Tongue hooked a fish, TONS of blood

[Glenn]

There's a main artery in the tongue that goes down the throat.  You can hook a fish in the tongue and miss it, and the fish will be fine.  But if you hit it, game over.

 

This exactly the same reason why I never advocate fizzing a bass through the mouth. It's extremely risky because that artery is right next to where you put the needle in the throat. One wrong move, and you go from saving a fish, to eating him.

 

[MIbassyaker]

It's going to happen. Try to avoid it, do the best you can...if nothing else, harvest or just let it return to the bottom of the food chain.  Plenty of critters will make use of a free meal. 

 

If killing a fish here and there weighs on your conscience -- and that's OK...it means you are fundamentally a good person -- then compensate for what you've taken by giving something back:  Make a small contribution to the conservation fund of your choice.

[Bird]

All my tongue hooked bass show up later on the surface, never immediately.......it always bothers me though. 

[Evan Lip Ripper]

On 3/16/2020 at 8:56 PM, Bird said:

All my tongue hooked bass show up later on the surface, never immediately.......it always bothers me though. 

It sucks for sure, practically nothing you can do once their tongue hooked. But I’ve probably caught more tongue hooked fish that didn’t even bleed a speck. Like I don't understand?

[ETPH]

Unfortunately a tongue or gill hooked fish that "swims off no worse for wear" is dead 99% of the time within a couple of hours. Fishing is still a blood sport and incidents like this are unavoidable. Take him home next time!

[geo g]

Glad to see so many are concerned about the life of a bass.  It does say a lot about the future of our sport!  Congrats guys!

[Guitarfish]

A couple of things...

 

- What is 'fizzing'?

- Bass taste like dirt to me.

- Why do we still see bass being jerked into boats and bounced on decks?

[Hillbilly Bennett]

Something I’ve picked up over my fishing lifespan is that any carbonated soda will actually help slow/stop bleeding in people and in fish. Next time you gill or tongue hook one try pouring a little of your favorite carbonated beverage on it. It will help. 

[jbrew73]

I’ve heard tongue hooked fish taste really good with cornbread.

[Big Al 1970]

I tongue hooked a 13” Smallmouth Bass yesterday I couldn’t get the hook out so I left it in and threw it back in the water it swam away.

[Cbump]

On 3/16/2020 at 8:59 PM, Evan Lip Ripper said:

I’ve tongue hooked some bass and some of them didn’t bleed a speck of blood and swam off fine. Anyone else?

Old post I know but yes. I tongue hooked one in tournament. No blood. Thought It was a goner based on the interwebs. 5 hours later at weigh in, fish was still fine in the well. Released no problem. 

[Dan N]

Nothing wrong with eating a bass that’s gonna die anyways. Heck nothing wrong with eating a few here and there period. 
most guys that say bass aren’t good to eat, never ate one. They are great breaded and fried from my experience.  I don’t keep any over 15-16”.  Gotta be 14 to keep in Wisconsin.  12-13” would be ideal I would think.

[PressuredFishing]

I realized if crappie populations can take the pounding of catch2eat anglers heavily, bass will be fine

[scaleface]

1 hour ago, Dan N said:

 I don’t keep any over 15-16”.  Gotta be 14 to keep in Wisconsin.  12-13” would be ideal I would think.

Yeah . There are a lot of lakes with 12 to 15 inch slot limits around here . I dont like keeping the bass greater than 15 inches and 6 of those 11 inchers isnt enough to feed the three of us . I want to eat a few of those 12 to 15 inchers . 

 

Had a badly hooked bass yesterday , bleeding profusely . I was able to go through the gill with needle nose pliers , twist and reverse the hook . then go through the mouth and remove it . I doubt it survived . 

[geo g]

Those things happen once in a while.  Throw it back and if it doesn’t make it, it feeds the food chain.  It won’t go to waste!

[Kirtley Howe]

On 1/21/2018 at 10:41 PM, TnRiver46 said:

I've heard some people say a soft drink poured on the gills will coagulate the blood quickly? Don't know if it's true 

That is BS...and adding a foreign substance to fish gills is a bad idea.

 

[TnRiver46]

7 minutes ago, Kirt Howe said:

That is BS...and adding a foreign substance to fish gills is a bad idea.

 

??? Not sure what happened here. I think I’ve been framed 

[dodgeguy]

I've heard 7 up stops the bleeding. I've also pulled them behind my rowboat slowly and the bleeding stops. Have no idea why.

[Hammer 4]

41 minutes ago, Kirt Howe said:

That is BS...and adding a foreign substance to fish gills is a bad idea.

 

 

Yeah, there was a very good thread re: this very thing. Pouring and thing down a bass's throat is not good. 

[Glenn]

Never ever EVER pour soda in a fish's mouth!  NEVER!

On 8/8/2022 at 5:22 AM, Cbump said:

I tongue hooked one in tournament. No blood. Thought It was a goner based on the interwebs. 5 hours later at weigh in, fish was still fine in the well. Released no problem. 

There's an artery in the tongue - not the WHOLE tongue.  If you hit it, ya, he's done. But often you don't. The internet tends to take things to extremes.

[CrashVector]

On 1/21/2018 at 6:30 PM, TnRiver46 said:

^+1. The gill rakers come up to the tongue so the hook usually hits them, causing all the bleeding. 

 

This.

[WRB]

There area few myths in treating bass, the Mountain Dew cult that believes it heals bleeding bass and the WD-40 club that believe it’s a healer, a lubricant and attractant.

I killed 1 bass that know about by tongue hooking it. The bass nice size, 1st caught during a tournament, the hook was in the tongue from a crank bait and not bleeding much and lively when put into the livewell. About 5 minutes caught a second good bass and the 1st was dead, very pale color as it bleed out.

Tom

[QED]

On 8/10/2022 at 12:41 PM, Dan N said:

Nothing wrong with eating a bass that’s gonna die anyways. Heck nothing wrong with eating a few here and there period. 
most guys that say bass aren’t good to eat, never ate one. They are great breaded and fried from my experience.  [stuff deleted]

 

Steamed whole largemouth bass (1-2 lb fish) is considered a delicacy and is often served as part of an elaborate banquet meal.  If the fish is a goner, might as well do something cheffy with it!

 

https://thewoksoflife.com/cantonese-steamed-fish/

https://whattocooktoday.com/hong-kong-style-steamed-fish.html