Dead Carcass In The Water?

[Heron]

Question...

 

Was fishing along the shoreline this morning, and came upon the decaying carcass of a large catfish floating in the shallows.  If it were alive, I would estimate its length to have been close to 30", if not a little over that.   Soon after leaving it, I came upon the odor......blahhh....and that odor carried for some distance.

 

So the question that occurred to me is this..

 

Does a large rotting carcass in the water, have any effect on the bass in that immediate area?  Or rather, does it attract the bass, repel them, or are they relatively unaffected by it? 

 

thx.

 

 

 

[Heron]

Not knowing any better, it certainly didnt seem productive at the time, to be trying to catch bass near a large catfish carcass.   So I relocated.   Couldnt take the smell much anymore either. 

[geo g]

 It could have died naturally or from a hook, that will drawn small bait fish, crawfish, turtles, tadpoles, and any other scavenger, looking for a easy meal.  That will draw bigger fish, and that will draw even bigger fish.  So don't run from the area!    Big fish die all the time from old age.  Now if there is twenty dead fish in an area, start the big engine and head out.

[everythingthatswims]

I usually find them with my nose before I find them with my eyes. Discovered a nice rotting beaver this summer via scent...YUCK!

[Jaderose]

I usually find them with my nose before I find them with my eyes. Discovered a nice rotting beaver this summer via scent...YUCK!

 

 

 

*Insert one of several off-color and fairly obvious jokes here*

[buzzed bait]

saw a 6.5lb largemouth floating dead this summer and that hurt to look at....  but no smell

[Sam]

Caucuses in the Water

Dead Fish - Will attract gar, catfish and turtles.  Bass are inquisitive so they may check it out but they don't eat dead fish.

Dead Bodies - If in Louisiana check it for crabs.  If there are crabs you can harvest them and put body back so you can come back for more crabs later that day or tomorrow.

[.ghoti.]

I saw the creepiest thing in the water a couple of years ago. Fishing with a buddy at Trophy Country, in Missouri. I'd spotted what looked like from a distance like a mostly submerged soccer ball. We fished all the way around a small cove before getting close enough to see what it was.

It was a small deer; maybe a year old or so, dead as old dad's hatband. It was suspended in the water, with the top of it's head just breaking the surface, and the completely intact body hanging straight down. It was bleached out to an almost pure white from head to toe.

Creeped me out. We left. Didn't catch any fish back in that area anyway.

[Sam]

.ghoti., on 19 Sept 2014 - 22:58, said:

I saw the creepiest thing in the water a couple of years ago. Fishing with a buddy at Trophy Country, in Missouri. I'd spotted what looked like from a distance like a mostly submerged soccer ball. We fished all the way around a small cove before getting close enough to see what it was.

It was a small deer; maybe a year old or so, dead as old dad's hatband. It was suspended in the water, with the top of it's head just breaking the surface, and the completely intact body hanging straight down. It was bleached out to an almost pure white from head to toe.

Creeped me out. We left. Didn't catch any fish back in that area anyway.

 

I guess you all don't have crabs in Missouri.

[*Hootie]

Saw a full grown dead deer last year on my lake. This past Spring I saw another full grown dead deer on the same lake. It smelled really bad.

The lake is in a county park. I contacted the authorities in the first case, and they told me that they couldn't bother it because it was considered to be a natural occurrence. Needless to say, the area stunk for a few weeks.

Hootie

[desmobob]

My buddy and I stumbled onto a very decayed deer carcass in the water one day and it totally freaked us both out... we could only see the rib cage and we both immediately thought it was a dead body (human type).  

 

I can't remember if we were catching any fish in the area before we noticed it....

 

Tight lines,

Bob

[geo g]

Several times I have smelled big dead gators floating at Loxahatchee.  They were probably hit by props in the shallow water.  You could smell it hundreds of yards away.

[bassh8er]

Saw a full grown dead deer last year on my lake. This past Spring I saw another full grown dead deer on the same lake. It smelled really bad.

The lake is in a county park. I contacted the authorities in the first case, and they told me that they couldn't bother it because it was considered to be a natural occurrence. Needless to say, the area stunk for a few weeks.

Hootie

We had a bad string of EHD here in the midwest 2 summers ago and lots of deer died, and most of them would head towards water towards the end.

[Jolly Green]

Caucuses in the Water

Dead Fish - Will attract gar, catfish and turtles.  Bass are inquisitive so they may check it out but they don't eat dead fish.

Dead Bodies - If in Louisiana check it for crabs.  If there are crabs you can harvest them and put body back so you can come back for more crabs later that day or tomorrow.

 

Reminds me of one of my favorite Onion headlines: Southerner Either Looking For 'Pawn Shop' or 'Porn Shop'