Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, January 2, 1992 TAG: 9201020057
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Bill Cochran
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
A LITTLE SHOT KEEPS BIG BASS ALIVE
Melissa Boucher is a bass fishing guide from Midlothian and the state director of Bass Anglers Against Drugs, so what's the hypodermic needle doing in her tackle box?We will give her a chance to explain; but, first let's talk about the huge largemouth bass she caught recently at Gaston Lake.
Boucher was guiding Jeff Edwards, a 14-year old from Goochland. Edwards wanted to catch some striped bass, so Boucher was trolling Red Fin plugs along creek channels.
On 10-pound line, she figured the lures were reaching a depth of just over 20 feet.
While stripers were the target, largemouth bass were striking the lures. Edwards reeled in several 2- to 3-pounders.
About 4 p.m., Boucher dedided to troll into Jimmies Creek, near the dam, where the locals had reported catching trophy largemouths that dipped the scales to 8, 9 and 10 pounds.
She was following the channel, the boat over 38 feet of water, the lures running about 22 feet deep, when a fish smashed her deep-diving, black and white Red Fin. It was a 12-pound, 2-ounce largemouth, the largest for the species registered with the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries in 1991.
Just before dark, a second trophy-size fish struck.
"I knew it wasn't a striper hit," said Boucher. "The line didn't start stripping. I handed the rod to Jeff. I said, `Jeff, this is another good bass! Keep the rod tip up!'
"He worked it well until he got the fish within about five feet of the boat, and he lowered the rod tip just enough to give some slack in the line and the fish threw the hook."
Wouldn't it be neat, thought Boucher, if she could keep her fish alive for the Bassarama in Richmond, January 24-26. She and her husband, Mike, also a guide, would have a booth at the annual tackle show.
She hurried home with the fish finning about in her boat's livewell. Five minutes from her house she had a flat. The Henrico County Police helped her change tires, and she got the fish into a 200-gallon tank that she and Mike keep on their back porch. It was alive.
Big fish stress easily. Their eyes can turn cloudy and they can have difficulty remaining upright. Boucher watched her fish with concern. When it listed to one side, she began calling biologists in Virginia, Texas and California, asking what to do.
Dennis Lee, a California biologist, recommended the new technique of using a needle to puncture the fish's air bladder. That would relieve pressure and enable the bass to stay submerged and upright with less effort and stress, he said. It is a technique that is becoming widely used in California by serious bass anglers.
"Basically, they say that a fish that comes from deep water will have the same problems that a scuba diver does when he comes up too quickly," said Boucher. "That occurs when a fish becomes acclimated to deep water and they are brought to the surface faster than they can adjust to the changes in the water pressure."
Mike got a needle, inserted it into the lower abdomen of the fish and released the pressure.
"That air bladder actually sunk in, and in just a matter of a couple of minutes the bass turned upright and started swimming," said Boucher.
The Bouchers kept the bass for 13 days, then decided that holding her until late January was asking too much. They knew additional stress would occur when the fish was moved from their tank to the Bassarama.
So Melissa Boucher carried the bass back to Gaston and released it at the catch site.
"She took right off. I watched for a few minutes to see if anything was going to happen. Not a thing."