A Little Worried About My Lake!

["BRB"]

I caught this bass today at my local lake. It looks like one of small bass you would get in a overstock pond, but if it was healthy it would of been a 3 + lber. I was wondering if anyone esle have ever caught one like this and what should I have done? The picture doesn't give it any justice it look extremely bad!! I didn't release it back. I was afraid it might had something that could be spread. I did catch two more on that spot that look fine.

[BennyB]

That is one skinny Largemouth, either sick or couldn't find food properly? I have never caught a fish that emaciated

[WRB]

The bass is blind in the eye facing the camera and is starving, did it favor!

Tom

[Koofy Smacker]

The bass is blind in the eye facing the camera and is starving, did it favor!

Tom

If it ate his lure its obviously not starving from loss of eyesight. I have caught many healthy bass either missing eyes or having them completely glazed over. Plus it doesnt look that way to me in the picture.

 

To the OP, I have caught several fish that look exactly like that, some with sores as well, on all different waterways. My guess is that its some disease, but if it was able to be spread and kill a lake we would already know about it.

[ChrisAW]

Cut it open, and I bet you find a piece of plastic lodged in its digestive track.

[Grizzn N Bassin]

ive caught one before they are funky looking!

[wademaster1]

It's eye looks a little abnormal to me as well....I've also caught healthy fish with less than perfect but I've also caught one eyed bass that were clearly struggling to feed normally for its size...

["BRB"]

Cut it open, and I bet you find a piece of plastic lodged in its digestive track.

I look down his throat but didn't see nothing. I do whish i would have cut him open it see. He hit a top water spook, so maybe his was blind they both look like the one on camera.

[drew4779]

I agree with chrisaw...bet a lure is obstructing it. I've seen this many times before.

[WRB]

If the other eye socket was less the eye ball, the fish was blind and used it's lateral line to detect your top water and somehow managed to get the lure in it's mouth. From the loss of body mass live prey has eluded this bass a very high percentage of the time. Survival of the fittest, this bass was starving to death.

Tom

[QUAKEnSHAKE]

I think I caught its cousin last week

Thought it wierd as well a couple others from same lake had big bellies didnt dawn on me to check it over though. Was caught dragging lure over slop had couple misses so yeah if blind it might just be striking like WRB said.

 

[Hattrick7]

Holy moly that fish doesn't look good.

[Bluebasser86]

I agree that if you'd cut that fish open it's probably got at least a couple plastics blocking it up. Plastic baits discarded in the lake will at times get eaten by a fish and then swell up several times their normal size and become almost impossible for the fish to pass, starving it to death very slowly. You probably did the fish a favor and sped up it's ending. 

[jessejames556]

I agree with the soft plastic digestive block theory.. I've read about that before...as far as my suggestion for what should you have done/should do: remind your fellow fishermen whenever you can that any litter on their outings can be destructive.

[Bluebasser86]

Here's a good article about bass eating discarded plastics.

http://www.bassresource.com/fish_biology/skinny-fish.html

[ww2farmer]

I wouldn't lose any sleep over it. Unless every fish you catch looks like that. Fish populations are like anything else, there's always a few scrawny sickly looking ones. They don't live forever you know.

[J Francho]

Cut it open, and I bet you find a piece of plastic lodged in its digestive track.

 

Or a hook....

[indianabasshunter]

I have caught the same fish on two different ocassions that looked very similiar to the one you have pictured. I caught her in 2012 during a night tournament and she weighed 2.98lbs. I caught the same fish again in 2013 during a club tournament on the same lake in the same cove and she weighed 3.23lbs. There was no mistaking this fish for another as the body and mouth were both deformed in a very distinctive way. During the night tourney she was caught on top water and during the club tourney she was caught on soft plastics. Comparing its length to other bass that I have caught out of the same lake it should have weighed 4.5-5lbs. My fist fit in her mouth. Needless to say, I'm glad she lived through the day/night in the livewell as well as the weigh in and look forward to catching the same fish again.

["BRB"]

I have caught the same fish on two different ocassions that looked very similiar to the one you have pictured. I caught her in 2012 during a night tournament and she weighed 2.98lbs. I caught the same fish again in 2013 during a club tournament on the same lake in the same cove and she weighed 3.23lbs. There was no mistaking this fish for another as the body and mouth were both deformed in a very distinctive way. During the night tourney she was caught on top water and during the club tourney she was caught on soft plastics. Comparing its length to other bass that I have caught out of the same lake it should have weighed 4.5-5lbs. My fist fit in her mouth. Needless to say, I'm glad she lived through the day/night in the livewell as well as the weigh in and look forward to catching the same fish again.

I guess that one might have lived sence yours did, but I figured it was in such bad shape I put it out of his mysteries.