My first DD

[Bmoney]

that def looks like the same fish. A good rule of thumb to use is everytime you take them out of water properly supported, hold your own breath, when u need air, they need water. Also a properly working livewell is a must, and I personally always carry rejuvenate to put in the livewell water. It really seems to help. Not to bash but I highly doubt it was "natural death" Live and learn. Fish care is extremely important!!!!!

[NorCalBass]

Same mark. Same fish

[Spectrum]

that def looks like the same fish. A good rule of thumb to use is everytime you take them out of water properly supported, hold your own breath, when u need air, they need water.

 

Not really very accurate, unless there are a lot of fish smoking a pack a day for over a decade?

[13_lip_ripper_13]

Congrats keep grinding in January with a t-shirt. In the negs here

[Bmoney]

that def looks like the same fish. A good rule of thumb to use is everytime you take them out of water properly supported, hold your own breath, when u need air, they need water.

 

Not really very accurate, unless there are a lot of fish smoking a pack a day for over a decade?

 

well then by all means, snap pic after pic, and hold a giant out of the water for 5 minutes. I always choose to err on the side of caution when handling fish.

[jock]

I also surf social media and look for people mistreating fish #PETA

[jdhudsonoutdoors]

Watch the release vid and ask yourself does this fish swim off like she was mistreated?

[jdhudsonoutdoors]

Maybe this link will work.

 

[VAngler]

I would also like to point out how even though there is in fact a black dot on the dark plate on both of the fish's upper jaws, the location of the black dot on the dead fish seems to be significantly lower on that plate (clearly located in the fat end of the plate), while on Hudson's fish it almost seems to be right in the middle of the plate. With the addition of the release video, I think we can safely say this this was an unfortunate coincidence and not a case of mishandling on Hudson's part.

 

For anyone that thinks ^this was over the top:

To be wrongfully reputed as being a fish killer in a sport that has come a long way in terms of the proper handling and care of trophy fish, would be a nightmare. It would be for me, at least.

[jdhudsonoutdoors]

I would also like to point out how even though there is in fact a black dot on the dark plate on both of the fish's upper jaws, the location of the black dot on the dead fish seems to be significantly lower on that plate (clearly located in the fat end of the plate), while on Hudson's fish it almost seems to be right in the middle of the plate. With the addition of the release video, I think we can safely say this this was an unfortunate coincidence and not a case of mishandling on Hudson's part.

 

For anyone that thinks ^this was over the top:

To be wrongfully reputed as being a fish killer in a sport that has come a long way in terms of the proper handling and care of trophy fish, would be a nightmare. It would be for me, at least.

 

 

I appreciate your view. I am also in disbelief that it is the same fish. I will attach two images and you can compare the dots yourself. At no point was the fish out of the water for more than 45 seconds and she was released within 5 min of catching her. We take pride in letting them go to fight another day. The dead fish was approx 3/4 mile from where it was caught. I'm not saying that they aren't the same fish but I have doubt. Also Lukes bass was 12 lbs 4 oz. the dead one was 12 lbs 8 oz

[Gilbert]

If its not the same fish, I apologize for the crap you probably have gone through but i have a hard time believing it given the similarities. I agree the black dots do look a little off seeing them on the big screen. But camera angles and light can work wonders on perceived distance and alignment. Like i explained to JD on the phone, I didn't weigh the fish out to be exact. The scale fluctuated from the low twelves to the high twelves. I wasn't trying to get an exact weight because a persecution was the last thing on my mind. The thing smelled horrible and it was sickening to be around. I inspected the fish briefly and noticed what looked like some wounds from hooks around the mouth. I opened the mouth and found nothing inside out of the ordinary. Now, without playing the blame, lets look at the coincidence here. A fish of the relative same size was found floating, not 3/4 mile but a 1/3 of a mile down wind (blew from the south Sunday evening which it does often) and it was the next open day of the lake. Now lets get into the fact that over the past 5 years, i have only ever seen a handful of big floaters and when i do, that's typically after the spawn. Now considering that this is their first time out with their new boat, they catch an absolutely awesome fish (Congrats again!) and in the excitement rattle off 15 -20 pictures. I don't care who you are, you catch a big fish, you're gonna be excited! You're gonna want to get as many awesome pictures as you can. Some vertical, some horizontal, some on the scale, some with the bait hanging (to send to the bait maker to post), some with just the rod (for the rod maker to post) and then just a few extra just incase you forgot some detail. I mean ish, it's a fish of a lifetime you want to make sure that bad boy is documented, i get it and i'm more than guilty of it. What feels like seconds to you really turns out to be 2 or 3 minutes. Trust me, I added it up a long time ago using the time-lapse feature on the Gopro and was shocked. Here i was thinking i was dunking the fish every 30 seconds or so and in reality it was closer to a minute if not more. Lesson learned and now i'm that much more aware of it. I'm not on some holier than thou crap, I'm sure I've probably had a fish or two croak on me in the past as with anyone that has caught enough big fish. It happens to the best of us. In truth i don't want it to be anyones fish and hope it isn't Lukes, but the similarities in the size, relative black dots and it not being but two days later is pretty sketchy. At any rate, they are all really good dudes and will remain good dudes in my book. In addition, lets not forget that these fish don't just instantly croak after releasing them. It can be 15 minutes or a day, but they will come back up. The lack of oxygen or just the stress of being caught in the first place can take these giants out for good. First thing first in trophy hunting is make sure you have a good working live well that can accommodate a fish of this size. Second, after catching the fish immediately put the fish in the live well and make sure that live well is full of water, flowing, then shut the hatch. Give that fish some space, let her calm back down in the darkness for a while. After a bit put some Rejuvenade (or something along those lines)in the well. Let her just rest for a bit while you get your camera gear all prepped and ready. Another thing to have handy is a bends mender. Learn how to use it on the little guys, so when the time comes you're not poking a bunch of holes in the big girls trying to find the right spot. When you're all said and done and the fish is swimming away, hang out for a bit just to make sure she doesn't come back up. 15 minutes isn't to long to sit back in revel in the glory and care for the well being of you new PB. Again Luke awesome fish!

[Gilbert]

*UPDATE: I don't use Rejuvenade. It's been a while since i actually looked at what the damn label says on the bottle, by i use "Catch and Release".

[Seb2fn]

Thanks for the info mike, I'm gonna grab a bottle of that stuff just incase I catch that fish of my dreams.

[Rogervang]

That's awesome man. She's a beauty.

[SPEEDBEAD]

*UPDATE: I don't use Rejuvenade. It's been a while since i actually looked at what the damn label says on the bottle, by i use "Catch and Release".

 

Good talk.

 

FYI for the guys using livewell treatments. Look at the reviews for both Rejuvenade and Sure Life Labs Please Release Me. You will see guys describe the fish swimming in Rejuvenade as "active, lively." This is NOT A GOOD THING. Active, lively bass in a livewell are stressed fish. As we are all well aware, stressed fish typically leads to dead fish.

 

Please Release Me has calming agents, coagulants, antifungal and antiviral components to it. It is good for the fish. It keeps them calm which keeps them healthy.

 

A word of caution though, you can use too much. Back when I fished tournaments, we had a few in the well and I apparently went a little overboard with the product. We pulled into weigh-in, flipped open the lid and.....FLOATERS. My heart sank because I hate killing fish. We pulled them out, put them on the scales and proceeded to give them to a gentleman that showed up to every tournament to collect dead fish to eat. We flushed some fresh water into the bag and the fish perked back up. Just to see, we walked down to the lake and put the fish in the water. Sure enough, they came back. I came to find out later that too much of the product will put the fish into a comatose state LOL. Follow the directions and your fish will be just fine.

 

Sure Life also makes a product called Catch and Release. We keep it on the boat to put directly onto the source in a bleeding fish. It will cause the fish to stop bleeding almost instantly. Obviously, the quicker you can get a fish to stop losing blood the better.

 

This has been your PSA on fish care for the day.