I was lmb fishing yesterday in Caddo Lake when i caught a bass that had something on it. My first thought was it was some mud on the fish. Like little spots of a dark/tan colored spots. About a dozen of these spots. I tried to wipe the spots off without removing the protective slime. So as i tried to remove the spots they would slide down the fishes side but did not come off the fish easy. That is when i thought is this fish lice? I released the fish. Should i have ? First time i have ever seen fish lice if that was what it was. The fish looked healthy. By putting it back, did I add to a future problem in the lake? How do the lice move from one body of water to another? My pond is only a mile from Caddo, any chance I might see fish lice someday?

I hope you don't see lice - on anything - fish or man.

If the fish did have lice letting it go should not be a problem as the lice were already there.

Some info


https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25926394/

Thanks Eric, After releasing the lmb after thoughts had me thinking I should have not thrown it back. I believe it was the only lmb that I have ever caught with what I think was fish lice. From my reading, it sounds like they can devastate a fish population and not a lot of options on treatment.

Tracy the ponds around here have fish lice and it doesn’t seem to affect them any that you can see . On LMB they are a greenish color and are a little less than an 1/8” around hmmm