I was fishing at Falcon resevoir last week. Falcon is a large lake on the South Texas border. We were cutting across the water when I saw a large fish floating on its side. I turned around and went back to see what it was. It was a very large bass with a fish stuck in its mouth. I netted it and weighed it with the fish in its mouth. 11 lbs. 8 oz. Both fish were still alive. It took me a few minutes to remove the fish from the basses mouth with a pair of pliers. The fins were locked and it didn't want to come out. The small fish was a 1 lb. Tilapia. Behind it was a regurgitated palm sized bream. The tilapia went in the live well (good eating), the bream over the side and I weighed the bass again. 10 lbs. 5 oz. I took some pictures and tried to revive the bass. I moved it back and forth in the water for about 5 minutes but every time I let it go it rolled belly up. I put it in the live well.
About an hour later we were stopped by a game warden to check our licenses. I told him about the fish and he told me that since I didn't catch it on a rod and reel I had to let it go. I said I was more than happy to let it go but couldn't get it to stay upright. He said he would try to revive it. We spent the next 10 minutes with him repeating what I had tried. He finally said "this fish isn't going to make it". We couldn't see letting it just float away upside down so he told me to keep it. As much as I hated to do it I filleted it. It is enough to feed me and my wife for 4 meals.
We are totally catch and release people and to take a knife to a 10 lb. bass is just plain wrong. Under the circumstances I just couldn't waste it.
Zulu
