Blown swim bladder

Sun Apr 20, 2014 2:50 am

Hi lads.
Was out in a charter today on Clew Bay, not a serious session, more of a pleasure cruise. Had a couple of Ballan wrasse, at a decent depth. Both clearly had a blown swim bladder, zero chance of survival. Is there any safe way to return a fish with a blown swim bladder. Some conflicting methods online regards, "venting" with a hollow needles. The danger there seems the fish would soon die from infection. Is there a definitive/scientific solution. I would like to pass on the info to the skipper, It seemed like it was a reoccurring issue and in fairness to him, he was super keen on catch and release and very conscious regards conservation.

Re: Blown swim bladder

Sun Apr 20, 2014 11:06 am

http://www.fishing.net.nz/how-to/how-to ... e-snapper/

the drop weight method works well and have used it myself