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General Fishing Tips / Re: Descender Weight
« on: May 01, 2024, 03:23:50 PM »Yep. Rockfish have what's called a "phystoclistous" swim bladder. The gas exchange (more gas for more buoyancy, less gas for less buoyancy) is controlled via chemical reactions within the bloodstream of the fish. So to reel up a rockfish slowly enough to prevent barotrauma, you would rely on the chemical exchange of the gas in the swim bladder transitioning to a liquid in the bloodstream. Good luck with that.Has anyone tested retrieving what might be a larger fish at slower retrieval from deeper water? I will try and report when the time arises.According to this PDF from the DFG on barotrauma: https://nrm.dfg.ca.gov/FileHandler.ashx?DocumentID=36345
I have not had issues with barotrauma at inshore because most of my inshore fishing in a kayak is usually no more than 80 ft in places I frequent around the Monterey bay
Myth: Reeling a fish in slowly prevents barotrauma.
Fact: Rockfish cannot acclimate to the pressure drop even when reeled in slowly.
Meanwhile, salmon and trout have a "phystostomous" swim bladder. A physostomous swim bladder includes a duct attaching the swim bladder to the stomach. So when a salmon or trout is reeled up from depth, they can "burp" the expanding gas. That's why you don't see salmon blowing up with barotrauma even when reeled up from 200+ ft.