I Feel HORRIBLE!

[dickenscpa]

Took my son to Davis Corner Saturday afternoon about 4PM. We were getting skunked. At 6:30 I told him that if we didn't boat one by 7PM we were going home.

I changed over to a rattle trap, I had thrown everything else in the boat. At 6:37 I landed a 3lb'er. He absolutely swallowed it. First thing I noticed when I got it in the boat was a lot of blood coming from it's mouth.

It was sideways in his mouth a protruding both gills outward. Two treble hooks and all six hooks stuck in something. I kept pulling him thru the water to keep him aired up and I cut my line. All hooks that went completely thru, I cut the barbs off.

There was too much damage. He died. It was the first bass I've killed in probably the last 15 years. Wasn't gonna leave him floating so I put him on ice, took him home and fileted him. Don't like to eat bass, but hate wasting worse.

After fileting, I had to split his head to get the lure out. Since I don't fish for money, I think I might cut all barbs off my hooks. If I lose a fish, no biggie. Getting good bites is just as thrilling to me.

May leave the barbs on single hook lures only. Like T-rig or spinner bait. Lures with multiple trb hooks are just too much trouble and too dangerous for the fish for an ole recreational fisherman like me.

Brad

[Saltwaterwalt]

I think you're a bit hard on yourself Brad. It's not like bass are an endangered specie. Eating one once in awhile sure won't hurt the resource. I C&R bass and target crappie/bream/cats for supper. But a legal size 'won't make it' bass is going in the frying pan and will be enjoyed. Keep you barbs and keep landing those fish.

[nofish]

Nobody likes for that to happen, but i think that might be a little overkill. If your ok with catching less fish just squeeze your barbs down. When i started reading this i thought it was going to end with your kid got a hook in his face or something to that effect. When you throw a hook on a line that's attached to a pole in the water that will happen every now and then.

[dickenscpa]

Originally Posted by Saltwaterwalt

I think you're a bit hard on yourself Brad. It's not like bass are an endangered specie. Eating one once in awhile sure won't hurt the resource. I C&R bass and target crappie/bream/cats for supper. But a legal size 'won't make it' bass is going in the frying pan and will be enjoyed. Keep you barbs and keep landing those fish.

Thanks for the kind words. The reason it bothered me so much is I don't like the taste of bass. I prefer crappie or bluegill so bass is strictly a C&R fish for me.

But, since I killed it, I felt it was the right thing to do to eat it.

I actually have trouble unhooking any fish with more than one treble hook. I'm 40 and fished all my life, if I haven't got the hang of it by now I need to give up. LOL!

Brad

[Reel Tune]

I know where your coming from, and it does feel bad. It's an isolated incident, and it happens.

[jad2t]

So you feel horrible about eating a bass? Come on man. Bass are delicious and as long as you aren't violating any of TWRA regulations, enjoy the healthy meal. I feel horrible when this happens to a bass that's too small to take home and eat, or of any species that's too small to take home and eat for that matter.

Come on peeps, Really? if you feel that bad then maybe you do not need to be fishing! I mean think about it, every time you rare back and set the hook on a fish that you plan on C&R you are still causing damage to that fish and yes sometimes they die! So if you do not want to harm any fish and take the chance that they may die, then I would sugest you find another hobby that is not sooooo horrible! If you do not want to eat it then leave it for the turtles! I am sure that they would be very thankful! Just saying!

[bd-]

Sometimes fish die. That much is unavoidable. I think it's good to be conscientious and try not to kill fish you're not going to eat. But it happens.

I wouldn't worry about making the trebles barbless though. When a fish takes a hook in the gills and is losing a lot of blood, it's usually a fatal wound. I say "usually" - every once in a while fish will survive even a serious gill wound, but most of the time they will die. Making the hooks barbless might make them easier to remove, but usually once the hook tears into the gill, the fish loses so much blood that it's not going to survive.

Treble hooks kind of stink for that reason - the way they hook a fish drastically increases the odds of a hook in the gills. You'll gill hook more fish with a crankbait or an in-line spinner than you will with a single-hook lure like a spinnerbait or plastic worm. But again, that's just part of it - you couldn't exactly make a single-hook crankbait that works well.

One other thought - I don't think there's any point in cutting a line and letting a fish go with a crankbait deep inside its mouth. People claim hooks "rust out," but I have serious doubts that a pair of trebles would rust out fast enough for the fish to survive the experience.

bd

[Saltwaterwalt]

Originally Posted by bd-

Sometimes fish die. That much is unavoidable. I think it's good to be conscientious and try not to kill fish you're not going to eat. But it happens.

I wouldn't worry about making the trebles barbless though. When a fish takes a hook in the gills and is losing a lot of blood, it's usually a fatal wound. I say "usually" - every once in a while fish will survive even a serious gill wound, but most of the time they will die. Making the hooks barbless might make them easier to remove, but usually once the hook tears into the gill, the fish loses so much blood that it's not going to survive.

Treble hooks kind of stink for that reason - the way they hook a fish drastically increases the odds of a hook in the gills. You'll gill hook more fish with a crankbait or an in-line spinner than you will with a single-hook lure like a spinnerbait or plastic worm. But again, that's just part of it - you couldn't exactly make a single-hook crankbait that works well.

One other thought - I don't think there's any point in cutting a line and letting a fish go with a crankbait deep inside its mouth. People claim hooks "rust out," but I have serious doubts that a pair of trebles would rust out fast enough for the fish to survive the experience.

bd

Yeah, I think that got carried over from the saltwater guys (that be me occassionally) to freshwater. Saltwater would corrode a hook pretty quick, but even that has changed with all the new platings available. I'm also a scuba diver and I can tell you I've found many a crankbait in Dale Hollow that had been down there a long time, and the hooks were just fine...they only rust when you bring them back up and let the air hit them.