05 Aug 2019 ~ Unusual SMB Catch

[A-Jay]

My son & daughter-in law are visiting this weekend from NJ.

Took them out in the Pro-V bass for a late morning ‘boat ride’ on local Lake Menderchuck.

It was a sunny somewhat breezy day on the water.  Clearly I could not pass up an opportunity to wet a line – at least for a little while anyway.  Couple different point and casts later The Z-Man Jackhammer took a few Smallies & a couple of walleye as well.  First brown bass had a face full of old plastic baits in its throat.  4 to be exact. Two Stick baits, a curly tail worm on a jig head and a craw bait I’m not familiar on a shakey head.  This fish was obviously super skinny and probably pretty hungry.  As there was no room for anything to get past the gaggle of plastic to its stomach.  We relieved the fish of its ‘problem’ and sent it on its merry way – Didn’t have the video running but my wife snapped a few pics of the whole deal.

Still kind of crazy though.
☹️

A-Jay

[Fishingmickey]

Fine work Dr. A-Jay, hopefully the patient recovers fully. It looks like that short fat "stick" worm had been in there awhile and swelled. Was maybe half a senko? it looks like the other three had hooks still.

FM 

[A-Jay]

Yup - 

I think you're right.

Perhaps an Ocho ?

I've seen a few fish with baits in their throat over the years - But certainly not 4.

A-Jay

[Bankbeater]

I'm trying to figure out how it managed four baits.  If I had caught the smallie and it had another bait in it's mouth I would have removed it.

 

[Way north bass guy]

23 minutes ago, Bankbeater said:

I'm trying to figure out how it managed four baits.  If I had caught the smallie and it had another bait in it's mouth I would have removed it.

 

Maybe someone was trying a new version of the a-rig, where you just throw whatever plastics you have lying around on and give er a shot, then somehow magically this guy comes along and engulfs every last one in one gulp and breaks the line. Now that A-Jay has freed him from his plastic trap, he can get back to his pre- a-rig weight of 13lbs ( cause that’s how big it’d have to be to engulf all those baits at once?).

[MIbassyaker]

Looks like your smallie could be a serial Break-Off Artist and wacky worm thief.

 

And it still got your jackhammer in it's mouth well enough to hook up?

[Bluebasser86]

Wow, I had a small largemouth with a swollen senko and big offset worm hook in it's throat that I removed last week but I've never seen one with multiple baits like that.

[JustJames]

15 hours ago, Bankbeater said:

I'm trying to figure out how it managed four baits.  If I had caught the smallie and it had another bait in it's mouth I would have removed it.

 

She might just tried to eat whatever in the water, in this case old plastic that got snag somewhere. Senko is well known to be eaten by bass even when it sit still in water.

I watched a YouTube awhile ago where this old gent put his finger into bass throat and pull out a few pieces of plastic lure. He does that to every bass he saw and collected a bucket of them. He said a lot of fishermen left plastic in the pond and bass just eat those.

 

added I found the video.

 

 

[A-Jay]

7 hours ago, Bluebasser86 said:

Wow, I had a small largemouth with a swollen senko and big offset worm hook in it's throat that I removed last week but I've never seen one with multiple baits like that.

 

2 hours ago, Bass_Fishing_Socal said:

She might just tried to eat whatever in the water, in this case old plastic that got snag somewhere. Senko is well known to be eaten by bass even when it sit still in water.

I watched a YouTube awhile ago where this old gent put his finger into bass throat and pull out a few pieces of plastic lure. He does that to every bass he saw and collected a bucket of them. He said a lot of fishermen left plastic in the pond and bass just eat those.

Agreed ~ 

Certainly makes me thing twice about pitching any expended plastic at all back into the lake. 

?

A-Jay

[12poundbass]

Wow unbelievable! It goes to show you how crazy aggressive smallmouth are! 

[A-Jay]

45 minutes ago, 12poundbass said:

Wow unbelievable! It goes to show you how crazy aggressive smallmouth are! 

Perhaps ~

On the other side of this, it may demonstrate how little of that pee-sized 'brain' they use.

A-Jay

 

[12poundbass]

1 hour ago, A-Jay said:

Perhaps ~

On the other side of this, it may demonstrate how little of that pee-sized 'brain' they use.

A-Jay

 

Never thought about that. This could very well be the case. Either way you did a good deed and I’m sure that smallmouth appreciate it and now has a full belly of actual food. 

[A-Jay]

On 8/6/2019 at 8:51 AM, 12poundbass said:

Never thought about that. This could very well be the case. Either way you did a good deed and I’m sure that smallmouth appreciate it and now has a full belly of actual food. 

Thanks ~

  Kind of glad none of that plastic gag fest looked 'familiar' and I owe the Smallies quite a bit as they've routinely treated me right. 

A-Jay

[Jleebesaw]

You're right about that bass looking skinny. It's good it was able to get your lure in its mouth. May have saved its life. That's a pretty big bass. She would be a beauty at full weight. Nobody wants skinny girls.

[roadwarrior]

[Sam]

Great job and good story.

 

This is what us bass guys do and non-fishing people have no idea.

 

I pulled a Senko from a bass' behind once. It was sticking out so I removed it. I think the fish was thankful.

 

Thanks for sharing.

[NYWayfarer]

Whole lot of plastic in one fish. Good thing a fish doctor caught him. Your good deed for the day is done sir.

[Fairtax4me]

Nice save A-Jay! 

One more reason to use better line and make sure to re-tie your knots. 

 

I caught one one over the winter that had a very small circle hook in its mouth, line still attached, that disappeared down its throat. I removed the hook but the line would not budge, so I trimmed it off.

Then it had about 3 feet of tangled line and a couple split shot weights hanging out the other end. It was obviously still eating, and still able to “go” because it went all over my hand as I attempted to lightly tug to see if that line would come out. It wouldn’t budge, at least not easily, so I cut the tangle of weights off, released the fish and hoped for the best. 

[Paul Roberts]

This has been documented before. It's probably more widespread than most might think. Both LM's and SM's. And some fish have been found starved with impacted stomachs. There's also the potential issue of the pthalates used to soften plastics. Some, at least, are known to cause reproductive harm, including "feminization" of male fish. "Feminization" was originally attributed to birth control pharmaceuticals that make it through wastewater treatment. But then it was discovered that other chemicals can do it too, like some pthalates. A bit disturbing was a recent study in the US, in which feminized LMB were found in inland waters, even smaller ones, well away from urban areas. I try my best not to lose soft plastics.