I caught an 8lb bass yesterday....that's the good news.
The bad news is that if this fish had my normal 140+ Wr she would have been 10lb+.
The fish had all of the skin missing on one side of her face (and muscle tissue). I am not aware of any disease that would do this to her, so I'm guessing maybe she had a bad run in with a plug of some type with many large treble hooks...I just don�t have another good theory.
Here is a picture:
I did take the time to "give her some dignity" and snap one from her good side:
It made me sick and I wrestled with the decision for a good while�I know a release was the only way to put the odds of survival above 0% but I just couldn't stand the thought of seeing her become turtle food. With the "unlimited" forage in the pond she should have been about to burst...and she just wasn�t...she wasn�t skinny...but not nearly as fat as my other larger (5lb+) fish...so, I decided to go ahead and keep her....she went to the taxidermist for a skin mount...hopefully with a mount showing her good side the deformity won't be noticeable.
Also, she obviously was "feeding" enough to take my bait but I was fishing a super slow presentation of soft plastics and she didn't fight well at all...never took drag and never even jumped...very lethargic....one or two little bursts and then she just rolled over at the boat. I caught a few other bigger fish (4-6lb) and they were all FAT and pulled like crazy.
Anyway, I look forward to hearing any theories as to what may have caused the face problem.
