Has This Ever Happened To You?

[Christian M]

Last week I was fishing a local reservoir around 6pm. The Bass weren't biting & I only had a short amount of time to fish. I decided to move into the standing timber and start tossing a roadrunner on my ultralight. I hooked into about my fifth bluegill when my rod doubled over and my drag started peeling. I thought the bluegill had wrapped itself around a tree, but as I got the fish closer to the boat, I saw a massive Largemouth. I got the fish right up to the side of the boat, but when the Bass saw me, it shook its head and spit the bluegill out. Judging by the size of the bluegill that it swallowed, and the look I got of it in the water, I estimated it at around 8#s. I've caught 6# bass out of this reservoir before, but this was the biggest bass I'd ever seen in this lake.

 

I've only ever seen this happen one time on TV, have any of you guys ever had this happen & did you land the fish??

[Jar11591]

Just recently I was reeling in a bass about 5" long, and a big largemouth (probably 4-5 pounds) grabbed it right off my hook and swam away. I was shocked. I wanted to catch that big one.

[notevenanibble]

a few weeks ago while fly fishing, i was landing a 6" rainbow and one of the largest rainbows i've seen came out and took three swipes at him.  my guess it was a territorial move more than an act of hunger in this case.  

[EmersonFish]

That's one of those things I hear about a lot that I think is bound to happen eventually, but it hasn't happened yet. Closest I've come is reeling in a tuna on a saltwater boat and a shark eating it.

[ColdSVT]

Friday i had a 4.95 largie puke up a 7-8inch bluegillin my livewell

Ive had muskie steal my fish before, and once i released a small sunfish that ate my jig only to have a big smallie come flying out of nowhere and eat it

Ive also had a shark take away a tarpon...the tarpon was in the 120lb range...the shark was a hammerhead

[everythingthatswims]

I have landed multiple bass up to 8lbs that eat fish I am reeling in, I used to do a ton of ultralight fishing. My favorite time was when I  was about 10 years old, had a #10 light wire hook on 4lb test under a bobber, bluegill fishing, reeling in a little sunfish, my friend says "wouldn't it be funny if a big bass ate that thing"-WHAM! Somehow the bass sucked the hook out of the bluegill's mouth, the hook went through her gills, and hung around the gill plate, not even hooked. That fish was 5-6lbs. If you catch crappies near a beaver hut in the summer, there IS a big one in the area, I have had tons of them try to eat crappies while I am reeling them in. 

[Bluebasser86]

I've had it happen several times with bluegills, crappie, and smaller bass. Best solution I've found is to start fishing swimbaits that mimic whatever fish it was that the big bass was trying to eat

[Bankbeater]

Last year I took my daughter out to catch some bluegill.  While I was reeling one in a largemouth swallowed it.  A couple of seconds later the bass opened up its mouth and spit out the bluegill out.

[Christian M]

Friday i had a 4.95 largie puke up a 7-8inch bluegillin my livewell

Ive had muskie steal my fish before, and once i released a small sunfish that ate my jig only to have a big smallie come flying out of nowhere and eat it

Ive also had a shark take away a tarpon...the tarpon was in the 120lb range...the shark was a hammerhead

I've seen hammerheads chase & take tarpon plenty of times. IMHO I think this is something that happens much more frequently in salt water rather than fresh water. Either way its biter sweet lol...

[Christian M]

I've had it happen several times with bluegills, crappie, and smaller bass. Best solution I've found is to start fishing swimbaits that mimic whatever fish it was that the big bass was trying to eat

That was my exact thought after it happened! I went into my swimbait box and tied on the biggest sunfish swimbait I had...no luck though

[Hyrule Bass]

one day i was fishing a pond with a rebel crickhopper. i was distracted and watching the cars go by on the highway there and not paying attention while slow reeling the crickhopper. feel jerking and look back to what im doing. a small 4in bluegill had got hooked by the rear treble. i was like dang i dont even wanna take that little fish off, maybe it can free himself(i was being very lazy that day lol). so i let it jerk for about 15 seconds trying to free itself. the water was real clear and it was close to the bank too. out of nowhere, actually out from under a floating patch of algae on the bank comes a bass and it just goes ballistic on this bluegill that i have hooked. it picked up the bluegill in its mouth tail first and tail walked out of the water. i was watching in awe, the bass re-entered the water after the tail walk and started swimming out toward deeper water. my line tightened and the bass turned around and jumped out of the water straight at me, i saw the bluegills head barely sticking out of its mouth, for some reason at this point, bass in midair fully out of the water, i swung for the sky, saw the bluegill go down the basses throat and my crickhoppers rear treble caught the bass in the lip. a few seconds later i had a 4.5lb bass on the bank, and got to view an amazing show in nature. that made the day for me. and it turned the bass on. before that i wasnt catching anything with other lures, i put on the crickhopper just so i could catch some of the nice bluegill in that pond and maybe get a bass too, i got both at once

[Sam]

Not me but a buddy of mine and I were fishing when he used a live bluegill and nailed a big one.

 

She got to the boat; looked my friend squarely in the eye; and spit out the bluegill.

 

She really tore up that bluegill, too.

[RipzLipz]

Yes, has happened to me and my fishing partners several times. The old coal pits i fish are all reclaimed and do not have the typical reservoir shad-based forage - bluegill, small crappie and bass are primary forage with fins.

Not everyone's cup of tea, but if your regulations allow it and you really want to go after a large fish, catch some smaller gills for bait, get a shiner or large circle hook and either a balloon or larger foam bobber (adjustable with pegs or slip float variety). Hook the gill through the lips or just behind the dorsal fin, toss it out and see what happens. Try not to wait too long before setting the hook to avoid the gill getting swallowed too deeply. Might take a few times to get the timing down right. Let the toads go to fight another day if you get into any of them.

In my home state, we are allowed to catch and use panfish as bait, but you cannot transport what you catch to another lake to use for bait. Use them where you catch them.

[everythingthatswims]

Yes, has happened to me and my fishing partners several times. The old coal pits i fish are all reclaimed and do not have the typical reservoir shad-based forage - bluegill, small crappie and bass are primary forage with fins.

Not everyone's cup of tea, but if your regulations allow it and you really want to go after a large fish, catch some smaller gills for bait, get a shiner or large circle hook and either a balloon or larger foam bobber (adjustable with pegs or slip float variety). Hook the gill through the lips or just behind the dorsal fin, toss it out and see what happens. Try not to wait too long before setting the hook to avoid the gill getting swallowed too deeply. Might take a few times to get the timing down right. Let the toads go to fight another day if you get into any of them.

In my home state, we are allowed to catch and use panfish as bait, but you cannot transport what you catch to another lake to use for bait. Use them where you catch them.

Circle Hooks for live bait!

[ColdSVT]

I've seen hammerheads chase & take tarpon plenty of times. IMHO I think this is something that happens much more frequently in salt water rather than fresh water. Either way its biter sweet lol...

Indeed!

Ive lost fish in salt to dolphin, sharks, porpise, jew fish, a d**n albatross, and a few others lol,