Pond Boss Forums FISH & FISHING Show off your catch Pulled one off the bottom

For the first bass of the year!

Great way to start the year! CMM

First 2013 fish. On a deep running crank bait.

Notice how big that bait is. The bass appears to be 12.5"-13.5". Can you measure how long that bait was from tip of lip to back of the treble hook? That bait could have easily been a small bass, YP or CC.

Oh, easily. The crankbait is 4" long (photo attached). I see them feed on their own all the time in the summer in the shallows. Out of the 3 ponds, they are the most aggressive and best quality. A friend of mine wanted to see just how aggressive they are and actually caught 2 average sized bass on a 7" saltwater crankbait and then one fatty on a 8" sassy shad (photo attached)!

Neat and interesting pictures. Thanks for posting them.

Makes me wonder if they have enough forage? Any length and weights taken?

Nope, I keep them out of the water long enough to take a quick photo and getting the hook out. Forage is plentiful. Pond is fed by two drainage pipes from a creek. The bass like to wait at both and snatch the bait fish as they come out. BG is plentiful across the pond and I can fill up a minnow trap up with them rather quickly.

I don't see a problem with the quality of the fish I catch.

This is the biggest bass I ever caught from it. My estimate is about 7-8lbs. It was 8 years ago.

The biggest bass you caught, and the last bass you kissed???

Haha, he was saying the pond lacked forage because they're aggressive. I'm just showing that the fish I catch look well fed.

Oh...but no for the last one I kissed

Awesome fish Stargazer but can I make two suggestions? As a taxidermist I get bass in now and then that have the bottom lip internally cracked in half right in the center bottom from lipping a fish like that. This probably wouldn't kill a fish but it could stress them or prevent them from eating until it heals up.

And if it was me, I'd go to single hooks vs. treble hooks. They can really do a number on fish let alone kill them if the hooks are far enough back in the mouth.

Just saying and I know you didn't ask my advice.

I have a niche market where I raise and sell trophy fish to other fish taxidermists, and most of the fish are harvested by hook and line. I avoid treble hooks like the plague as the fish I sell need to be in pristine condition. I have to discount them if they have any flaws.

Keep up the good work. Nice fish!

Well if you to hold it by the actual lip instead of the soft area behind it and swing the fish like a lasso, yeah I can see that happening. I mean come on, I have 5 photos in this thread and I get a lesson with only one of me holding holding a fish only by the mouth when I didn't have someone else to take a photo for me (or a camera capable of doing a timer)?

I only learn from the best.

Stargazer --

That is really fantastic.

It is amazing how different one part of a state can be from another part. Sunil, Todd3138, and I are all fairly close to the MD borders. While your fish are waiting for a big winter storm so they can go surfing, ours are waiting to go skating and sledding!

Lastly, think about posting that great photo in the 'Fishing 2013' thread.

Ken

Thanks Ken. Yeah they're starting to skate today, all but one the ponds stayed frozen all day today.

Do you do any ice fishing?

How close are you to the Harpers Ferry area? I like to visit there a couple times a year. Not only is it a beautiful location, I love fishing for smallies.

stargaser, at the PB conference before this one, the lady that runs all the Bass Pro aquariums was a keynote speaker. She said the same thing about holding the larger bass. She said that they might not look broke or seperated, but the effects of poor fish handling might not show up until 60-90 days later.

One of my Texas friends has a 35 acre "pond" that is a trophy LMB pond. He is fanatical about fishing in the pond with only barbless single hooks, using a rubber net to pick up the fish from the water, only keeping the fish out of water 30 seconds or less, and NEVER lip the fish. Even the Texas Parks and Wildlife say the same thing, there's a poster in his cabin from them. I believe I took a picture of it, let me find it.

If it was such a problem (which to me just sounds like a theory), there would be signs at boat docks as well as info on proper bass handling in fishing license brochures, magazines, and books. Why would TV personnel with hundreds of thousands of viewers encourage to hold a fish wrong?

And like I said before a short while ago and when you told me the same thing last month in another topic, if a fish was indeed mishandled by swinging it around without care, by holding only it's mouth, I can see real damage happening to the fish.

The notable guys in the pics above might be fish catching experts, but they also might not be real well versed in the proper handling of large bass. It would be very interesting to get their opinion. Once they are made aware of this they might make some changes to how they handle their bass. I tend agree with esshup especially after hearing the speaker at the PBossIV Conference, the larger the bass the more likely jaw damage can occur to the fish by liping it. When I first heard about this topic it was explained that these fish live their lives as weightless individuals. When lifted out of the water, their total body weight becomes much more of a factor, especially if the fish is large and if lifted and or swung into the boat by the lip alone. I can see where this would be stressful. I know I would not want to be lifted by my lower jaw. I rarely catch big bass so the whole topic for me is rarely encountered.

I'm still firmly believe this a theory based on someone's opinion rather than scientific facts.

How can you compare a 5lb fish to a 150/200lb average human with a completely different skeletal structure? If you want to go down that road then I'm just going to say I wouldn't want a hook stabbed through my face. Maybe we should catch fish only by net and leave the hooks at home.

Kidding aside, there are factors to this that I can see is true. For example, if you have a lunker...say...8lbs and holding the fish by the lip completely horizontal. If the fisherman doesn't feel any strain there then he doesn't deserve to have a rod in his hand. When you pick the fish up, you can feel if you need to support the fish more. Like when you pick up a newborn baby and know if you need to support it's head or it's back.

But let's not lose sleep over this or debate all night. We all yank a hook into the mouths of our fish, right? Aren't you risking damage there? What if your line snaps and the hook is stuck, possibly blocking it's mouth to make feeding difficult? Do you think we stress the fish out by pulling and forcing the fish onto land? What if we drop the fish as it shakes or spikes us while handling it and it dies on impact? I think I can speak for everyone that those who are fishing for sport do not intend to hurt their fish but accidents do happen. There are other things to worry about than broken jaws.

Sorry if you took my suggestions personal, but just two points and I will keep quiet:

1.) My comments were not just an opinion but based on personal observation of trophy fish that I've mounted for other anglers going on 29 years now. I've also been growing out trophy bass, bluegill, yellow perch, and brook and brown trout since 1994 in ponds and can see them close up and personal. My main method of harvest is hook and line before they are sold and shipped whole frozen as far away as Hawaii.

2.). These celebrity anglers typically fish large bodies of water and probably will never catch the same fish again to know what effects they had on the fish they release.

Next time you fish a body of water that gets a lot of catch and release bass take a close look at the maxillary bone on each side of the mouth. You'll start noticing one side will be malformed. That 's most likely from a treble hook. And check the lower lip. You may find the two bones that come together in the center of the lip are seperated.

Cecil, a number of those fishing shows are filmed on private ponds, although it might not look like they are.

That friend in Texas has had Jimmie Houston film at least one show at his place. (He also has a 70 acre "pond" and numerous other smaller but still "large to us" ponds)

I guess I was referring to bass tournaments where these guys get their celebrity status but you're right. I remember watching one of those shows and thinking,"That's a private pond with no one else around. How impressive is that?"

Same goes with the canned hunts where the animal is hemmed in with an 8 foot or more fence. Just not that impressive in my personal opinion.

For what it's worth, I have become convinced.In the past I would carelessly handle fish in a fashion that I witnessed the experts on television do. Now after educating myself, I cringe when I see the way I used to do it.

I learned here on PB,( and many other priceless tidbits) that a high percentage of fish, that are "caught and released" end up dieing unbeknownst to the releaser. And most of the time survivability are issues that the angler could have prevented.

Recently some friends were at my pond, and one strung a treble hook on his line. You should have seen his face when I told him treble hooks and stainless hooks are not allowed in my pond. I politely explained to him why. He said "Wow, I guess I never thought of it that way."
It takes on a whole new meaning when it's your money and labor at stake. But all that aside it's good animal husbandry.

I now even go the route of removing the barbs also.Maybe some now may get away, but they were never hooked that good anyway if they do.

To each their own,but when you think about how a fishes face becomes distorted when removing a hook,or lipping one, it cant be good.

IMO a fishes mouth was not designed by nature to be a handle.It never supports the weight of a fish until it's landed.

Not trying to be argumentative or bossy, just giving my 2 cents worth.

There is no question in my mind that holding a fish like that causes broken jaws. I have seen it a few times in my pond. A friend caught a four pound bass a few years ago and carried it by the jaw for about 100 yards or so to where I and my camera were. When he got there the jaw was broken and bleeding. I did not think the fish would survive and suggested it be cleaned. My friend insisted on releasing it. For the next couple of years I caught a fish with a mended broken jaw in about the same place as where my friend caught the four pounder. I think it might have been the same fish, but not sure, and each time I caught the fish it weighed less than before. i believe the broken jaw hindered the fishes ability to feed.

I was even holding a 14 incher by the jaw once and felt the jaw break. I had really put an angle on the way it was being held.

However what gets me even more is when anglers lay the fish down on the grass, the dock or the carpet in the boat. Professionsals do this all of the time. When you see the slime on the dock or carpet you know that you have removed some of it's protective slime.

I had a severely broken jaw doesn't impede my feeding, Great pics, Stargazer, next lop the head off and show a pic of in the frying pan. They're not pets.

You have to understand that I have only one photo on here of me holding maybe a 2 1/2lb bass by the lip, just for that one photo, I'm lectured. Again this is all based on assumption that basic lip holding "ruins" the fish. You don't know how that fish you mounted was handled by the angler.

I have the privilege of fishing 3 small bodies of water, largest being about 3-4 acres. There has been several occasions where I've caught the same fish twice...if not more, which shows they weren't damaged and is alive and feeding well. Out of the many years of fishing our ponds, I have never seen a mouth deformity or a skinny bass from all that I've caught.

I do fish public high pressured areas often and do notice mouth deformities there. There are many uneducated people who fish these areas that don't know how to properly handle fish (or to fish in general). You can't compare that to private areas that are managed and probably only fished by yourself only.



I would have an expression myself if I wasn't told about the hook restrictions before-hand, but kudos to you by going barbless. I haven't gone that route but I should. I do at least like to cut the barbs off my Texas rigs, where it has the danger of being swallowed.

Still have to disagree about the lip holding. The lip/jaw is just as much as a handle as the back of the neck of a cat or the legs of a chicken. Holding them by the mouth calms the fish and allows you to get the hook out and quickly returning the fish to the water. I found that the first grab on the lip will make the fish shake once, then he'll calm down and let you do your thing. If you try wrestling with him by trying to hold his body, he'll keep shaking and you're risking losing grip or getting spiked and having him fall to the ground which CAN kill him. Not to mention, you're taking off their slime with your hands, gloves, or net.



Ok so you're talking about someone who caught a big fish and swung it by the mouth walking at least a hundred yards, still keeping it by the mouth for a photo opportunity. He mistreated the fish so of course it was harmed in some way.