I couldn't believe what I found deep in this bass's gullet

Finally after hours of no strikes I found an area in 8' of water that produced excellent yellow perch, sunfish and a few bass. One bass I caught had about a foot of mono line coming from its mouth. After I unhooked my lure, I figured I'd get the other hook out. No hook was seen but I noticed deep in the gullet a small metal piece. I started pulling the line and out comes a swivel followed by a circle hook and 5" soft stick. The hook may have gotten loose in the fish's mouth, but it still broke the line. Here are a few shots of the fish and both of the lures it was caught it with:
Soft stick and swivel pulled from the fish's gullet:

https://i.imgur.com/zRVtMFM.jpg?1



The lure (Claw) I caught the fish with:

https://i.imgur.com/AarZFuc.jpg?1



At least it won't starve to death much less have bouts of indigestion.

I'm amazed by these kinds of stories sometimes. You just never know what you'll see.

He was reaching out to you for assistance, and it worked.

He may have wrapped the line around something and was broken off before the hook was set. It is a good thing for him it was a circle hook

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Originally Posted by Micanopy

He was reaching out to you for assistance, and it worked.

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That may be the case!:Rofl I lost a real nice SM when I mishandled it and the line snapped at the shotting weight. Maybe I had it pinched too tight. He swam away with some line and a TM stuck in his mouth. I hope he was able to work it loose. Can fish do that? :dono
Bob

My wife and I were fishing yesterday in an area yesterday that was full of recently exposed brush. We kept getting hung up but usually broke free. My wife finally lost her bobber, hook and redworm to the brush.
We were fishing from bank and in the same spot when 20 minutes later the bobber went under and stayed then would come up, move sidewise several feet. I was amusing to watch but we felt bad for the little critter. There was really nothing we could do to free it.

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Originally Posted by funfishers

My wife and I were fishing yesterday in an area yesterday that was full of recently exposed brush. We kept getting hung up but usually broke free. My wife finally lost her bobber, hook and redworm to the brush.
We were fishing from bank and in the same spot when 20 minutes later the bobber went under and stayed then would come up, move sidewise several feet. I was amusing to watch but we felt bad for the little critter. There was really nothing we could do to free it.

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The redfish were running pretty good, there were some big ones moving up and down the peir. You would hear someone holler they had a fish on. Then a few minutes later it would wrap a barnacle encrusted piling and break off. This went on for 30 minutes. A fella down on the end of the pier hooked up, walked off the pier and onto the beach, fought the fish away from the pier. He pulls out a monster redfish that looked like one of those goth teenagers. It had 8 hooks in its mouth. That was one heck of a site

DSJ, you had me at the …:”looked like one of those goth teenagers!”…lol


Sent from my iPhone using Crappie.com Fishing mobile app

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Originally Posted by LVSpinfisher1

DSJ, you had me at the …:”looked like one of those goth teenagers!”…lol


Sent from my iPhone using Crappie.com Fishing mobile app

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Sadly that was the best way I new to paint that picture. Besides very few of them are crappie fishermen. :dono

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Originally Posted by DockShootinJack

Sadly that was the best way I new to paint that picture. Besides very few of them are crappie fishermen. :dono

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I knew exactly what you were saying! I went to school with many a gothic teenagers with lip and nose rings (ouch!) So that image crossed my mind instantly.


Sent from my iPhone using Crappie.com Fishing mobile app

They are quite rare in my little small area of East Tennessee. Although I did work with one we called Tacklebox.

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Originally Posted by DockShootinJack

The redfish were running pretty good, there were some big ones moving up and down the peir. You would hear someone holler they had a fish on. Then a few minutes later it would wrap a barnacle encrusted piling and break off. This went on for 30 minutes. A fella down on the end of the pier hooked up, walked off the pier and onto the beach, fought the fish away from the pier. He pulls out a monster redfish that looked like one of those goth teenagers. It had 8 hooks in its mouth. That was one heck of a site

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That was a good story, and a funny analogy! We don’t see as many of those teens as we use to, but they’re still out there!:Rofl
Bob

you fellas need to try the "red" run in Alaska , lots of the big ones go by with multiple "flies" stuck in them from head to tail ,they break off so much it is hard to imagine , the good news is we target the ones with multiple flies to restock our shrinking inventory when we hammer them up there ....:Rofl

A lot of years ago in Florida Sportsman magazine I believe, there was a story about a man that found a largemouth flopping around on the surface as he headed out one morning. The fish was ultra skinny and clearly in need of help. He got to feeling around on the fish and felt something hard inside. He looked in the mouth and couldn’t see anything but the object was moving so he did his best to persuade it back out the way it had come in. A few moments later he was able to get ahold of the end of what turned out to be a sizable piece of wood that it had eaten and swallowed , unable to digest or pass. He pulled on it and it came out without much effort and he revived it for a couple of minutes and it swam off on its own. Nothing found in a fishes stomach surprises me since reading of this. My thought was that it struck the wood thinking it was food in low light conditions. That fish was blessed with a Good Samaritan.

It's happened to me twice this year. First time was at Normandy and I caught a two pound smallmouth. He had a large plastic crawfish sticking out of his stomach. There was no hook attached and I was able to pull it out no problem. Few weeks later on the Cumberland River same thing but this smallie did have a hook attached to plastic worm. I was able to unhook him/her also. So sad to see this stuff. While i'm rambling i'll tell a true fishing story. Hooked a smallie about a pound on the river and fought him up to the boat before the ned rig came loose. No kidding but I saw him immediately grab it again and get hooked! He had a fresh hole in his mouth right next to the hook! I would never of believed it if I had not been the witness.

Cool memories! Fish want what they want when they want it no doubt!

I figured out why the hook came out easily from deep in the gullet: the circle hook was too small for that diameter worm plus it was hooked through a hard plastic sleeve at the center of the stick that reduced the gap even more. No way I would have been able to extract the rig with a larger hook embedded that deep. Amazing the fish was even caught in the first place allowing it time to break the line. Course the other thing was the mono used. Braid rarely breaks - even 8# test - and the fish would have been c & r'd at the boat minus the large lure blocking its gullet.

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Originally Posted by Spoonminnow

Cool memories! Fish want what they want when they want it no doubt!

I figured out why the hook came out easily from deep in the gullet: the circle hook was too small for that diameter worm plus it was hooked through a hard plastic sleeve at the center of the stick that reduced the gap even more. No way I would have been able to extract the rig with a larger hook embedded that deep. Amazing the fish was even caught in the first place allowing it time to break the line. Course the other thing was the mono used. Braid rarely breaks - even 8# test - and the fish would have been c & r'd at the boat minus the large lure blocking its gullet.

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If they get it in their mouth they are going to swallow it.