Air bladder Crappie

[FishMan]

I tend to release the majority of the fish I catch. A technique I've been using lately to get air bladder inflated fish to survive without fizzing them, is something I used to do in the saltwater. I have a short bass poll with a 3oz lead weight, and a light wire crappie hook bent "almost" straight. Poke the hook in soft spot of mount and slowly "deploy" the fish to the bottom.  1-2 good pops and he's off and will stay down without issues. This week, every fish we released swam down instantly, however we kept 4 in the Livewell for about 30 minutes to get a "group" photo...those fish were alive, but couldn't dive. Sent them back with the "Deploy" method and they all stayed down without issues. Good luck and share if you have a different technique.

[OneBlade]

This is a great tip Tommy and worked well, thanks for sharing. I need to have that extra pole setup with that weight ahead of time.