Can I release crappie pulled up from deep water or deep ice holes?

Be honest with yourself about depth. Crappie cannot vent gas quickly, so a fish reeled up from beyond roughly 9 m (30 ft) arrives with an over-expanded swim bladder — bulging eyes, a bloated belly, sometimes the gut pushed into the throat — and released fish often cannot swim back down; under the ice they die unseen beneath the hole. Fizzing (venting with a needle) exists but is easy to do wrong. The cleaner ethic, common in deep winter basins from the US north through Canada: treat deep-caught crappie as keepers within your limit, and if you want to release fish, fish shallower than that line in the first place.

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