Hooked a beautiful, feisty little LMB through the eye today...

[Big Lou]

...and I've felt bad ever since. 

 

I was deflecting a small rage tail with a 1/8oz swimbait jig head off of a dock piling when I felt a little bump. I immediately let the bait free fall, and he took it. I set the hook and got him to the boat to see that the hook had penetrated the top of his mouth and gone through his eye. I tried my best to do as little damage as possible, but I don't think there was much I could do. (Afterward, I wondered whether I should have tried to cut the barb off of the hook, but I'm not sure if that would have saved the eye. Maybe.)

 

It was the only fish I caught during 8 hours on the water today, and I immediately wished I hadn't. I keep thinking he was probably a year old, he simply ate the wrong thing--a thing that was meant to fool him into eating it--and he lost an eye for it. He didn't know that he was taking that risk. I'm the one who determined that the risk of possible harm to the fish was acceptable.

 

I love fishing and have been doing it all my life. It's been a long time since this has happened with a bass. I just feel bad.

 

Lou 

[TnRiver46]

Not much you can do other than quit fishing! I’ve caught many one eyed bass that weren’t feeling bad for themselves. Also if it was a keeper sized fish you could always fry it, that’s about as natural of a progression of events that can happen in nature. 

[gunsinger]

It’s unfortunate. But, It happens. 

[RenzokukenFisher]

It's always a bummer when stuff like this happens but its inevitable when hooking into fish unfortunately. Yesterday I had the stoutest most aggressive 1.5lb bass engulf my crank bait and got 2 hook points into the gills. Got the lil guy unhooked and released as quick as I possibly could but he was bleeding bad. This fish looked to have some terrific genetics the way it was built so it really bums me out considering he might not make it. But yea it's practically impossible to avoid so the best we can do is respect the catch and do what we can to ensure its healthy when there things happen.

[Yuddzy]

It happens, we're throwing fake baits armed with sharp metal objects at fish. Eventually we accidentally hurt fish, it always sucks when it happens, but it isn't your fault. You did all you could do, which is what any responsible angler does. Plenty of fish are out there with one working eye and seem to do just fine, if it helps you feel a bit better. 

 

I gill hooked 2 pike last weekend, I felt bad as well. They were slamming it so hard, I'd set the hook as quick as I could and they were both hooked bad regardless. I wound up keeping those ones. 

[E-rude dude]

Fish have two eyes. 

[slonezp]

If you feel guilt, stop fishing.

 

Use smaller hooks.

[PressuredFishing]

2 hours ago, Big Lou said:

...and I've felt bad ever since. 

 

I was deflecting a small rage tail with a 1/8oz swimbait jig head off of a dock piling when I felt a little bump. I immediately let the bait free fall, and he took it. I set the hook and got him to the boat to see that the hook had penetrated the top of his mouth and gone through his eye. I tried my best to do as little damage as possible, but I don't think there was much I could do. (Afterward, I wondered whether I should have tried to cut the barb off of the hook, but I'm not sure if that would have saved the eye. Maybe.)

 

It was the only fish I caught during 8 hours on the water today, and I immediately wished I hadn't. I keep thinking he was probably a year old, he simply ate the wrong thing--a thing that was meant to fool him into eating it--and he lost an eye for it. He didn't know that he was taking that risk. I'm the one who determined that the risk of possible harm to the fish was acceptable.

 

I love fishing and have been doing it all my life. It's been a long time since this has happened with a bass. I just feel bad.

 

Lou 

happens from time to time, I have done it with panfish and even brown trout. with bass I have seen them missing an eye and they live fine, part of fishing. Many of the fish you release dont even live to see another day, no matter how gentle you can be or hop close to the lip they where  hooked, it just happens. 30% of bass caught by C&R anglers die. 50% of lightly bleeding fish die. they are a hearty fish but, they are only mortal.

[desmobob]

 

He'll probably be OK!

 

When I was fishing this afternoon, I came up on a log that was right at the outside edge of the weedline.   I had a shallow crank bait on and couldn't throw past the log to get a retrieve by it due to the weeds, so I threw the bait right next to the exposed top of the log and let it sit, then gave it a little  twitch.

 

It disappeared in a swirl and I set the hook.  It turned out to be a big White Crappie.  It had the front treble in its mouth the rear treble was stuck in its eye.    Sometimes it happens...

[geo g]

It has happened to me a couple of times.  The fish will live and do quite well with just one eye.  They have other senses like smell, and the lateral line.  They can still hunt.

 

I have caught one that attacked my bait with only one eye. also.  We feel bad but they will survive.

[schplurg]

15 minutes ago, Socalfishier said:

happens from time to time, I have done it with panfish and even brown trout. with bass I have seen them missing an eye and they live fine, part of fishing. Many of the fish you release dont even live to see another day, no matter how gentle you can be or hop close to the lip they where  hooked, it just happens. 30% of bass caught by C&R anglers die. 50% of lightly bleeding fish die. they are a hearty fish but, they are only mortal.

 

Have any evidence for this?

 

I could see high numbers in tournaments with fish sitting in live wells all day, but I doubt 30% of my quickly released bass are dead. Not even close.

[slonezp]

Fish and wild animals survive on instinct. They adapt and overcome or they disappear. Domesticated animals have more survival instinct than humans. Fish and wild animals don't have the ability to reason. Their lack of ability to reason offers them the same results as humans with the ability to reason, only fish and wild animals don't feel guilt.

[PressuredFishing]

3 minutes ago, schplurg said:

live fine, part of fishing. Many of the fish you release dont even live to see another day, no matter how gentle you can be or hop close to the lip they where  hooked, it just happens. 30% of bass caught by C&R anglers die. 50% of lightly bleeding fish die. they are a hearty fish but, they are only mortal.

 

4 minutes ago, schplurg said:

 

Have any evidence for this?

 

I could see high numbers in tournaments with fish sitting in live wells all day, but I doubt 30% of my quickly released bass are dead. Not even close.

okay this video talks about the mortality rates of bass, I didnt believe it at first but it is true, also its 31% percent my bad, not 30% 

 

oh

Just now, Socalfishier said:

 

okay this video talks about the mortality rates of bass, I didnt believe it at first but it is true, also its 31% percent my bad, not 30% 

 

Oh P.S the mortality of tournament fishing is actually less because there are more C&R anglers than tournament anglers, which means that more fish die to C&R anglers.

[slonezp]

3 minutes ago, Socalfishier said:

 

okay this video talks about the mortality rates of bass, I didnt believe it at first but it is true, also its 31% percent my bad, not 30% 

 

It's not  human life and shouldn't be viewed as such.

[PressuredFishing]

3 minutes ago, slonezp said:

It's not  human life and shouldn't be viewed as such.

yeah I agree, the guy providing statistics even says if crappie a tablefare fish can survive, so can bass.

[schplurg]

27 minutes ago, Socalfishier said:

 

okay this video talks about the mortality rates of bass, I didnt believe it at first but it is true, also its 31% percent my bad, not 30% 

 

oh

Oh P.S the mortality of tournament fishing is actually less because there are more C&R anglers than tournament anglers, which means that more fish die to C&R anglers.

 

 

I disagree with that last part. These are tournament numbers. You can't assume anything from them about normal everyday catch and release. Keeping a fish in a boat all day is what raises the mortality rate per fish caught.

 

That is why some events do not use live wells anymore but weight the fish and release it immediately. There is a big difference.

[PressuredFishing]

3 minutes ago, schplurg said:

 

 

I disagree with that last part. These are tournament numbers. You can't assume anything from them about normal everyday catch and release. Keeping a fish in a boat all day is what raises the mortality rate per fish caught.

 

That is why some events do not use live wells anymore but weight the fish and release it immediately. There is a big difference.

if you go further in the video he talks about C&R fisherman statistics, you have to watch the entire video

[schplurg]

Anyways, we torment fish for fun, don't we?

 

It bothers me to injure one, but I think I'm kind of a hypocrite because of it. I choose to fish because it doesn't bother me enough to stop. If fish screamed in pain would you fish?

 

I work with someone who isn't against fishing but is an animal lover. I have a hard time explaining that I care about animals while pulling fish out of their homes with metal hooks embedded in their faces.

 

I fish because it doesn't bother me enough to stop.

7 minutes ago, Socalfishier said:

if you go further in the video he talks about C&R fisherman statistics, you have to watch the entire video

I tried. I'd like to know where he got his statistics on that. Maybe I'll watch the rest later. But my comment before this pretty much sums up how I feel.

 

He's talking about total number of fish though, not how many killed per fish caught. Of course more non-tourney anglers will kill more because there are so many more anglers. The ratio of fish living vs dying though is lower, it must be a lot lower given the numbers.

 

In other words, tournament anglers kill a lot more fish per fish caught.

[PressuredFishing]

6 minutes ago, schplurg said:

Anyways, we torment fish for fun, don't we?

 

It bothers me to injure one, but I think I'm kind of a hypocrite because of it. I choose to fish because it doesn't bother me enough to stop. If fish screamed in pain would you fish?

 

I work with someone who isn't against fishing but is an animal lover. I have a hard time explaining that I care about animals while pulling fish out of their homes with metal hooks embedded in their faces.

 

I fish because it doesn't bother me enough to stop.

I tried. I'd like to know where he got his statistics on that. Maybe I'll watch the rest later. But my comment before this pretty much sums up how I feel.

yeah I understand, its just one of those things, but you should be happy and while I dont like to be proud or prideful, you should be satisfied with what you have done, because anglers do a tremendous amount of good for wild-life and fisheries in general. When you buy a fishing liscence DFG does amazing things for animals and fish species that are endangered, so you are helping out the environment more than you know. Many bass tournaments also put money twords conservation and truley being an conservationist and loving fishing can go hand in hand, its all about moderation. I even keep some bass from time to time. Just remember by accasionally killing a bass or two every once in a while, you are conserving rare species and animals for the next generation just by funding DFG and bait companies that put back into the community

[Bird]

Jimmy houston claims fish feel zero pain but loosing an eye doesn't have to be painful but the fish still looses half of it's eye site. 

I've caught many bass with one working eye but got no response when asking them how it felt.

[PressuredFishing]

1 minute ago, Bird said:

Jimmy houston claims fish feel zero pain but loosing an eye doesn't have to be painful but the fish still looses half of it's eye site. 

I've caught many bass with one working eye but got no response when asking them how it felt.

 Lol ?

[slonezp]

3 minutes ago, Socalfishier said:

yeah I understand, its just one of those things, but you should be happy and while I dont like to be proud or prideful, you should be satisfied with what you have done, because anglers do a tremendous amount of good for wild-life and fisheries in general. When you buy a fishing liscence DFG does amazing things for animals and fish species that are endangered, so you are helping out the environment more than you know. Many bass tournaments also put money twords conservation and truley being an conservationist and loving fishing can go hand in hand, its all about moderation. I even keep some bass from time to time. Just remember by accasionally killing a bass or two every once in a while, you are conserving rare species and animals for the next generation just by funding DFG and bait companies that put back into the community

Anglers and hunters do more for the wildlife than any tree hugger could think of. Bass aren't rare and they are no different than panfish or walleyes in the grand scheme of things. It is bass fishermen who put the fish on a pedestal. 

[PressuredFishing]

Just now, slonezp said:

Anglers and hunters do more for the wildlife than any tree hugger could think of. Bass aren't rare and they are no different than panfish or walleyes in the grand scheme of things. It is bass fishermen who put the fish on a pedestal. 

Amen

[Big Lou]

I'm the OP, and I certainly didn't mean to start any arguments. I agree that my post does sound like I could be an SPCA troll, or something of the like. I assure everyone that I'm not. I figured I would get responses, but I can't say I was really thinking much about what they would be.

 

There are some extremes here, which I guess is to be expected. I think schplurg sums my ultimate position up above, "I fish because it doesn't bother me enough to stop."

 

Just to respond to a couple of the posts--since they are there--I may have inadvertently implicitly attributed some level of reasoning, or ability to reason, to the fish in my attempt to express the thoughts going through my mind. I certainly understand that the fish was not making decisions based on any expected cost and benefits basis. He wasn't accessing risks. They are instinctive.

 

As for viewing or valuing a fish from the perspective of the value of human life. One doesn't need to view a fish as a human in order to have compassion for the fish--or dog, or cat, or horse, etc.

 

In thinking about why I had this reaction to my incident with the fish today, I believe that my reading and viewing of so many sources of information regarding the pressure bass populations are seeing, seemingly everywhere, has made me feel somewhat paternalistic toward them. They have always made my life better by simply being bass. As I get older, things like that occur to me, and I can't help but feel sorta protective of them, though, as I admitted earlier, I will go back again another day.

 

I do hope that, as responsible anglers, we are ultimately helping the fish, even if  "stuff" does happen sometimes.

 

Lou

[A-Jay]

3 hours ago, Big Lou said:

...and I've felt bad ever since. 

 

I was deflecting a small rage tail with a 1/8oz swimbait jig head off of a dock piling when I felt a little bump. I immediately let the bait free fall, and he took it. I set the hook and got him to the boat to see that the hook had penetrated the top of his mouth and gone through his eye. I tried my best to do as little damage as possible, but I don't think there was much I could do. (Afterward, I wondered whether I should have tried to cut the barb off of the hook, but I'm not sure if that would have saved the eye. Maybe.)

 

It was the only fish I caught during 8 hours on the water today, and I immediately wished I hadn't. I keep thinking he was probably a year old, he simply ate the wrong thing--a thing that was meant to fool him into eating it--and he lost an eye for it. He didn't know that he was taking that risk. I'm the one who determined that the risk of possible harm to the fish was acceptable.

 

I love fishing and have been doing it all my life. It's been a long time since this has happened with a bass. I just feel bad.

 

Lou 

I will start off by saying that I do practice C & R and during the process do believe I'm making a concerted effort to not do extra harm to the fish I catch.

On that note, the name of this sport 'fishing' sounds fairly benign when compared to what is actually happening - every time. 

Our 'fishing'  is pretty much slamming at least one very sharp hook (but often several hooks),

into a helpless & unsuspecting fish, never knowing exactly where it may actually end up being imbedded or what type of collateral damage it will cause.  So while I would like to believe that my 'released' fish live to fight another day, it's also equally as hard for me to act surprised when they don't. 

Finally, I've caught several one-eyed fish (including my Smallie PB) and while it's not something I'm proud of, I've blinded a few.

And on the rare occasion when I end up with a floater, I have no problem recovering it, 

knocking the sides off it, and floating it in hot fat for a sandwich later. 

Fish Hard

A-Jay