Smallmouth bleeding out of the roof of its mouth?

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Mike Bess on March 22, 2009 at 9:04pm

David,
Nice fish! You hit a vein in it's head. I've had a few over the years bleed like that hooked in the same area. With that amount of blood though it may die.

Permalink Reply by David Parnicky on March 22, 2009 at 9:18pm

Thanks for the info Mike! Thats kind of what I thought had happened but I wasn't sure. Hopefully that will clot up and heal before the fish loses too much blood! I hate seeing a fish like that die but its seems like there is little that could be done at that point. Does rejuvenade or any live release formula help to heal injuries like this one? Kind of scary how easy it is for that to happen...pretty common place to hook a feeding bass on a jig.

Permalink Reply by islandbass on March 22, 2009 at 10:47pm

The exact same thing happened to me as you described. I felt awful about it and let it go as soon as I could. It swam away vigorously too. I hope it made it and yours too. What hook were you using. Mine was caught with the drop shot and a #2 owner mosquito hook.

Permalink Reply by David Parnicky on March 22, 2009 at 10:54pm

Mine was a 5/O Owner on a 3/4 oz. football unfortunately. Probably did a number on that poor fishes vein! Was this a fish you caught today also Islandbass?

Permalink Reply by Eric DeLay on March 22, 2009 at 11:00pm

It will be fine, bass are very tough. It looks like a lot of blood but it isn't really. Mike Bess bled more than that on my brand new bibs he borrowed yesterday. :-)

Very nice fish though David, especially for Sammamish, I think that is over 4.5lbs. What do you think?
Congrats.

Permalink Reply by Mark Byrne on March 22, 2009 at 11:17pm

I would not worry too much, remember that most of the bass diet is made up of prey items that are sharp or have defense mechanisms that pinch or poke. Areas that have a large amount of blood flow are also areas that tend to heal quickly.

Permalink Reply by Chris Blandi on March 23, 2009 at 7:44am

That is a heck of a fish.

Permalink Reply by islandbass on March 23, 2009 at 7:46am

No, it was a while back. Those owners are super sharp! I couldn't believe the hook went through its pallette and I didn't even set the hook (I mean drop shotting hook set).

Permalink Reply by C-RIDE on March 23, 2009 at 8:41am

I have seen this a few times when catching the fish very deep and bringing them up quickly. They start to foam out of the gums and blood comes out sometimes. But I havent seen one bleed that bad from the gums though. I'm sure I'll get some crap for calling them gums too! lol

Permalink Reply by Dave Massey on March 23, 2009 at 9:02am

I had that happen before too. Good to hear that it also probably survived. That is a beautiful looking steelhead spawner with that pretty red stripe. Oh wait, that is a smallmouth. LOL nice fish

Permalink Reply by David Parnicky on March 23, 2009 at 1:38pm

Eric DeLay said:

It will be fine, bass are very tough. It looks like a lot of blood but it isn't really. Mike Bess bled more than that on my brand new bibs he borrowed yesterday. :-)

Very nice fish though David, especially for Sammamish, I think that is over 4.5lbs. What do you think?
Congrats.

My Berkley scale said 3 lbs. 10 oz. I thought it was about 4 lbs. even from eyeballing it. Fish always look bigger than they really are when I hold them ;) It was a very healthy female and was starting to get some egg bulge going on. Im glad to hear everyone is optimistic about its chances. I never fished Lake Sammamish until this February. Fun place to keep occupied during the winter moths. Good numbers of decent sized catchable fish from what I can tell.

Permalink Reply by Marc Marcantonio on March 23, 2009 at 1:45pm

Its chances for survival are better than most would probably think; especially since it is winter and water conditions and temperature is excellent for survival. The best way to stop the bleeding is to get the fish submerged in water immediately. The cold water will stop the bleeding. When you want to take a picture and the fish is bleeding put it in your livewell first until the bleeding stops, then snap the picture and release.

Nice bass!

ciao,
Marc

David Parnicky said:

Eric DeLay said:

It will be fine, bass are very tough. It looks like a lot of blood but it isn't really. Mike Bess bled more than that on my brand new bibs he borrowed yesterday. :-)

Very nice fish though David, especially for Sammamish, I think that is over 4.5lbs. What do you think?
Congrats.

My Berkley scale said 3 lbs. 10 oz. I thought it was about 4 lbs. even from eyeballing it. Fish always look bigger than they really are when I hold them ;) It was a very healthy female and was starting to get some egg bulge going on. Im glad to hear everyone is optimistic about its chances. I never fished Lake Sammamish until this February. Fun place to keep occupied during the winter moths. Good numbers of decent sized catchable fish from what I can tell.

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