Re-compressing Rock Fish the Easy Way

[DoubletroubleII]

Surprised no one here does this?...............here are some vids

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Found this interesting.....appears they are required in the gulf?

http://ventafish.com/conservation.idc

[sdfishkiller]

Even if the released decompressed fish dont survive they will feed the lings and be part of the food chain we care about instead of feeding the birds.

The birds really can't eat them, they only peck the eyes or pull the guts out of it's butt. Their beaks are not strong enough to tear the skin and flesh.

But any who.....they are part of the food chain too. Without sea birds, finding fish would be ALOT harder.

[djh1123]

I fish with the guy who makes the RokLees device, and let me tell you, the thing works AMAZING. We timed it, and it takes less time to drop a fish back down than it does to grab a beer out of the ice chest and open it. He keeps a log of how many caught and released and whether they were successful or not, and he's somewhere around 95% success rate (5% floated back up).

His website here http://www.ecoleeser.com/FAQ.html shows how to rig it up. We normally fish in about 340 feet of water, and only send the fish down about 130 feet.

He caught an 8 pound cowcod a few months ago that he was able to sink back down with 3 lbs of weight. If you don't give a rat's ass about calico rockfish or other small species, at least use the device on small reds, salmon grouper, or cowcod.

I don't understand why more rock cod fishermen aren't using devices like these. When you only have a handful of deepwater spots marked that you fish over and over, you're ending up killing a lot of fish that you could potentially be catching years later at a much larger size. I think a lot of people shy away from conservation-minded ideas like this because they don't want to be labeled as a tree-hugger, when in fact it's more of an investment in order to keep your own damn spots good for the following years.

[m_mcgourty]

I just bought a RokLess. I haven't had a chance to use it yet, but it seems easy enough to set up and use. The easier it is the more I think folks will use it.

I vote no more trail of tears / pelican buffet.