Not sure what I did wrong. Bass died!

[J Francho]

1 minute ago, WRB said:

How many weekend tournament or recreational bass fisherman maintain their livewell.....very few!

I used to do a yearly seminar on this for my club.  You can't get off the soap box for this one.

[Raul]

9 hours ago, Jonathan Ellingwood said:

Hi guys , I'm a 100 percent catch and release!! Last night I caught a bass and it was hooked through tongue. Tried to get it out with my hands no success.  So I put fish back in water had my wife hold pole while I ran inside to get pliers .  I was just fishing my back yard.  I finally got hook out and he didn't make it !! I am disgusted with my self! What did I do wrong ?  I never want this to happen again. 

Fishing is a blood sport and unlike hunting you can actually release your catch to be caught again hopefully by you when it weights 10 lbs more, but since it´s a blood sport stuff can happen every now and then, if a fish you caught dies and you feel bad about it then ---> get yourself another hobby, golf for example ( even though some bird or a chipmunk may be injured by a ball ) you say you are 100% catch and release, I´m going to ask you, can you demonstrate that 100% of those fish you caught and released are actually alive ? seeing them swim away doesn´t mean they survived.

The fish dies, bad luck, stuff happens ---> "Dear Mr/s dead bass meet Mrs. Frying Pan ! "

[A-Jay]

Fish long enough - we're going to kill a few sometimes despite our best efforts.  C & R is good and so is eating some ( just not fond of bass but do chow hard on a few others). 

 As for dead bass going to waste - most all of the habitats I'm fishing have a very health population of all kinds of "Dead Bass" eating critters; including but not limited to Eagles, Loons, Turtles, Catfish and I'm sure there's a few more I have listed.  So if & when I've release one and for whatever reason it ends up floating behind the boat, it's not long before it's chow for something.  And I bet they appreciate it too.

A-Jay 

[J Francho]

6 minutes ago, A-Jay said:

I'm sure there's a few more

Otters, fox, seagulls and herons are four more I've seen eating deceased bass.

[Jonathan Ellingwood]

Some of the tough guys in here make me laugh, again I'm new to fishing, and love it.  I never got to do this growing up. I dedicate all my time to baseball and boxing and then ended up in the Marine Corps and then became a PGA pro. I now am a tower crane operator and have seen how fishing is an amazing sport. I was just looking for some advice on how to not  to harm the fish.  I'm very happy for all the people that came out of the womb as professional anglers . For the rest thank you so much for your input. If it ever happens again wich I'm sure it will I guess I will have bass for the first time.

[J Francho]

Soak the fillets in buttermilk over night, and deep fry them in tempura or beer batter.

It goes down a little easier.

[blckshirt98]

1 hour ago, WRB said:

Bass can take more punishment than trout

Trout have got to be the wussiest fish around.  Those things die if you just breathe on them funny.

[iiTzChunky]

10 hours ago, scaleface said:

The bass died while it was under your wife's watch . Hmmm.  Dont leave bass alone with her anymore . Bass lives matter .

I'm gonna start making t shirts that say this. Gonna make a killing. 

[Caliyak]

14 hours ago, scaleface said:

The bass died while it was under your wife's watch . Hmmm.  Dont leave bass alone with her anymore . Bass lives matter .

LOL, can't stop laughing. 

5 hours ago, Jonathan Ellingwood said:

Some of the tough guys in here make me laugh, again I'm new to fishing, and love it.  I never got to do this growing up. I dedicate all my time to baseball and boxing and then ended up in the Marine Corps and then became a PGA pro. I now am a tower crane operator and have seen how fishing is an amazing sport. I was just looking for some advice on how to not  to harm the fish.  I'm very happy for all the people that came out of the womb as professional anglers . For the rest thank you so much for your input. If it ever happens again wich I'm sure it will I guess I will have bass for the first time.

Jon, in golf, I'm sure you have hit a bird, duck, car or home. Same thing. Accidents happen and we just move along. Don't let this one incident sour your fishing. Enjoy it and have fun. 

[Further North]

In order of importance:

1. You didn't do anything wrong.
2. Time out of the water is key. 
   • If you need to get a tool (like get your pliers) or make some other adjustment, put the fish back in the water. 
   • Imagine holding your breath for 90 seconds...that's the perspective that's important.
3. Crimp your barbs.  You'll lose some fish.  So what?  Unless you're fishing a tournament for money that's important to feeding your family...who cares? The ones you do catch will be way easier to unhook.
   • I target pike and muskie a lot. 
     • Most of them get released without ever coming in the boat.
     • Most can be released by grabbing the shank of the hook and rotating it out...without a net.
     • Most of the rest can be released by getting them in the net to get them in control...then doing the same.
   • If I can do this routinely with 25" - 50" fish weighing 15 to 25 pounds...anyone can do it with a bass.
4. You're gonna lose some.
   • Either eat 'em, or...
   • Give them to someone who will eat them, or...
   • Recognize that Ma Nature has a system for this.  Nothing goes to waste.

C&R has become a religion of sorts among fisherman...and like most religions, it suffers form occasional bouts of extremism.  Bass and musky fisherman seem to have the current grasp on that extremism. Don't let it get to you.

[Josh Smith]

23 hours ago, Rhino68W said:

Try to learn how to get those out. There is a good thread and video about this somewhere else on this forum. 

It was a smallish bass and a large hook. No room to work.

Josh

[GORDO]

On 8/22/2016 at 1:30 PM, Jonathan Ellingwood said:

Some of the tough guys in here make me laugh, again I'm new to fishing, and love it.  I never got to do this growing up. I dedicate all my time to baseball and boxing and then ended up in the Marine Corps and then became a PGA pro. I now am a tower crane operator and have seen how fishing is an amazing sport. I was just looking for some advice on how to not  to harm the fish.  I'm very happy for all the people that came out of the womb as professional anglers . For the rest thank you so much for your input. If it ever happens again wich I'm sure it will I guess I will have bass for the first time.

Thank you for your service. Glad you now see why we all love fishing! Killing a fish happens, it sucks but it does. With your mind state of handling the bass you will have a low mortality rate. Just do what you can!

[Spankey]

I've had it happen to me a couple of time also. I did not like it and also felt bad because I feel I handle fish as well as anybody. I don't play fish until exhaustion. It just happened. Both times it was while worm fishing. Not in the tongue, not hooked deep. I decided to clean them and give them away. Was ok with doing that. This is a good thread you started. Fish on. It might happen again someday and it will be easier to reason with. Move on, fish on.

Don't agree with livewell opinion. I have a good system that works.

[bayouXpress]

eat em!!

 

[N Florida Mike]

Just recently I set the hook on a bass near my dock area.He was a tiny 6 incher.He flew through the air and bonked off my kayak.When I went to release  him he was already dead.So I threw him back.Immediately,a catfish swam up and started eating him.A dead fish in the water never goes to waste.

I usually eat gut hooked bass.I carry a cooler and use it like a live well,since I mainly fish out of a 12 foot Jon boat.I watch a possibly injured fish for awhile.If they look OK I eventually release them.If they die they get filleted.As my dad used to say"Waste makes want"

[hunterPRO1]

It's one fish don't beat yourself up over it, imo just don't let the fish go to waste.

(I've eaten bass before, they taste good)

I release fish most of the time but sometimes I do fish for food (the entire reason that man came up with fishing) most of the bass I keep are between 2 and 5 lbs never any over 8 except one which was not going to make it anyway 

Those things happen, it's part of it.

 

[jesse.seybold]

for everyone saying that a fish is wasted if you dont take it home. It's not wasted regardless. I don't alwasy agree with catch and release. A decent culling is good for the eco system of ponds/ lakes. however now a days in ponds and small lakes people tend to fish them dry. A fish that dies on the water will be eaten, as that fish has eaten so many things in its time. Easy peezy nothing to worry about. I'm a catch and release guy too, however a fish dying isn't always a bad thing. Just like deer over population can cause stunted growth due to sufficient food in the habitat.

[Evan Lip Ripper]

On 8/22/2016 at 5:48 AM, Bluebasser86 said:

Fishing is a blood sport. I don't eat any fish I catch, yet I'm sure I'm responsible for the deaths of dozens of fish. I know I had one die on me fishing a small lake in my kayak 2 weeks ago. Wasn't hooked deep, wasn't bleeding, hook came out like normal and it swam off fine. 5 minutes later it was on it's side doing the death dance. The only bass I ever got mounted didn't make it because it was hooked deep. It happens from time to time, nothing you can do about it. Best thing is to have someone on standby to take a fish when they don't make it, at least they don't go to waste then. 

H

 

On 8/22/2016 at 5:48 AM, Bluebasser86 said:

Fishing is a blood sport. I don't eat any fish I catch, yet I'm sure I'm responsible for the deaths of dozens of fish. I know I had one die on me fishing a small lake in my kayak 2 weeks ago. Wasn't hooked deep, wasn't bleeding, hook came out like normal and it swam off fine. 5 minutes later it was on it's side doing the death dance. The only bass I ever got mounted didn't make it because it was hooked deep. It happens from time to time, nothing you can do about it. Best thing is to have someone on standby to take a fish when they don't make it, at least they don't go to waste then. 

Was it hooked on the mouth? Deep in the mouth? I don't mean in the gullet.

[Bluebasser86]

8 minutes ago, Evan Lip Ripper said:

H

 

Was it hooked on the mouth? Deep in the mouth? I don't mean in the gullet.

Correct, not in the gullet, but pretty far back.

[Evan Lip Ripper]

42 minutes ago, Bluebasser86 said:

Correct, not in the gullet, but pretty far back.

Maybe it hit the brain pan.

[Bluebasser86]

5 hours ago, Evan Lip Ripper said:

Maybe it hit the brain pan.

That's what I was guessing but it's only happened to little fish forme, never a big one like the OP is asking about. 

[BassNJake]

On 8/22/2016 at 0:14 PM, Josh Smith said:

I lost one for years ago. I gut hooked it on a Mann's Jelly Worm Texas rig. I tried to remove the hook and killed the fish. Now, I leave the hook I'd it's not in the lip.

Josh

I was pond fishing and gut hooked a smaller bass on a line thru swimbait. Since I dont eat fish, I left it for the turtles to eat.

When I went back the next day there was a half eaten bass and feathers everywhere. After I searched around a little more I found a dead bird of prey( my guess is a hawk) and my treble hook was caught in the beak and neck. I'm guessing all the feathers were from the last moments of that birds life struggling to remove my hook that killed 2 animals.

 

Now, if I cant get the hook out. I'll keep the fish.

[RPreeb]

On 8/22/2016 at 2:30 PM, Jonathan Ellingwood said:

Some of the tough guys in here make me laugh, again I'm new to fishing, and love it.  I never got to do this growing up. I dedicate all my time to baseball and boxing and then ended up in the Marine Corps and then became a PGA pro. I now am a tower crane operator and have seen how fishing is an amazing sport. I was just looking for some advice on how to not  to harm the fish.  I'm very happy for all the people that came out of the womb as professional anglers . For the rest thank you so much for your input. If it ever happens again wich I'm sure it will I guess I will have bass for the first time.

 

I'm a golfer too, as well as a recently refreshed angler (just trying to get back into some bass fishing after a 50 year hiatus), and I don't like killing them either, unless the intent is to fry them.  However, it's going to happen from time to time and there really isn't anything you can do about it but accept it if you want to keep on fishing.  I once killed a killdeer playing golf (low screaming thinned 3W), and I've hit geese several times, so that's not a guarantee either.  

 

Bass fillets, seasoned, battered and deep fried and served with tartar sauce really don't taste much different from any other deep fried fish.  Yeah, they aren't as tasty as walleye, but then what freshwater fish is? 

[flg2010]

I always say be extra careful with pre season bass.... at least where I am if DEP officers see it dead.. your liikely getting a summons.

 

 

[Dixie Chicken]

WOW now THIS is a classic 'thread revival'.

 

We also do C&R, but I gotta' say that if it's injured, like gut hooked for instance..... that puppy is going in the pan. My wife gut hooked a hybrid on our first outing this year, it wasn't big enough to keep, but it was a goner no matter. Put that puppy in the livewell and ended up making a couple little fillets out of it. Those puppies were taaaaa-ssssteeeee.

 

I agree with the other post however in that it's responsible to the ecosystem to actually remove fish from it. Same reason why there is a gator season, deer season, ducks, you name it. I don't hunt, although I have in the past. Just don't like the taste of deer, (other than the back strap). We have a creek out back and a deer stand down there, with plenty of deer every year. Love to look at them, just not hunting them.

 

Fishing however, I just love fish. I'll eat fish, pretty much any kind of fish. Thing is, as far as sport fishing we got busy raising kids and haven't done any real fishing for 30 years. We've rented houses at the lake and done a little here and there, but I don't like to bank fish, ergo I just didn't fish. By my wife's directions last year however "you need a four wheel drive truck to pull that bass boat you've always wanted", so in order to make sure she was happy, I went out and found us one!  After losing her folks back-to-back she realized that time is short, and the happiest times in her life were when she was on the lake with her Daddy.... fishing. (Did the same with mine, for decades. So we just did it, and should have YEARS ago!)

 

This year has been more than awesome. Much, much, MUCH more than awesome..... just getting out on the lake and going back to doing what our dads brought us up doing.... fishing.

 

Oddly enough, speaking of 'in season'; non venomous snakes are off limits no matter what the season around here. Although when I look on my front porch and there's a 6' rat snake, that puppy better go hide before I get my machete! And no, we don't live in the sticks.... actually it's a large lot subdivision, but this boy feels like a big snake needs to stay in snakeville, and NOT on my porch or in my garage. OTOH, not once, but TWICE there has been a copperhead in our garage!

And TWICE they've left the garage in many more pieces than whence they came.