Recently I needed to remove a few fish from the holding pond. Today I spotted this smallmouth in distress in the shallow end of the pond with what appeared to be a growth on it's eye. Turns out it was it's eyeball hanging out! The fish was removed and euthanized and will be sold.

What caused this? Well after close examination I think I did the damage while fishing. There is a tiny hole in the eyeball and there is a rip type groove in the upper side of the eyesocket (see picture). I can only surmise that I foulhooked this fish in the eyeball when I set the hook and yanked the eyeball almost completely out. Or I hooked the eyeball and the eyeball was dislodged when I fought the fish. As the hook exited the eyeball it cut a groove in the edge of the eyesocket.

So if you think catch and release can kill a few fish it appears you can do so without even seeing the fish! My cousin once reeled in a pair of rainbow trout lips because he set the hook so hard!

Interesting. My first thought would have been GBH, but I'm sure you're right that a hook could cause that type of damage.

That was my initial thought but the very tiny hole in the eyeball is the give away along with the exit groove. At least to me. And now that I have a $100.00 permit the herons are avoiding my pond. I kid you not!

Seriously I am constantly looking for them as I live here and I haven't seen any activity except for two landings months ago. One I ran off with the dog and the other I shot at and mysteriously missed.

The smallouth also stay too deep for the herons. They only come up at feeding time.

Good point.

All of us at B.I.S.A. are very sad to hear this news.

Needless to say, there will be fines and sanctions levied as a result of this tragedy.

It was an accident! Honest!

Good lord that is a disgusting photo, eyeball hanging out, I think I puked in my mouth a little, kinda makes GW's maggot photos seem almost savory.

Cecil, I found a 6# (21") LMB in great body condition floating yesterday at the pond, either it died of old age, ate something it shouldn't have, or was a victim of someone fishing. There was no obvious C.O.D.

Here I am reading PB while eating lunch.
Leftover catfish from last night's dinner.
Oh, here's a new post from Cecil...let's see what he has to say.

That's mistake #1. We won't even address the others.

Oh for God's sake boys suck it up! This is real life!




I guess I'm desensitized as I remove eyeballs of fish all the time when skinning out a fish for taxidermy. Sorry I'll try and be more considerate.

I ate fish eyeballs before. Fried. They taste like fish.

This guy's had a hard life too...caught him twice within 1 hour last night.http://s290.photobucket.com/albums/ll269/dirtyrottenmfr/?action=view¤t=IMG_0120.jpghttp://s290.photobucket.com/albums/ll269/dirtyrottenmfr/?action=view¤t=IMG_0121.jpghttp://s290.photobucket.com/albums/ll269/dirtyrottenmfr/?action=view¤t=IMG_0122.jpg

HELP!
CC1
CC2
CC3

Here we go again (tough life)http://s290.photobucket.com/albums/ll269/dirtyrottenmfr/?albumview=grid

Nope that didn't work either, sorry

Now?

virgin, s looks like she fell in love with a Bowfin and is having plastic surgery to try and impress him.

Can anyone identify the bite mark? (Mr.C)

Human! You've got a lot of explaining to do!

And if it was me I'd trash the catfish and keep the turtle. Catfish don't do anything for me.

Seriously there is a disease in fish known as tail rot.

I fixed it for ya...

...or at least that's what my mom used to say when I didn't feel like mowing the yard...

40, did you release her?

I did indeed, twice, I felt sorry for her. Should I not have released her?

I don't think there's any issues with letting her go. I was just curious.

I would like to compare this with a picture of a similar sized channel cat, and then try to superimpose or recreate this cat's tail.

That's a big mouthful that something bit off!

BTW, if you had to guess, how fresh was the wound?

I would guess 7-10 days, it seemed to be healing really well. There didn't appear to be any fungus or mold. Odd thing was, catching it twice, either she really wants out of the pond, or she's just THAT hungry. Fresh chicken livers work best here.

I suspect that if you were swimming around your pond and something came out of the depths and bit your foot off then you'd probably want out of the pond also.

Got em'! Sorry turtle lovers, but I had to do it. 11 lbs. 11 oz. without head

I think his chances of survival at this point are practically zero.

How long can I expect this thing to "live"? It's head is still trying to bite anything it can, body is still moving around too.

I've seen snappers with there heads cut off that turned back toward the pond and crawled all the way back in the water. They don't have a very complex nervous system. Their brain is basically a thick spot in the spinal chord.

The heart will likely keep beating for a VERY long time.

First off, brutal.

How do you feel this snappers mouth gape fits to the injured channel cat? This guy seems small; not saying that he's not eating other fish.

The picture with the axe is crazy.

I busted out laughing when I read this from Jeff and my wife had to come over and check out why I was laughing to myself. She then saw the eyeball hanging out and then the snapping turtle head chopped off with an axe.

What if he was innocent?

I still say I'll take a turtle over those slimy catfish anyday. I had a bigger turtle in the pond last year and live trapped and moved him.

I have to admit, I felt very bad for killing it. (actually my friend took the ax to it, I couldn't) Sunil, it was brutal and I'm sorry, I just kept telling myself, it's better than my kid (or some other child) getting nibbled on while they play or swim in the pond, plus the damage he's causing to my fishy's. As far as him being possibly not being the culprit, you might be correct, however I just measured his mouth, it's nearly 3" across and about 3" deep, it's almost a match to the bite. Cecil, I doubt this guy was innocent by any means, but thanks for making [u]me[/u] feel guiltyhttp://www.pondboss.com/forums/images/icons/default/frown.gif I suppose that I could have taken him to the big pond (Lake Michigan), but I didn't think about that until now. In the future, I promise, all turtles will go to the big pond, with their heads.

If I had to guess, I would think that the catfish wound was from a snapper. But for that to happen, I would have to think the catfish was just laying stationary somewhere.

Snapping turtles are slow.

No apologies needed for the carnage. n8ly summed it up pretty good.

Eye for an eye? Heck, just take his head off!!!!

I just had an old timer who lives by my pond tell me that a snapper's head can bite for up to a full moon cycle after it's head has been cut off. He claims a severed snapper head bit off three of his uncles fingers three weeks after it was beheaded.

Uh oh...

Now that we're getting into voodoo, witchcraft, and folklore, 40-Y-0-V might have chopped off more that he can chew.

There might some specific rites and rituals that need to be conducted so that the severed head does not cause global turmoil.

I was watching a political debate on television recently. Seems like politicians and snapping turtles have more in common than I realized.

I could't agree more Sunil. I'm beginning to think that Pond Boss has a dark side. First Bruce conjers up MJ, then Cecil plucks the eyes out of his fish, then FMcB suddenly has manelovent life forms appearing on his pond, and now 40YOV has become and accessory to axe murder.

Dark times people, very dark times.

40yrOV,

Sunil doesn't care about the turtle as long as it isn't a smallmouth!

Let's see....

First, soak the severed head in three-day old sour milk (don't use skim or 2% as that will cause catastrophic consequences).

Next, place the container containing the soaking, severed head under your bed while you sleep for three consecutive nights, while still soaking in sour milk (NOTE: the container cannot be covered so as to allow the vapors to permeate through your bedroom).

Finally, you must immerse yourself in your pond, sans clothing, for (3) hours to allow the chance for revenge by the community of snapping turtles.

Once this is done, I think you'll be OK.

PS, after all this, just keep the container of sour milk and snapper head in your family room, sans cover of course.

You're being very unfair to snapping turtles.

CC are pretty tough...here's one I caught last spring in the Mississippi. He had no trouble finding my gob of shadguts...



I'm guessing either turtle or big ol cat got him.

I'm thinking that "if" I could use my nailgun and place 100's of severed snapping turtle heads in a row on a 2x4, I could use it to trim my pond weeds???

Snapping turtles can easily take off fingers, I treat them like fireants. I also kill all hardshell turtles as well...softshells, on the otherhand, are quite unique and welcome any time, my pond is their sanctuary. I'm a turtle racist

Matt, you didn't eat that fish did you ??? LOL, or feed it to the in-laws ???

Uh, actually, Eastland, I did filet it. Wife asked me later why I didn't put it in the pond. Seemed to her that something that had to work that hard to make a living deserved a second chance. I told her I'd watch it swim away...right in a hot oil bath. Oh well...

I always thought that softshell's were harder on fish that red ear sliders, or other common green turtles. Anybody have an info on this?
Also fishing is not the only thing that can be hazardous to your fish. I caught this guy trespassing.

This poor guy was behind a carp. The arrow went through and got him as well.

Dang Cheyenne, I thing I'd be less than happy if I caught a guy bow fishing on my property. Did ya call the sheriff?

Pond Boss is getting down right medieval lately.

Before you know it Theo is going to design and patent a trebuchet fish feeder.

I'm sorry Jeff. The carp was unwanted, so I shot him. They eat my pellet feed every day, so I just wait and shoot them. The bow doesn't scare the other fish away from the feed.

LOL, oh I misunderstood. No need to apologize to me but ya might want to say a few words to the Carp.