Need a ruling?

[BS'r]

Had a funny thing happen this weekend and wanted to know the ruling.

A small 9" fish grabbed the back treble hook of my topwater bait, while I was bringing him in, a 8 lber eats the little fish and the topwater bait. The big fish is hooked inside the mouth on the other treble hook. I have both fish hooked with different treble hooks.

Is this a legal catch?

If yes, what's time limit on reeling in a fish .

If no, forget I mentioned it.

[Guest]

Hey Bob - that is funny.. But, as far as I know its legal!

As for the time limit... I think you'll have to let your morals and ethics guide you on that one!

Tom

[g-man]

Wow that must have been pretty cool to see.

[Dewayne]

From what I heard of TDs rulings on this one the bigger fish keeps no different than if you caught two 4# fish like the guy did in the Classic this year.

PS - I always play my little fish Slowly.

[Tornado Dave]

First, how awsome is that?

I don't believe that there is a rule against here, you can keep the big fish, but you have to throw the little one back... If possible.

That said, there are parts of the country where this is not legal in a tournament. Specifically fishing a tournament at lake fork, texas. Fork has yellow bass and they are the size of a bluegill. They use jigging spoons to catch the yellow bass in 30' of water, then slowly bring it in. You get the rest of the picture.

The locally accepted ruling was that the anglers were actually using a form of bait fishing and while largemouths are commonly caught with spoons near yellow bass, the yellow bass cannot be part of the process.

I wish I had thought of that this weekend, I had a lot of little guys.

TD

[leatherneck77]

Bob,

As long as the 1st fish was legally caught(which it was) the 2nd fish is legal. No rule against. Do it all the time when I think I have a trout on the hook.

[NaCl]

Bob,

I heard a rumor that when you realized how small that first fish was you left it out there for 45 minutes...until it finally attracted the big bite! HAR HAR!

(just kidding) Clearly a legal fish. The only issue is whether or not it was hooked inside the mouth.

.....NaCl

[Andy Giannini]

I think you are using the little Bass as a bait. One could argue, the big bass hit the popper trying to steal it, but I would guess it ate both, and did not hit the exposed portion of the bait that had the other treble hook.

I guess now we need to estabish the INTENT of the fish...

The smaller fish struggling put out distress better than any lure.

Good question.

Regards,

Richard Dorken

[stickbait]

Had a funny thing happen this weekend and wanted to know the ruling.

A small 9" fish grabbed the back treble hook of my topwater bait, while I was bringing him in, a 8 lber eats the little fish and the topwater bait. The big fish is hooked inside the mouth on the other treble hook. I have both fish hooked with different treble hooks.

Is this a legal catch?

If yes, what's time limit on reeling in a fish .

If no, forget I mentioned it.

Hey Bob

I had the same thing happen to me at clearlake years ago.. popper .. 5 inch fish and a 5 lb fish.. the big one headed to the scales and the little one.. well he should be about 5 lbs by now..

Legal catch in my books !! nice job

[BS'r]

Thanks for the replies, I figured it would count. The big fish was came from under my boat and wanted this little fish badly.

I'm not sure why we have to throw back the smaller fish though. So the rules are, if you catch two at the same time, the smaller one has to be released?

I had this happen before during the Rally a few years back using a trickworm, but that one was missed after the little bass was cleaned off my hook, spit up and eat'n again.

[Rob D]

The little one has to be released because it is only 9", if it was 12" you could keep both.

[Marc]

Legal catch in my book, and if in the process the smaller bass was no longer hooked on the treble it would then have been then swallowed by the larger fish, meaning the larger fish could keep the smaller one.

Now what would you rule if you caught an 8 pound bass and later looked in your livewell and found a dead 13 inch bass in your well (regurgitated). Isn't the 13 inch bass in your possession, and therefore must be counted toward your limit (It can't be culled since it is dead).

And you wonder why people don't want to be a tourney director?

[Tornado Dave]

Interesting question...

Wasn't taken by hook and line, therefore not a legal catch and must be returned?

I don't think the dead fish rule applies. Someone of authority must know this.

Dave

[Marc]

From DFG's perspective the 13" bass is in your possession and belongs to you because of that...from the tourney's perspective you can't cull a dead fish. Checkmate.

[gt5bass]

From DFG's perspective the 13" bass is in your possession and belongs to you because of that...from the tourney's perspective you can't cull a dead fish. Checkmate.

from that perspective...double jeopardy...you are now DQ'd for being in possession of over the legal limit

[leatherneck77]

I have to disagree on a couple of points. If, as the scenario states, the fish was partially eaten and then regurgitated there would be telltale sign on the body of the smaller fish. Any TD or warden should be able to ID this and make the appropriate and correct ruling in favor of the angler.