A couple of weeks back I was fishing an orange pumpkin 5” Yamamoto Senko in my favorite river and I had it bitten/pulled in half by a fish. The next evening I was fishing weightless flukes a few hundred yards downstream and hooked a smallie, maybe 1.5 pounds. As I brought him alongside the boat the fish puked up the tail end of the Senko I’d lost the day before.
One puked up a big alewife on my boat once, hooked it on my spoon and threw it back out. Another fish attacked the heck out of it immediately but pulled off
Perch & crayfish carcasses routinely adorn my live well after a decent day on the water introducing myself to the local smb population.
And on the more unusual side, this fish was literally gagging on a gullet full of plastic baits . .
Weird.
A-Jay
On 11/1/2019 at 1:19 AM, A-Jay said:Perch & crayfish carcasses routinely adorn my live well after a decent day on the water introducing myself to the local smb population.
And on the more unusual side, this fish was literally gagging on a gullet full of plastic baits . .
Weird.
A-Jay
I’ve had them spitting up plastics that weren’t mine, as well. I guess we’re doing them a favor... forcing them to puke up indigestible stuff
Yellow perch, white perch, alewife, gobies, crawfish, leeches.
I caught one about 3lbs that smashed a spinnerbait, and when I was unhooking it I noticed something odd in its throat. Turns out it was a full sized red squirrel. Guess he must’ve grabbed it when it was swimming across the channel. That was one hungry fish to eat that and hammer my spinnerbait.
On 11/1/2019 at 4:43 AM, Way north bass guy said:I caught one about 3lbs that smashed a spinnerbait, and when I was unhooking it I noticed something odd in its throat. Turns out it was a full sized red squirrel. Guess he must’ve grabbed it when it was swimming across the channel. That was one hungry fish to eat that and hammer my spinnerbait.
I’d say it’s tough to beat that.. a squirrel!?!?
A Berkely Swimbait.
Caught a fish... got a free bait.
I caught one at Table Rock on a C-rigged lizard, that then puked up a still live salamander in the boat. Only time I've ever seen a live salamander in the wild. Little thing was mad at the world and plopped back in the lake. As many fish as we were catching on lizards off that bank, I doubt he made it back to the bottom.
I’m thinking a significant percentage of the plastics these fish puke up were eaten after fishermen discarded them. That’s one of the reasons I don’t throw them in the water when they’re no longer fishable. The other is that I’m a cheapskate - I repair my plastics and fish them again.
The senko I mentioned in my post sunk away before I could grab it. Too bad, too, as the other half of it was still on my boat. It would have been pretty cool to glue it back together and use it again
Shad and crawdads
Mostly yellow perch and crawfish. Occasionally a little crappie, or bluegill. I did have one a long time ago now spit up a goby looking thing on my home lake....which doesn't have gobies. Never did find out what it was.
I'm always amazed whenever a smallmouth will cough up a 5-6" bluegill or perch. It's amazing how aggressive these fish feed.
On 11/2/2019 at 1:13 AM, ww2farmer said:I did have one a long time ago now spit up a goby looking thing on my home lake....which doesn't have gobies. Never did find out what it was.
Probably a sculpin. They look a lot like a goby and are a native species.
All the above are all the reasons to keep your live wells clean.
This...... from then on anything I threw that was brown and orange caught fish. I love it when they talk to you.
They sure do like yellow perch and crayfish.
Is this something that's more common among smallmouth? I almost never see largemouth throw up anything.
On 11/7/2019 at 10:00 PM, RealtreeByGod said:Is this something that's more common among smallmouth? I almost never see largemouth throw up anything.
I think it is more common with smallies but I’ve had largemouth cough up a shad or two as well.
I've had largemouth puke up all kinds of stuff too. I've had one throw up a still alive baby painted turtle. Then this one that I caught on a 6XD.
I've not had any sallies puke anything up, but a two pounder I caught on 04 November had a yellow perch's tail sticking out of its throat.
I was a dummy and didn't take a picture of it before I put it back in the water.
On 11/14/2019 at 7:50 AM, DogBone_384 said:I've not had any sallies puke anything up, but a two pounder I caught on 04 November had a yellow perch's tail sticking out of its throat.
I was a dummy and didn't take a picture of it before I put it back in the water.
I had the same thing happen. I figured the bass was trying to puke it up but couldn’t because of the dorsal fins on the perch.... so the perch’s tail was sticking out. Otherwise, the bass hit my jerkbait while it was still swallowing a perch :D
Crayfish, sculpins and yellow perch.
All kinds of stuff. Most memorable would be what was left of a mouse or rat. It "furred" my entire livewell, with a big wad of "something" laying on the bottom. Only thing I could recognize was the ears.
Had one spit up a full shad and half a shiner. Another smallmouth came up and grabbed the half and a gull dive bombed the other.
Whenever you see birds diving in open water it's time to move. Every time I've seen an osprey, gulls or blue heron diving shallows or channels, there's always bass to be found.
Can’t say it was a smallmouth but the weirdest or craziest was probably a bird. I caught a largemouth with a weird looking belly and a black feather sticking out of its throat.. upon Further inspection yes, the bass indeed swallowed a whole bird ..