Super User everythingthatswims Posted May 25, 2015 Super User Posted May 25, 2015 My friend caught this largemouth today in a small river. The fish appeared to be in excellent shape, very fat and healthy, except for this huge sore in its side. It was about the diameter of a quarter, and appeared to go all the way through the fish, there was a lump on the opposite side of the fish's body from the sore. It has been a really off year at this particular river and I'm wondering if a disease has something to do with it. The lump was right on the lateral line of the fish, you can see some pieces of dead skin where the lump is. Quote
Super User F14A-B Posted May 25, 2015 Super User Posted May 25, 2015 Hmm, I wonder if that's a archery wound? Or perhaps a .22 wound.. Just a guess though. I don't know.. 1 Quote
Super User Catch and Grease Posted May 25, 2015 Super User Posted May 25, 2015 I was thinking the same thing, looks like he got shot/impaled with something then recovered. Quote
Super User flyfisher Posted May 25, 2015 Super User Posted May 25, 2015 he got hit by something for sure, just not sure what. Goes to show how resilient the fish are...and people worry about the slime coats lol 1 Quote
nixdorf Posted May 25, 2015 Posted May 25, 2015 It looks like a lamprey bite to me.X2lampreys give me the willies. Quote
Thornback Posted May 26, 2015 Posted May 26, 2015 Looks like a hickey from a lamprey. I would rule out a bullet, spear, or arrow because of the ulcer appearance, compared to a clean penetration. Yeah, a lamprey. Maybe someone caught the bass and disposed of the lamprey and later you caught the bass. Quote
Super User everythingthatswims Posted May 26, 2015 Author Super User Posted May 26, 2015 Looks like a hickey from a lamprey. I would rule out a bullet, spear, or arrow because of the ulcer appearance, compared to a clean penetration. Yeah, a lamprey. Maybe someone caught the bass and disposed of the lamprey and later you caught the bass. The giant (3' range) sea lampreys come into this river in the spring but I thought they didn't feed on a spawning run. One of them must have gotten hungry Quote
Super User Jar11591 Posted May 26, 2015 Super User Posted May 26, 2015 Lamprey bite by the looks of it Quote
Super User F14A-B Posted May 26, 2015 Super User Posted May 26, 2015 Man those things must have some serious teeth or sucker lips or something.. I've not had the displeasure of seeing one ( lamprey ) Quote
Super User RoLo Posted May 26, 2015 Super User Posted May 26, 2015 I don't know the source of your fish's wound, but I'm going with the consensus: Lamprey Eel Most pike I've caught that had sores made by lamprey eels were superficial wounds, and the eel was never present. The sores were elliptical in shape, and generally pink or straw in color: Though I've never seen a pike in advanced stages of infestation, the wound does takes on progressively greater depth with passing time: Roger 1 Quote
Super User F14A-B Posted May 26, 2015 Super User Posted May 26, 2015 Geez, those are some Viscious creatures, ouch.. 1 Quote
CRANKENSTIEN Posted May 26, 2015 Posted May 26, 2015 I'm not familiar with a lamprey bite But why would a bite show through to the other side. What if an arrow barely pushed to the opposite side and left an infected wound where it pulled out ? Quote
Super User Senko lover Posted May 26, 2015 Super User Posted May 26, 2015 Warning: Graphic content! lol those bites are nasty! 1 Quote
Bigchunk Posted May 27, 2015 Posted May 27, 2015 It looks like a lamprey bite to me. I second this Quote
Super User RoLo Posted May 27, 2015 Super User Posted May 27, 2015 I second this Actually, you're sixing it 1 Quote
Canyon explorer Posted May 28, 2015 Posted May 28, 2015 My daughter has a three acre pond on her property and I see wounds like this on two or three fish per year. One two pounder had a crooked back and could hardly swim. We found the culprit was a large heron that fed along the shore two or three days a week. I have seen him take large blue gill and bass up to 14-15". Those he cant swallow he drops on the bank and stabs . When the dogs are out he just moves across the lake. Quote
OntarioFishingGuy Posted June 3, 2015 Posted June 3, 2015 A lot of salmon and steelhead here have those marks, but they don't generally push out like that. Quote
Super User tomustang Posted June 3, 2015 Super User Posted June 3, 2015 Great, I just spent 10 minutes on google image search looking at lampreys, freaky 1 Quote
Turkey sandwich Posted June 5, 2015 Posted June 5, 2015 Lampreys are the stuff of nightmares, man, and that almost definitely looks like a lamprey left it's mark. Quote
Quebecbassangler Posted June 5, 2015 Posted June 5, 2015 I have caught many different species with similar markings,they are lamprey boring into the flesh of the fish to basically suck out their blood,we had a lamprey barrier put up here on pike river due to the (up to 2ft long)parasites which are non native to this area,doing a heck of a lot of damage to the native species But yes those are the marks,river vampires as we call em and they can and do some damage to all sorts of fish big and small(the bigger ones have a better chance of surviving as they won'y be bled dry before the sucker gets it's fill) Still nice bass though John Quote
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.