moir:
You can get release weights up to 80oz locally and I believe a few people have custom ones made up to 130oz for big Sambos.

Kasey Leong:
Mads,

You can easily DIY a release weight with a brick, a screw, a large crimp, a swivel and a de-barbed large single hook. You will need to add a handline or some sort of line system to it.

A picture would make it seem really easy. All you need to do is attach the hook via the screw through its eye to a brick, the same way a release weight is molded onto a sinker. Then, crush the barb on the hook with a pair of pliers, and thread on the swivel first, followed by the crimp. Squeeze the crimp at the highest point on the hook so that the swivel can't get back out and there you have it.

Jamie, perhaps you can help me dig up a picture of this - I can't seem to find one anymore.


I have successfully released numerous 15-20kg+ fish with this, mostly seriolas during 'Sambo season' but also numerous large ungainly demersal fish like groupers and cod. There seems to be evidence that a release weight = lower mortality rate. A release weight is relatively simple to use. Additionally, unless the operator is trained to use a venting tool, the chances of piercing the guts, liver, or other internal organs in a fish are high, as these organs partially envelop the swim bladder. Furthermore, different fish have slightly different anatomies, so some require slightly different points and angles of penetration. I do not recommend venting via a needle unless highly experienced or under desperate conditions.

I have seen people try to do it only to have a bit of intestine poke out, and continue trying to blindly stab into the airbladder while turning the fish into a literal pincushion.

Best regards,
Kasey

Kasey Leong:
Mads,

I just saw your post regarding jigging large groupers out of 40-80m of water. In this case you may need more than a brick to send them back down. Even then, due to their sedentary nature, groupers are not highly evolved to deal with barotrauma and suffer terribly for it, unlike pelagics. I do not suggest jigging for groupers in deep water (including coral trout) unless you intend to eat them. The mortality rates for catch and release of these species are highly discouraging and I would try to dissuade anyone specifically going out to target them for this purpose as it would almost surely result in high mortality rates of old, breeding fish.

Brandon Khoo:
Kasey, I think it is a good thing you made the point you just did and that is fish like groupers, bass, hapuka etc handle barotrauma very poorly.
When you see someone holding up a photo of one of those that has been jigged, don"t assume it is C&R. When anglers jig up those big fish from the depths, the fish are finished. It always depresses me when I see anglers with multiple photos of those types of fish that have been jigged because they have effectively killed all of them.

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