Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations GC swimming in circles

There have been GC in all of my ponds for around 20 years now. A couple weeks ago, I noticed this one large individual in the shallows, about 5' from shore, slowly swimming in a circle. He was shallow enough that his back broke the surface, and he just slowly continued in a tight circle.

I've witnessed these fish act in a somewhat similar manner while feeding, several times over the years, so I didn't pay much attention at first. Then, a couple days ago, I realized that the fish hadn't moved - that is, he was in the same spot, still making clockwise circles.

I walked closer, and the fish made a run, but he never got further than 10' from shore, and made quite a commotion while doing so. Then I noticed his body was "bent", for lack of a better word, his tail curved extremely to the right, forcing him to make right hand turns constantly.

When I panicked him again, he almost came right up on the bank. The fish could not swim in a straight line. He had a fixed rudder, and it held him in shallow water.

This evening, he was still there, swimming in circles. I decided I didn't want to watch him suffer and slowly starve to death, so I shot it, killed it, and drug it up on the bank. I expected to find some physical problem, or deformity, but I could easily bend it's body back and forth, no resistance at all, and no external signs of an injury.

Could this be some kind of neurological disorder? Has anyone seen anything similar to this before?

It might have had a broken back. I remember somebody posting that could easily get their back broken when hit by a shock boats current. If that happens, I expect the big ones could maybe get easily injured.

Perhaps in the GC's older age, he got some kind of nerve damage or muscle tissue failure.

How big was he?

Thanks, Sunil and Dave.
He was 38" long, unable to get a weight, my digital BG scale tops out at 15 lbs. I tried it, the scale protested.

I don't know if fish can have strokes, but it could have been something like that perhaps. The idea of nerve or muscular damage could also fit in with that model. Either way, he never could have made it on the NASCAR circuit making all those right hand turns - would have been disastrous!

Obviously, to get that big, he didn't have the problem all of his life.