has anyone ever went on a collection charter?

[screwsloose]

i am still looking for a charter for this. if i find one that will do it i will post it here for anyone interested.

 

[fishome25]

I just got back from some collecting in florida. I went out on the lady go diver through dixie divers. They did not care about me collecting. However I did not bring up any fish due to fear of them not decompressing. I only collected inverts. Maybe someone (like Philter4 ) can explain how to safely bring up fish.

 

[screwsloose]

wouldnt the decompression stops for fish be similar to our own? i have never done it but i figured 2-3 5 minute stops every 20 feet or so would be suffice ?

 

[fishome25]

i wish. the fishes swim bladder will blow up like a balloon. I know people needle their fish. just wondering what others do.

 

[screwsloose]

seems like i read somewhere about decompressing african cichlids was done by leaving the collection baskets down and raising them so many feet per hour. not sure if its the same here or not.

 

[fishome25]

yea i read that too. but that just isn't going to happen on a dive boat.

 

[philter4]

There are tricks to bringing fish up that will work, I can bring a fish up from about 150 ft without it having to be needled, but that takes time and experience. The fish usually do fine up to the 15-20 ft mark, the last 20 ft are where I usually have the problems. If you are on your own boat, or a commercial collecting boat you just hang the fish. While diving in HI last oct I dove with commercial diver and we hung the fish for about 5 hours while we collected other fish and had surface intervals. While on a recreational charter you don't have that option. What I would do is leave the bottom early, (you are probably not diving too deep on a recreational charter, maybe 40-60 ft) and go to 20 ft wait there as long as you can, 10 to 15 mins if possible. Once you finish that you can get the fish to the boat and it may be bloated and having trouble staying down, but the swelling should not be fatal. At that poing give the fish some sort of support to stay underwater, for instance put it in a plastic jar with holes punched in it so there is circulation, but the fish can sit in the jar without having to work to stay underwater. This jar should be in your "live well" (FL law requires you have some sort of bucket with air flow, so use a 5 gal bucket with a battery operated pump while on the boat or in your car) until the fish no longer has trouble swimming, which usually is within an hour or two. This method has worked great for me while on recreational charters where I don't have time to hang the fish.

Some other things to remember, juv fish come up much better then adults of the same species, I've brought up juv angels from over 100 ft with me and they were fine, while on the same dive a half grown drum didn't survive the trip. It just takes experience, but unless you are going to needle a fish take only young from deeper then 40 ft and give everything as much of a safety stop at 10 to 20 ft and the boat captain will let you, for example of you are llimited to a 45 min bottom time by the charter consider starting to the surface at 30 mins so the fish have a good 15 mins at the safety stop. Another thing is the species of fish you are collecting, jawfish, hawkfish and blennies don't have swim bladders so they can come to the surface as fast as you can with no ill effects, but a deep water fish like a cherub angel is small, so the adults are small, which means they take a lot longer to surface then a baby queen angle would from the same depth.

 

[screwsloose]

great info philter. i am hoping things go well for you in the coming months and we can make a trip.