fish doesnt recover from hookset

[cccsguy]

i was fishing with my 9yr old daughter yesterday and she hooked a 2lb bass with a trick worm. The bass hit the bait so hard that the hook was pretty much swallowed and the fish was bleeding pretty bad from the gills upon exit from the water. I had needle nose pliers and got the hook out relatively easy, but when we released the fish, the fish never recovered and swam away--it just floated on its side. My daughter was traumatized. I tried to tell her that a bird or other animal that needed to eat would get a meal, but it didn't make her feel any better. Anybody suggest what I can tell her so that she won't feel so bad?

[Shad_Master]

This "circle of life" stuff - I think you are on the right track by explaining this to her, but you have to believe it, too.

[Beastie Bass]

Whoa that's a hard one! I have a 5 yr old boy and he's been fishing with me since he was 2. He started casting and actually fishing at 3! We usually just keep crappie and catfish but if a bass is mortally hooked and just wont recover, he gets cleaned and eaten too. It did'nt sound like y'all are keeping any to eat, so maybe you were on the right track telling her that some other critter needs to eat the bass. good luck

[gotarheelz14]

I used to be a tough nosed son of a gun when I was in my teens. I'm 21 now and god knows why but I have become a baby when it comes to animals. I think its all due to a wonderful family dog we all just got.

I had the exact same exact thing happen to me yesterday. It was about a three pound bass. Luckily, I think mine actually may have recovered though he was loosing a lot of blood. When I put him in the water, he was very weak and kind of floating. I grabbed him by the tail and ran water trough his gills by rocking him back and forth through the water. He eventually mustered enough strength to swim to the bottom and hang out down there for a while before moving on. I think was good in the long run.

I just hope to get better at fishing and improve my hooksets so that my fish don't swallow the hook but, as soon as they take it, I can hook 'em through their lip.

I know what your daughter is going through. I was quite traumatized myself yesterday... . Doing better today though. Give it some time, the little one should be good in a while.

Carlos

[Smiths.R]

I love fishing and I love hunting, but slow deaths are not something I enjoy.  I gut hooked a bass last night really well...he was bleeding profusely when he came out of the water.  I steel myself with the same thought you mentioned; a snapper or raccoon has a free meal tonight.  You could also mention that less 2 lb bass means more 10 lb bass. 

[kms399]

I would have kept it, killed it humanely and explained the circle of life, we didn't want to kill this fish but these things happen and so we are going to eat it so that it is not wasted. I have explained this with my son and he seems fine with it. we keep fish all the time, mostly crappies or sunnies but it has worked for him, he is 4 btw

[Grey Wolf]

I used to be a tough nosed son of a gun when I was in my teens. I'm 21 now and god knows why but I have become a baby when it comes to animals. I think its all due to a wonderful family dog we all just got.

I had the exact same exact thing happen to me yesterday. It was about a three pound bass. Luckily, I think mine actually may have recovered though he was loosing a lot of blood. When I put him in the water, he was very weak and kind of floating. I grabbed him by the tail and ran water trough his gills by rocking him back and forth through the water. He eventually mustered enough strength to swim to the bottom and hang out down there for a while before moving on. I think was good in the long run.

I just hope to get better at fishing and improve my hooksets so that my fish don't swallow the hook but, as soon as they take it, I can hook 'em through their lip.

I know what your daughter is going through. I was quite traumatized myself yesterday... . Doing better today though. Give it some time, the little one should be good in a while.

Carlos

One of the worse things you could have done was rock it back and forth in the water.

[Wayne P.]

Since the act of fishing is supposed to involve harvesting (you know: the FOOD thing) you should have taken it home, cleaned it, and had it for supper. Your daughter would see first hand where the McDonalds fish sandwich comes from.

Certainly your intent wasn't to go fishing to feed some birds or other animals.

If you are so concerned about injuring fish, don't fish. Stay home with your daughter and play video games.

Pathetic !!!!!

[cccsguy]

Since the act of fishing is supposed to involve harvesting (you know: the FOOD thing) you should have taken it home, cleaned it, and had it for supper. Your daughter would see first hand where the McDonalds fish sandwich comes from.

Certainly your intent wasn't to go fishing to feed some birds or other animals.

If you are so concerned about injuring fish, don't fish. Stay home with your daughter and play video games.

Pathetic !!!!!

You obviously don't have kids or class. And if you do have kids?--Lord help us all!!

[Dockhead]

...the act of fishing is supposed to involve harvesting...

It is? 

That's news to me, especially as it pertains to bass fishing.

The new thing is called catch and release - I know it's a relatively new fad, but hopefully it will catch on.

I have friends who won't eat seafood of any kind, should I tell them they are not allowed to fish anymore??

Sure, taking it home and eating it would have been the best scenario, or maybe find someone to give it to who would eat it. But cccsguy did try to teach his daughter something in what can be a challenging situation.

I am just glad he is taking her fishing and NOT playing video games with her.

[YNCBASSMAN]

the best thing to do when a bass swallows the hook like that is to cut the line.  most of the time they will survive and the hook will naturally come out. 

[The Bassinator]

I have dealt with this a few times in my life mostly when I was young.  I do not like to kill fish but after awhile it kind of takes a back seat and I don't think about it as much although I felt terrible at the time.  You should keep on the circle of life aspect of it.   But hey sometimes bad stuff just happens.

[NorcalBassin]

If you are so concerned about injuring fish, don't fish. Stay home with your daughter and play video games.

Pathetic !!!!!

Wow, that was helpful!

[triglet]

the best thing to do when a bass swallows the hook like that is to cut the line. most of the time they will survive and the hook will naturally come out.

This is what i practice.  always been told that it would work its way out naturally.   and i agree with the circle of life.

[Catt]

Since the act of fishing is supposed to involve harvesting (you know: the FOOD thing) you should have taken it home, cleaned it, and had it for supper. Your daughter would see first hand where the McDonalds fish sandwich comes from.

Certainly your intent wasn't to go fishing to feed some birds or other animals.

If you are so concerned about injuring fish, don't fish. Stay home with your daughter and play video games.

Pathetic !!!!!

Well said, God created bass to eat, man turned them into entertainment

[cart7t]

i was fishing with my 9yr old daughter yesterday and she hooked a 2lb bass with a trick worm. The bass hit the bait so hard that the hook was pretty much swallowed and the fish was bleeding pretty bad from the gills upon exit from the water. I had needle nose pliers and got the hook out relatively easy, but when we released the fish, the fish never recovered and swam away--it just floated on its side. My daughter was traumatized. I tried to tell her that a bird or other animal that needed to eat would get a meal, but it didn't make her feel any better. Anybody suggest what I can tell her so that she won't feel so bad?

Certainly don't tell her the truth.

Don't tell her what's in those fish sandwiches at Micky D's.

Don't let her know that in many parts of the world, people owe their very survival to harvesting fish in order to eat or sell to others.

Instead, explain to her how you find amusement in ramming a super sharp set of steel hooks into the mouths of one of God's creatures. That you really get turned on by that and that you'd like for her to eventually have the same feeling. Teach her that unfortunately, while you're pursuing that thrill, the fish stupidly inhale the hook too deeply, sometimes into it's gills if the fish is really stupid and the result is the death of the fish. Blame it all on the fish. It was it's own fault.

Whatever you do, don't tell her the truth about fishing, fish harvesting or what's in those fish sandwiches! She'll be emotionally scarred for life.

[fishfordollars]

Fishing is a blood sport. It's not for the faint of heart.

Be honest with her.

[Osprey39]

Since the act of fishing is supposed to involve harvesting (you know: the FOOD thing) you should have taken it home, cleaned it, and had it for supper. Your daughter would see first hand where the McDonalds fish sandwich comes from.

Certainly your intent wasn't to go fishing to feed some birds or other animals.

If you are so concerned about injuring fish, don't fish. Stay home with your daughter and play video games.

Pathetic !!!!!

This is a little more intense than I would have put it but I have to admit that I was thinking about the same thing when I first read this thread.

By the time I was the OP's daughter's age, I had seen many fish die. In fact, I had seen many fish flopping around on the point of a gaff and then clubbed into submission so they could be safely unhooked (talking saltwater here.) I never felt bad about it. In fact, I was happy because I knew we were going to have fish for dinner in the near future. Of course, I was taught from the time I was about 4 years old that when fishing and hunting, you eat what you kill or don't kill it.

That's news to me, especially as it pertains to bass fishing.

The new thing is called catch and release - I know it's a relatively new fad, but hopefully it will catch on

Catch and release was something that was advocated heavily by Ray Scott so that BASS wouldn't get bad press by having a bunch of pro fisherman come onto a lake, catch a ton of fish that they kill and then leave. That tends to tick off the locals.

In their Largemouth Bass book, the In-Fisherman guys actually advocate selective harvest over knee-jerk catch & release, stating that it is better for the fish population to take some of the smaller fish to eat.

[NateFollmer]

Maybe you could have told her it wasn't her fault and it was sick before she caught it? That's a tough one really. I mean, you don't want to flat out lie to her, but then again, you don't want her to feel bad (it was an accident).

Anyway, I've seen a few kids hook bluegill and it actually went through their eye. FYI, cut the hook as close to the eye as you can and push it back through. You'll do more damage trying to get the barb back out. 

[bear7625]

I think you handled it the right way. Kids process information differently than adults. Things that are a big deal one day are forgotten the next. Keep it simple, sometimes more information is to much.

[tyrius.]

the best thing to do when a bass swallows the hook like that is to cut the line. most of the time they will survive and the hook will naturally come out.

This is actually outdated advice.  The best thing to do is to get the hook out.  Use the through the gill technique or carry cutters to cut the hook if necessary.  Modern day hooks will remain in the bass' mouth for a LONG time and more than likely will not come out.

[tyrius.]

Good lord people!!!  He's talking about a 9 year old girl here! 

It's perfectly natural for her to feel bad about accidently killing an animal while still eating fish sandwiches!!!

And to the OP, I doubt that there is anything that you could say that would make a difference.  Your daughter is going to have to decide if she still enjoys fishing knowing that she will kill fish again in the future.

[K_Mac]

Good lord people!!! He's talking about a 9 year old girl here!

It's perfectly natural for her to feel bad about accidently killing an animal while still eating fish sandwiches!!!

And to the OP, I doubt that there is anything that you could say that would make a difference. Your daughter is going to have to decide if she still enjoys fishing knowing that she will kill fish again in the future.

Well said. I completely agree.

[J Francho]

Take her to a pig farm on bacon day.

[Paul Roberts]

We've become SO removed from nature that the "circle of life" is simply unknown in any real sense. Death is rare and foreign. Many simply avoid it. We have done it, abstracted ourselves from reality because we can. We have the intellectual architecture, the technology, and resulting affluence to have left traditional selective pressures behind. And most would agree that's a good thing. The comment made by an elder Lakota women from the turn of the last century echoes in my mind, "Much of the time people were just darn cold." On the flip-side though The lid is off! I like to say. We are now free to believe that we are really aliens from another galaxy, and get away with it! (I know people who believe this).

On top of this, the sheer amount of potentially disturbing input and influence from outside our homes is overwhelming. While I want reality, I feel the need to provide it to children (and adults in many cases) in proper doses so it's understandable and not traumatic. I also don't want to emotionally de-sensitize kids to important issues that WILL come to them in various ways in their lives.

As to human' and nature's relationship with animals, I started early to meet that issue with my young son. We are animal lovers too, but we try to keep it in proper perspective.

Some things my wife and I have purposely done:

-Comment on video content. Videos see powerful. These things were written by people that reflect what they think. If anyone says they side with Bambi I ask them to see it again, and ask themselves: Are the characters animal, or human? Is Bambi a deer or a boy? Bambi is really a violent story depicting murder and war. After you've watched it, ask yourself if it is appropriate for children. Dressing such a story up like a cartoon doesn't get past me. My son has not seen Bambi. But the myriad other, and more benign, depictions of animals he sees I always question with him: Are these real animals, or characters in a story? Or as simply as, Why does that rabbit have a human coat on? I don't destroy the story the funbut I make the difference known in my son's mind. When he does see Bambi, for instance, he'll have the raised eyebrow of a skeptic.

I make sure he watches reality too documentaries about nature are great, esp ones by David Attenborough, BBC, and NOVA. Not the sensationalized animals killing animals with no context or explanation stuff out there.

-Our family raises chickens for eggs and meat, and we maintain several gardens, and bee hives. We had a rooster once that was aggressive. He was named Floss, until he started attacking my son and his young friends. We explained that he was only protecting his flock. But my son dubbed him Soup after that. And eventually that's what we did with him. And the neighbor kids insisted on being able to come and enjoy a bowl of Soup soup.

-I hunt and fish, so my son has seen game come home and had it on his plate. I purposely take some fish home for my son to see and eat. He is fascinated by what's inside a fish and I show him the organs and their functions. He loves the process and I let him explore all he wants. If I'm back late, I'll even let him get out of bed to explore even on a school night.

Every spring since he was little we've gone on a bluegill hunt. It was my son's idea actually, when he was 3, inspired from reading about Indians. The power imbibed in procuring his own food was the motivation I think.

When my son was 7, I took him on his first real hunt. He's had his own archery gear for a long time (actually on his third bow by then) and I fashioned nifty mini-broadheads for some of his lightweight arrows to hunt rabbits. Now, my son's elementary classroom has domestic bunnies named Sunshine and Floppy, as well as Guinea pigs and chicks and ducks and other critters they've raised and grown attached to. My son cries hard when one dies. But he knows the difference between pets, independent wild creatures, and food. There are pets we care for and grow attached to, and there are wild rabbits that fend for themselves, and that we are predators too. He is able to make that distinction, without trauma. We even lost a rabbit once that was hit and managed to hole up. We both felt responsible, and we discussed it I checking in with him on his feelings. He said I was the faster and should have gotten to it quicker. He was right. He also said he hoped a fox or weasel would find it so it wouldn't go to waste.

My wife, an elementary teacher, has kids every year that are traumatized by simply the idea that animals get eaten in the wild. Very thoughtfully and gently, my wife eases them into a more realistic understanding of nature. But to me at home, she may roll her eyes and call such a state of being, pathetic.

We believe rich experience allowing an informed opinion is much better than the alternative. Ditto for sex, violence, abuse, politics, war, and other aspects of human existence that WILL come into my son's life. No topic is taboo in our house. But we do our best to regulate when and how it enters and we are prepared to discuss anything.

I guess , in a nutshell, since we don't live in nature anymore, we have to seek it out. But in balance with what the culture around us brings. We are not alone in the world and have responsibilities to community too. It's hard to keep a foot in both worlds and really, we don't. We live in an abstracted world and only rarely visit nature. So my job as a parent is to give those experiences and understandings to my son and others in my community in understandable steps. It's all a continuous work in progress, just like the circle of life.