First Catch on first cast....

[JuanTamad]

First Catch on first and only cast....of the day while fishing in an area where I observed a pair of peacock bass pairing off and cleaning their spawning site last Tuesday. Came back today and saw that somebody stepped on their nest but saw a pair lingering in deeper water behind a big rock.

Casted in their direction and pulled this out of the water, an 18 inch+ female LMB loaded with eggs. Was forced to take it home when I could not get the hooks out and gutted it for the freezer. Fish fry later this week....

 

[ammerman19]

awesome fish but couldn't you have cut the hook or your line? That's what I always do when I can't get them out. I even do that for little bluegills just so I don't have to kill ém. Unless I want to eat them that is

 

[stotty]

Nice fish it was a shame you could not get the hook out but a nice bit of fishing

 

[Gr8KarmaSF]

Came back today and saw that somebody stepped on their nest but saw a pair lingering in deeper water behind a big rock.
....

nice catch....

 

[JuanTamad]

awesome fish but couldn't you have cut the hook or your line? That's what I always do when I can't get them out. I even do that for little bluegills just so I don't have to kill ém. Unless I want to eat them that is

Not when the hooks are attached to my favorite Rapala lure. ...And this is the first LMB I've landed in over five years in this spot. The spot was in a lake that was restocked earlier last year.

 

[spotfin]

Try bending the barbs down, or removing all the treble hooks except one.

 

[redtailfool]

Eat it, so the fish wont go to waste. Dont forget the tomatoes and vinegar.

 

[ewurm]

Save the eggs, feed them to your fish.

 

[ROSS]

Been there done that !!... shame you were not able to put it back ..

 

[ammerman19]

Not when the hooks are attached to my favorite Rapala lure. ...And this is the first LMB I've landed in over five years in this spot. The spot was in a lake that was restocked earlier last year.

Yeah it really is not that difficult to replace a treble hook!! Obviously you're not supposed to leave the whole lure in it's mouth. That is why you bend the barb back or cut the hook off the lure. I actually replace mine every couple years unless it's a lure I don't use. Just buy some hooks and possibly rings and bammo you have nice new hooks on your rapala. All I'm saying is don't try to say you wanted her to throw her back. If you really wanted to you could have. And that probably would have helped you in not going another 5 years there without catching a bass. Nothing personal it's not going to hurt my fishing spots but I still don't like to see large females holding eggs taken out of a fishery is all.