Caught Little Fish...Then Bigger Fish Eats It!

[FrankB2]

I was fishing yesterday afternoon, and a 3" sunfish took my Green Weenie. The little dink was flipping and flopping all the way in, and just when I was about to lift it out of the water, a smallmouth came up from the bottom, and ate him! I played the smallmouth for nearly a minute, and even had my net out. The little fish popped out, or was released at the last second. I quickly nipped off the Green Weenie, and tied on a Clouser. It only took one cast to hook the 14" smallmouth, and I was able to land it. I've heard of this happening, but it never happened to me. How about you?

 

[Ard]

Frank,

I wrote a story about this happening with trout back in the late 1980's. Someday you'll find it available to read, we named the last fish who did this Bruce, after the fake shark used in Jaws.

What you need to do at a time like that is to feed out line and allow the large fish to get the little guy down into the gullet. Then slowly reel him in. Generally they don't put up a fight because they have not been hooked. I sort of thought the fish were confused by the 'being reeled in part' and thus didn't struggle. At the moment of truth I recommend taking a very low profile, think laying on your side on shore if you have a giant fish coming in without a fuss. When you have dragged him into the water at about 2 - 4 inches it's your choice, net or finish dragging it onto land.

The tale of Bruce I've been told possesses a 'you are there' realism

 

[littledavid123]

Twice I have done this on trotlines. But I have also done this hundreds of times catching bass, crappie and sandbass...Using minnows of course.

Dave

 

[Hombre06]

I used to fish on South Carolina and the gators would hang out by the jetty waiting for a free lunch. They got some of my fish and even my hat that fell in. It was routine for them and pretty entertaining to see who could reel in their fish before the gators got it.

Sorry not a fish on fish story but it's all I got. vr

 

[TexUte Fly]

ive had this happen two times.
one i was reling in a big ole bull red when all the sudden my rod bent in half so far i thought it was about to break, a shark ate half my fish and i reeled in a half eaten fish!
second i was fighting a speckled trout and im about to put it in the net when a dolphin grabs it pretty much out of the net, all i could do was hold on and pray i didnt loose my rod, took that thing about 10 seconds to spool me

 

[jcw355]

A guy I know was bringing in a small rainbow on spinning gear when a big striped bass ate him. I forget how big it was but it took him awhile to land the big fish.

 

[wabi]

I had a 14" largemouth bass take a 6" bluegill a couple years ago. Got it just to the bank and the bass nailed it!

 

[txshane]

I've had it happen several times - usually a bluegill on the fly with a largemouth bass eating it. My son had it happen a couple years ago (when he was 12). He had a pretty sizeable hand-sized bluegill on when a HUGE bass in the 10# range came up and grabbed it. He had hooked the bluegill with a #8 streamer. After a minute or so, the bluegill got worked off the hook, but the hook was stuck in the bass's mouth. He fought her for several minutes before she finally broke the tippet (12# test) and got away.

 

[Davo]

I have not experienced it myself, but I've witnessed it from the rowers seat on fish clients were bringing to the boat. And not just on small fish either, one client was reeling in a nice 15" rainbow when out of the depths came a about a 25" that t=boned his fish. It eventually let it go but he held on for a bit. The client was apoplectic to say the least. LOL!

 

[ted4887]

I've also had it happen while catching panfish. Northern pike will come up and just absolutely smash them. I've probably had more sunfish die on the end of my line from pike than I have from my filet knife.

 

[caseywise]

as mentioned before, bass love struggling pan fish coming to shore. although i've never actually had one "on", there's been quite a few times when they've follow it in and made a swipe right at the end.
on a side note, i have seen a few large musky absolutely destroy fish a quarter there size on tv.


casey

 

[theboz]

Sharks destroying Tarpon, bluefish biting Porgys in half , threshers making perfect circle bites on fluke(flounder), dolphins killing bluefish,largemouths eating perch and gills, snapping turtles eating catfish and big trout eating little trout. But the worst pain in the butt are birds. Cormorants and terns in Florida as well as pelicans. Seagulls up north. They'll grab your fish and they'll grab your fly. Wouldn't be such a pain if they didn't battle to the end as your trying to free them. And never learn there lesson unhook them, free them and 5 minutes later there trying to eat your fly or fish again !learned over the years that places like Islamorada and the south shore of Long Island to bring gloves just in case.

 

[FrankB2]

Boz,
I cast a little Wooly Bugger across the Neshaminy Creek last year, and a duckling (BIG duckling) grabbed it. It was at least a 70 foot cast, and I was casting into some shadow covered water, so I didn't see the ducks. The thing went nuts, and the mother duck went nuttier. It seemed like days before I was able to get the duck from one side of the stream to the other, and the mother duck keep pushing the smaller duck under water. My big fear was that the hook was in its tongue, but it was just barely in the upper beak.
Once freed, that duckling swam underwater until it reached the other side, and joined the rest in a rapid swim downstream. It was crazy!

I must admit that I've caught a few little dinks since the other day, and let them dangle over some good looking pools. Fortunately, I didn't get any takers; I'd be a bait fisherman if I had.

 

[milt spawn]

https://vimeo.com/28970393

 

[theboz]

Frank
I know how crazy any kind of birds get. Your lucky moons didn't come after you. Been chased ny to many geese. Amazing how they always seem tone in the wrong place at the wrong time!

 

[gatortransplant]

While out spin-fishing for tarpon last year, I was hooked up with a good-sized tarpon. I lost sight of my fish as it dove, just as I caught sight of a half a tarpon, with a bite mark in it the size of a basketball hoop. Thought for the briefest moment I had just lost my fish to a shark. Luckily the tarpon I caught was released with plenty of energy to spare in order to out-pace the ever-present sharks, or so it seemed, as the fish swam off strong. Too many people fight the fish to exhaustion and release them to become bait for sharks. The same goes for a lot of other saltwater species (bonefish come immediately to mind).

 

[Ard]

I must admit that I've caught a few little dinks since the other day, and let them dangle over some good looking pools. Fortunately, I didn't get any takers; I'd be a bait fisherman if I had.

:shocking:

See, it gets you thinking all sorts of things.

>>>>>>>>>>> :fishing:

 

[jpbfly]

Happened to me twice....once caught a big brown with a small oneonce caught a big bass with a small onethey both released their prey when they were at my feet