Ripping Lips?

[sixstring531]

We pulled close to 80 in the boat two weeks ago and not one fish looked like the pic. We did see some with little holes (obviously caught before) but nothing like the pic. I'll agree; it looks intentional and whoever is responsible needs to quit.The first thing that comes to mind is someone who finds bass a nuisance. It may also be something attributed to trolling. I really have no idea other than it needs to stop.

[wuteversbitin424]

Unfortunately the pics speak for them selves. if it was a natural or predator or even accidental trotlinning incident there wouldn't be close to a 100+ known fish like this. especially because all of these theorys would have been producing fish like this all along. this imo is for sure intentionally done. the ones with the pic i suggest printing them off with a paragraph stating what dirt said in his first post and hanging them at all bait shops and ramps to let the people responsible know that this is NOT ok and we WILL NOT TOLERATE IT!!just a suggestion.

Kevin

[wuteversbitin424]

Like six said if there is anything that's contributing to this (i still think its intentional ) it would bee the trolling of a bama rig but highly unlikely imo.

[Dirtracer35]

MDC and fisheries biologist have been contacted.

[Feathers and Fins]

I doubt it is trolling, I have high speed trolled for Wahoo many times we are talking 12 to 17 knots ( that's 13 to 20mph ) and NEVER had a fish with that kind of injury and we caught Cuda, Dolphin, Kingfish, Tuna and occasional Billfish to go with the Wahoo. Granted it would be a hole depending on where the fish caught the hook first but never anything like that and when you are high speed trolling you don't slow the boat down when hooked up because there could be a hole the hook could come out of but never a slice like that.

[frying eyes]

I hope they find the SOB and put them in jail!

[mjk86]

Dirtracer and Dprice are the only two who have seen this so far? Do you two fish the same areas of the lake? Must be intentional by someone. I was down last weekend in the hawker area, and all the bass we caught (maybe a dozen) were healthy.

[conorsixtakc]

All the bass we caught south of Crabtree and north of Masters were unscathed as well. Possibly a localized occurrence?

[REDSOXWSCHAMP]

been fishing stockon for years, never seen one like that

[Dirtracer35]

Got a very speedy reply. Working with MDC to get this narrowed down so they may sample more specific areas. Glad to see how serious they are taking this as this affects our fishery.

"Thank you very much for bringing this issue to my attention. From the picture you have provided, I would say that these wounds are an intentional cut of some sort. Definitely human induced and not a natural disease or condition. As far as the reason why, I can only speculate and that would not be productive. What will be productive is letting our agents know where you and others are observing these bass so they might be able to get some clues as to who is responsible.

During our spring bass electrofishing samples, we did not encounter any bass in such condition. On the contrary, the bass sampled were in excellent condition. We sampled the first week of May and measured over 450 largemouth bass in the Mutton Creek/Raurk Bluff area and over 175 in the dam area. Do you remember if you observed any such bass before the first week of May? If not, I would say we are safe to say this activity has happen recently, in the last 3 weeks. As you noted, it would be extremely hard for bass to hunt in such a condition and even tougher to actually consume prey."