Two years ago I caught my PB smallie in pic 1. Yesterday I caught a large fish in the exact same spot on the river but unfortunately I hooked it deep in the mouth resulting in A LOT of blood. And I mean a lot, my kayak looked like a murder scene. I snapped a quick pic and then put it back in the water hoping for the best but knowing i likely killed it.I genuinely feel terrible because after looking at the pictures I think it's the same fish I caught two years ago. The markings look strikingly similar, three vertical lines starting behind the gills and then a swoopy "M" shape. Do you see the same markings or is my mind playing tricks on me?
I'm strictly a catch and release fisherman so gut hooking a fish is bad enough, but one this size feels infinitely worse because it's likely as big as they get here.
Posted by Responsible_Author_7
5 Comments
Should’ve just ate it if you think it’s gonna die, at least you probably fed a bird or a turtle
I know how you feel.. sometimes it happens and it’s out of our control. People might say “learn to set the hook” and it won’t happen. Occasionally they just choke it down or you catch them in the gills. It’s a dangerous game we play with them, not all hook sets can be perfect and clean. Don’t feel too bad, it’s just how it is. Also, yes it looks like the same fish to me.
Cheers
Yes it does actually look like the same fish… it happens it don’t matter what we’re trying to catch we all have hooked em wrong one way or another… it’s part of fishing… but yes if he didn’t swim off on his own after 5 min put him in the cooler
It happens and it sucks. I tend to cut the line if I can’t at least see the bend of the hook. If you try to get it out when it’s too deep, you’ll just kill them. At least if you cut the line they have a chance of dislodging it or it dissolving.
The four black dots on its pectoral fin really seem to indicate that it’s the same fish.
If you are really worried about killing fish in the future, you could always crimp the barbs on your hooks or get barbless ones. You might lose a fish here or there that you wouldn’t have lost if you’d have had barbs, but they do a lot less damage to the fish and theyre easier to remove for catch and release.