[RyanF]

I gave up on bassing the high bridges but I still do my fair share of togging from way up. One of the problems I have always had was getting short fish and pregger females back down to the water safely. I have tried many things and I think I may have figured it out for this spring.

Rope attaches at the clip near the top rim of the bucket so the bucket sits as shown in the pic on the drop. When the bottom of the bucket hits the water the hanging lead will pull her down and dump the fish. Holes drilled in the bottom drain the water for the haul back up. Should work - yeah yeah bucket brigade.

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RyanF

 

[JoeyZac]

Looks like it should work. Either way :thumbsup: :thumbsup: for caring enough to put some effort into it.

 

[fdformicola]

seen that before it is a good way to release fish without hurting them:thumbsup:

 

[grtwhthunter/fisherman]

how about one of those clapsin crab traps made of string? makes like a net too

 

[billc]

looks like a great idea will be waiting to see how it works

 

[RyanF]

Looks like it should work. Either way :thumbsup: :thumbsup: for caring enough to put some effort into it.

My previous system was such a PIA that it was either come up with something better or stop fishing anything too high for a toss back.

seen that before it is a good way to release fish without hurting them:thumbsup:

Good to hear that it should work and it took about 2 minutes to assemble

how about one of those clapsin crab traps made of string? makes like a net too

Not sure what you are recommending? I have a bridge net, and I know people swear they release fish with them, I just dont understand how that works??? I just dont see a fish "floating" out of it.

looks like a great idea will be waiting to see how it works

Ill bump her up in April when I put her to the test. The only snag I can think of is trying to drop her down in some wind, but I probably wouldnt be toggin in that anyway.

BTW pictures and multi-quoting in the same thread, this is a huge step for me. If only I knew it was this easy and took the 5 seconds to look into it before.

RyanF <-jacka$$

 

[Tony Mig]

RyanF.....

Just curious, how high up are you fishing.....?

The reason I ask is, Tog are one of the hardiest fish I know of, I've had them out of the water on ice for close to an hour, and when I released them they swam away. I've had these fish out of the water for up to 4 hours, and they were still kicking when I got them home and started cleaning them.
I've watched less caring fishermen pop the hook out of short fish, drop them to the deck, then kick them over the side, and every one of them swam away.
This leaves me to believe you fish from a very tall fixed span bridge to be this concerned about releasing these bullet proof fish.....:huh:

I'm certainly not condemning you for this, I think it's great that you care this much about the fish you release, just trying to get a better understanding of why you feel this type of release is necessary as it may change the way I have been doing certain things......:thumbsup:

 

[RyanF]

RyanF.....

Just curious, how high up are you fishing.....?

The reason I ask is, Tog are one of the hardiest fish I know of, I've had them out of the water on ice for close to an hour, and when I released them they swam away. I've had these fish out of the water for up to 4 hours, and they were still kicking when I got them home and started cleaning them.
I've watched less caring fishermen pop the hook out of short fish, drop them to the deck, then kick them over the side, and every one of them swam away.
This leaves me to believe you fish from a very tall fixed span bridge to be this concerned about releasing these bullet proof fish.....:huh:

I'm certainly not condemning you for this, I think it's great that you care this much about the fish you release, just trying to get a better understanding of why you feel this type of release is necessary as it may change the way I have been doing certain things......:thumbsup:

Tony you are right on about these tog being damn tough fish, but in my opinion sending them for a 60 foot drop cannot be good, especially with a female loaded with eggs. The people who are kicking them probably would not even think to release a pregger female though.
Also, no offense meant but I think culling a fish that has been on ice for an hour to go larger is kinda lame. I am interested to see other opinions on this.

 

[Clamboni]

RyanF.....

Just curious, how high up are you fishing.....?

The reason I ask is, Tog are one of the hardiest fish I know of, I've had them out of the water on ice for close to an hour, and when I released them they swam away. I've had these fish out of the water for up to 4 hours, and they were still kicking when I got them home and started cleaning them.
I've watched less caring fishermen pop the hook out of short fish, drop them to the deck, then kick them over the side, and every one of them swam away.
This leaves me to believe you fish from a very tall fixed span bridge to be this concerned about releasing these bullet proof fish.....:huh:

I'm certainly not condemning you for this, I think it's great that you care this much about the fish you release, just trying to get a better understanding of why you feel this type of release is necessary as it may change the way I have been doing certain things......:thumbsup:

They're definitely tough........but the fact that they swam away doesn't mean they lived long after the release. I've had plenty of short fish that got hooked bad swim away looking fine when I let them go, only to see them floating 2 minutes later. Not tog, but either way, the fish swim fine at first.

I think it's pretty much the consensus that Fluke have a high mortality rate, even when not hooked deeply, and 99% of the released fish swim away just fine. I've also had fluke still alive when cleaning them two hours after the catch.

Ryan, good to see you finally got the idea for the release bucket.......and it was much simpler than the ideas last year......Now get a yak and you won't have to worry about it.

 

[RyanF]

Ryan, good to see you finally got the idea for the release bucket.......and it was much simpler than the ideas last year......Now get a yak and you won't have to worry about it.

Isn't that the truth. Wish I could spring for a hobie just can't make it happen right now and they never pop up used for sale

RyanF

 

[mattlist]

A+ for effort and the idea.:thumbsup:

the snag will be when i'm under the bridge grabbing your bucket

 

[Twentythreefive]

I gave up on bassing the high bridges but I still do my fair share of togging from way up. One of the problems I have always had was getting short fish and pregger females back down to the water safely. I have tried many things and I think I may have figured it out for this spring.

Rope attaches at the clip near the top rim of the bucket so the bucket sits as shown in the pic on the drop. When the bottom of the bucket hits the water the hanging lead will pull her down and dump the fish. Holes drilled in the bottom drain the water for the haul back up. Should work - yeah yeah bucket brigade.

[/url]

RyanF

If that system doesn't work well you could use two ropes, one on the rim and the second tied to the bottom of the bucket. Lower the fish with the rope attached to the rim then pull up with the second rope to turn the bucket upside down.

 

[stripeman 103]

Very nice idea I always woory about the well being of fish that have to be thrown back to the water off bridges or piers very good thinking.:thumbsup:

 

[BigBassJim]

Wow i would of never thought of that.

 

[Tony Mig]

Also, no offense meant but I think culling a fish that has been on ice for an hour to go larger is kinda lame. I am interested to see other opinions on this.

It would be lame if I culled a 14" Tog for one that was 15", however I have only done this twice, and it was for a substantially larger fish. When the only opportunity you have to fish for Tog is when the bag limit is just one fish a day, it's kinda hard to toss back a 20 incher because the one in your cooler is only 14 inches. I have only done this when the fish in the cooler was still actively kicking, and there was no one else there who wanted to take the fish for themselves. I took it down the rocks and worked it back and forth in the water to make sure it was going to revive before letting go of it's tail.
Most times there are plenty of people where I Tog fish who are more than willing to take one off your hands, but the 2 times I did this, the only other people there were also Tog fishing, and already had larger fish in their box.
I too would think it lame if the circumstances were different.....

 

[Tony Mig]

but in my opinion sending them for a 60 foot drop cannot be good, especially with a female loaded with eggs.

That's a big difference from the 8 to 10 foot drop where I Tog fish, and now I fully understand the thought process behind your less than lethal release device......:thumbsup:

 

[RyanF]

A+ for effort and the idea.:thumbsup:

the snag will be when i'm under the bridge grabbing your bucket

Thats when I pull up a male splooger and squeeze him out on your dome piece.

If that system doesn't work well you could use two ropes, one on the rim and the second tied to the bottom of the bucket. Lower the fish with the rope attached to the rim then pull up with the second rope to turn the bucket upside down.

That was an initial idea but did not want to fumble around with two lines.

It would be lame if I culled a 14" Tog for one that was 15", however I have only done this twice, and it was for a substantially larger fish. When the only opportunity you have to fish for Tog is when the bag limit is just one fish a day, it's kinda hard to toss back a 20 incher because the one in your cooler is only 14 inches. I have only done this when the fish in the cooler was still actively kicking, and there was no one else there who wanted to take the fish for themselves. I took it down the rocks and worked it back and forth in the water to make sure it was going to revive before letting go of it's tail.
Most times there are plenty of people where I Tog fish who are more than willing to take one off your hands, but the 2 times I did this, the only other people there were also Tog fishing, and already had larger fish in their box.
I too would think it lame if the circumstances were different.....

I still cannot say that I agree with your thought process, but if you said you revived the fish and thought they were gonna survive I am going to take your word on that.

That's a big difference from the 8 to 10 foot drop where I Tog fish, and now I fully understand the thought process behind your less than lethal release device......:thumbsup:

Yeah thats nothing, anything above 10 yards is where I start to worry and at most locations you can walk them to a reasonable release point without having to employ the bucket.

RyanF

 

[Clamboni]

Isn't that the truth. Wish I could spring for a hobie just can't make it happen right now and they never pop up used for sale

RyanF

Can you spring $650? shoot me an email.......it's an older outback but I think it's still available and he'd probably take that. I think it's still avalable.........LOL maybe if you have a yak we'd meet one night. Never worked before................Oh and some of those high bridges......especially ones you REALLY can't fish from, no matter what time of year.......they hold A LOT of fish all year long.......They're ALL yakable.

It would be lame if I culled a 14" Tog for one that was 15", however I have only done this twice, and it was for a substantially larger fish. When the only opportunity you have to fish for Tog is when the bag limit is just one fish a day, it's kinda hard to toss back a 20 incher because the one in your cooler is only 14 inches. I have only done this when the fish in the cooler was still actively kicking, and there was no one else there who wanted to take the fish for themselves. I took it down the rocks and worked it back and forth in the water to make sure it was going to revive before letting go of it's tail.
Most times there are plenty of people where I Tog fish who are more than willing to take one off your hands, but the 2 times I did this, the only other people there were also Tog fishing, and already had larger fish in their box.
I too would think it lame if the circumstances were different.....

I've culled tog before but it was always in the one fish limit period......and I had them in a livewell with fresh water flowing.......To me taking a fish out of water for more than a few minutes then culling for a bigger fish is just not right.......Just doesn't seem to me to give the fish a chance. A human not breathing for 10 minutes has a big chance of not being the same ever again..........now put that into fish perspective, that's pretty much a death sentence.

 

[mattlist]

Thats when I pull up a male splooger and squeeze him out on your dome piece.



No money shots!

 

[insomniac]

Use a bridge net Ryan. Lower um' and they'll swim right out.