Got in a little fishing today up at my pond. Threw a silver/blue Bandit Footloose crankbait -- my go-to bait for catching cull bass -- into a shallow corner and the lure was walloped. I proceeded to slowly and carefully reel in a new lake record -- a beautiful, fat nine pound LMB. She had swallowed the lure and I could see one prong of the treble hooked in a gill. I carefully removed it with what seemed like very minimal damage, but when I put her back in the water to revive her, she was bleeding profusely. She swam off slowly, but I'm crushed thinking that she may not make it. I've always read that a bleeding gill is a death sentence for a fish. I sure hope that isn't the case...
Any thoughts on whether she may make it?
