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By general consensus, a gassed-up pike is
one that, instead of swimming off underwater when returned
after capture, swims just under the surface and attempts to
dive. Sometimes it fails to dive and then starts to wallow on
the surface. This may be so bad that the pike rolls over onto
its back. At this stage it is clear that the pike is in
trouble. There appear to be two types of 'gassing-up'; one in
which the pike appears very obviously inflated, and a second
where the pike is simply unable to maintain its equilibrium
and remain upright.
'Gassed-up' pike are often associated with
deep water venues, where pike are caught close to the bottom
and raised quite quickly to the surface. Anglers have reported
seeing pike coming up from deep water emitting bubbles from
their mouths, which suggests that pike can release excess gas
from their swim bladders if they need to, but perhaps under
some circumstances they are unable to do this and become
'gassed-up'.
'Gassed-up' pike caught from shallow waters
are more likely to be the result of exhaustion and the
build-up of lactic acid as a consequence of the energetic
and/or prolonged fight. The problem with lactic acid is that
lots of it can in fact be dangerous, affecting the chemical
balance of the exercised fish. Some anglers have released pike
only to see them swim out a few yards and roll on their side
on the bottom. Clearly these pike have not been 'gassed-up',
but over tired. For a pike which has been over-exercised by
someone trying to land it using light gear, a period of
recovery is required. A period when plenty of oxygen is
essential.
Keeping the pike out of the water too long,
and high marginal water temperatures with low oxygen levels
can increase the problem. It seems likely that the two
phenomena of lactic acid build up and excess gas could be
connected. Dr Bruno Broughton suspects that the act of playing
a pike, especially if the fight is hard, can cause a
malfunction of the duct between the swim bladder and the
foregut, although quite how this occurs is open to conjecture.
The key to avoid pike 'gassing up' in the
first place seems to be to use tackle which will land pike
quickly. A mimimum15lb line and rods with test curves between
2.5lb and 3.5lb will ensure that no pike should take longer
than ten minutes to land. Don't play your fish for longer than
necessary. Don't keep the fish out of the water for more than
a couple of minutes otherwise you may have a fatality on your
hands. Rest it in the landing net in-between unhooking and
photography. Then get it back quickly. Six photos is more than
enough for anyone!
If you should be so unlucky to have a pike
in difficulty you need to find shallow, sheltered piece of
water and stake the fish out using all your rod rests, or
anything you can beg or borrow to form a 'cradle' to keep the
pike upright, then simply leave it alone for as long as it
takes the fish to recover. This might be minutes or hours, but
the more you mess the pike about the worse things will get. If
you can find an area of oxygenated current, such as an
incoming stream, place the pike in this area facing into the
flow.
Various ideas have been suggested regarding
releasing excess gas from the swim bladder. Indeed the
Americans have had some success using a syringe to remove gas
from the swim bladders of walleye. Unfortunately, this is a
skilled technique which we don't recommend untrained anglers
to attempt. Some anglers have reported some success in
releasing gas by holding back the gullet wall with a landing
net handle. Others recommend bending the fish to force gas
out. However, all these techniques seem risky and uncertain -
but in extreme cases they might be worth trying. A staked out
fish, once it has metabolised its excess lactic acid should be
able to rectify the balance of gas in its swim bladder, keep
itself upright and swim strongly away.
This page has been
compiled from material which first appeared in the February
2002 edition of Pikelines by Neville Fickling, Geoff
Parkinson and Bruno Broughton.
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Slip
both sling and fish into the water and ease the pike out into
its natural element.
Better still drop
the anchor to make boating the pike easier and reduce the length
of time it will be played for. Always keep pike away from anchor
ropes, strong sound tackle and a firm hand is essential for
this.
Anglers with
a lot of boat fishing experience often prefer to keep their fish
held off the deck at all times as pike often start flapping
about when laid on a mat. On the bank you have more freedom to
kneel astride pike to calm them down, in a cramped boat this
course of action is not always practical.