SAME FISH CAUGHT TWICE

[AnthonyCatlow]

Happy Holidays SU,

A couple weeks ago I hooked into a fish that I later realized I had already caught a few months prior. Im sure this is something we all have done either knowingly or unknowingly at some point in time if anyone is fishing a particular body of water consistently. I thought it was interesting and thought id share the photos and story.

So to make a long story short this is the same body of water that I caught my PB out of in October (If anyone wants to see that fish/story its in the PB thread). I originally hooked into this fish for the first time in August on a Gizzard Wizard about 300 yards down the bank. At the time it weighed 5.2lbs x 21" and was a class of fish I was never able to catch during summer months relative to the waters I had been previously fishing. This catch ultimately gave me the confidence to return to this body of water consistently in hopes of catching a larger fish, which would end up resulting in me catching my PB. Fast forward to December I'm back in the same spot where I caught my PB and I make the same exact cast, to my right up tight to the bank paralleling the shoreline. I believe this spot holds relevance because it has quick access to "deep" water, has large boulder/chunk rock and is near a shallow zone. I think all these components come into play where the bass can either go up into the shallows and feed in 2ft of water and quickly be back into 10ft + or feed along this quick drop off shore line in about 6ft water. This day I was using an 86 Baits Tempest that I had purchased off of another member on Black Market. I was presenting the bait in a very slow consistent retrieve with the occasional reel pop every couple handle turns. Mid way through the retrieve BOOM it gets thumped and I grind the fish in. After catching a 6 pounder off of this spot my anxiety is through the roof with the thought of potentially reeling in a larger fish. I lip the fish and get it on the scale, measuring board and take my photos and quickly release her back into the water. At this point she weighed 5.8 x 21" it wasn't till I got home and reviewed the photos that I realized the tail on the fish looked similar to one I had caught prior. After matching the photos up next to one another I have a pretty good reason to believe its the same fish I caught in August. Im sure the fish wasn't happy to see me again and probably will think twice about feeding in that area now. Hopefully he doesn't tell his underwater friends to not feed in that area anymore and be on the lookout for me lol. Although it was a cool experience to catch this fish 2 times as stated by Mike Gilbert in one of his videos touching on the same subject, it just goes to show that there's only a certain number of these larger fish in a body of water at a given time. Im sure there are plenty more in there however they're either in unaccessible areas or unwilling to eat artificial lures and with each catch were wisening more and more fish to potentially become uncatchable.

Original Catch In August

 

In December

 

[BeyerLureCo]

That’s pretty epic! It just goes to show that good fish handling and proper release can go a long way. 
I’ve caught the same fish twice, she was a four pounder and blew up on a frog one day and ate a Texas rig several months later (before my Swimbait days).

[HCfromNC]

Thats wild , good eye 

[717liprippers]

healthy fish, thats pretty rad

[GreenPig]

Excellent. I been there too. March 16 2001 she was 7.99 lbs then March 18 2001 she was 7.23 lbs.

Edited December 26, 2023 by GreenPig

[bassbass]

Cool