Going Deep!
 

It always amazes me how such a small fish can take a big plug like this! Unfortunately this fish did not survive. This happens to me maybe once or twice a year! This is not an issue of whether I crushed my barbs down or not (I do not) as this plug was all the way down past the gill plates and this fish bled out before I could get the plug free. I hate when this happens......but man....some of these small fish just try to eat large!

this is one of those occasions where there is NOTHING you can do. it happens to everyone. it almost seems greedy to retrieve the plug, but if left in it's certain death anyway. i still feel bad when it happens..
but isn't gluttony a sin anyway? that fish was struck down by god himself.

after all my years fishing,(few compared to others) every year i find myself amazed by what some fish will consume. i've caught 5inch large mouths on 6inch broken backs. it's amazing how exploiting their natural instincts (usually replicating a dying baitfish) can cause them to strike with out any thought as to how to actually consume it.

however i must say.. i dont get how he crept up on a pencil popper, and or managed to hit just right where as to get i so deep. that fish did have some skills. pencils are usually dancing all over. to get the lined up dead center is impressive.

p.s.- thats my favorite plug so far (color included)

You'll kill fewer Bass if you use Circle Hooks on your plugs. :uhuh:

Far as I know they don't make circle treble hooks? As I said....I only have maybe 1 or 2 fish a year take a plug like that. My mortality rate I am positive is very low.

That is priceless. :rotf3:

Paris Hilton has nothing on that fish!
I think the mortality rate is fairly low with plugging as opposed to say, bait fishing, but obviously, s*&t happens sometimes. I have a metal lip with a swiash on the tail that sor some reason, likes to hook fish through the eye and up through the top of the head on that swiash. I let these fish go, as they are still alive, but I'm not sure how long they can survive like that.

Had an 18 inch fish in the canal take a 9 inch shad down the other morning.

Was it that big? I caught one, I think, that was so big I thought the eel was pulling the line.