# It’s The Same Fish!! – Freshwater 4/16/09



## HaMm3r (Dec 11, 2006)

_Bob:_ “At least I caught the big fish this time.”

_Me:_ “Uh, actually I think mine was bigger!”

_Bob:_ “Prove it!!”

_That brief exchange, along with the challenge it inferred, led to an amazing little discovery as I later examined the day’s fishing pictures to determine who had actually caught the bigger fish. But first, the story…_

This evening, my friend Bob and I took his new johnboat out for only its second bass excursion. We had decided previously that a new local pond looked quite promising, and so off we went, armed with fresh live shiners for Bob and artificials for me. 

Within minutes of hitting the water, I began scoring with respectable-sized bass on soft plastics [smiley=thumbsup.gif], while once again the shiners went untouched. [smiley=tinyviolin.gif]









This trend continued for two or three more fish, including this chunky 2½ to 3 pounder. [smiley=toast.gif] Needless to say, I was having a pretty good time. 









Eventually, after watching an alligator swim by , Bob landed a very small bass on a shiner [smiley=thumbsup3.gif], and although he was happy to catch something, it really wasn’t the caliber of fish he wanted to pose with. :-/ We continued on, with me working grass patches or lily pads and pulling a bass or three out of most of them. At that point, Bob said he was just about convinced to give up on the shiners and go back to arties, when the bite shut off. 

We fished for another 45 minutes with only one more sub-two pound bass to show for it, before we decided to head in. As we made our way across the lake using the trolling motor, Bob left a line out to troll a shiner along behind us, even though neither of us had much faith in getting another strike. Suddenly, his rod bent over hard and after a solid fight with lots of furious jumps, this very nice largemouth came alongside. [smiley=woot.gif]









Bob was pretty stoked as that fish represented his largest bass in his new boat thus far [smiley=toast.gif], which consequently, led to the “dispute” over who had caught the larger fish. ;D

After I helped unload the boat at Bob’s house, I headed home and pulled the pictures off the camera to see who had won our impromptu contest. I first estimated the size, “about the same” I thought. :-? Then the gaps in the tail,“same”. The bumps on the head, the color and the body markings, “same”, “same” and “same”! [smiley=1-mmm.gif] Finally, I noticed the white marks on the gill plate and realized, “It’s the same fish!” [smiley=1-smack-myself.gif]

I have to say, I was amazed by this turn of events. According to the camera timestamps, the pictures were taken an hour and thirty four minutes apart. That poor bass was having one heck of a rough evening, but sympathy aside, I’m happy to report that artificials once again thumped live bait by at least four to one.  ;D

And Bob, I guess technically you did catch the big fish today, only problem is…I did too! [smiley=1-whoops1.gif]


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## phlatsphil (Aug 17, 2007)

Great story and report. You should send that to FL Sportsman, might be featured inside the back cover of their magazine.


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## tom_in_orl (Dec 9, 2006)

I was making my way down the post thinking wow those fish look similar. :-? Too funny.


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## phishphood (Dec 15, 2006)

Well, at least he hit a different bait the second time.


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## Un-shore (Sep 27, 2007)

> Well, at least he hit a different bait the second time.


I can hear the bass's thought process now, "I'm definitley not going to try the plastic thing this time, hey is that a shiner?" [smiley=1-doh.gif]

If it swallowed the shiner it would technically be a bigger fish, just a thought. [smiley=1-mmm.gif]


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## HaMm3r (Dec 11, 2006)

> Great story and report.  You should send that to FL Sportsman, might be featured inside the back cover of their magazine.


Thanks for the kudos and the suggestion.  I'll run it by Bob and see if he wants to be published. ;D 



> I was making my way down the post thinking wow those fish look similar. :-? Too funny.


Imagine my thought process as I started comparing the pictures. ;D I couldn't believe it...



> Well, at least he hit a different bait the second time.


You can't help but wonder how much they learn from something like this, and how long they retain it... :-?



> If it swallowed the shiner it would technically be a bigger fish, just a thought. [smiley=1-mmm.gif]


Do not mention that to Bob!!


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## deerfly (Mar 10, 2007)

ok, so are you going to give it a name now? I mean what are you going to do when you catch it again? Refer us back to an earlier report? Show us the same picture or just say I caught Natasha again! 

oh yeah, about them shiners, they rarely out fish artificial's on a fish head-count basis, but if you're fishing any where where the big girls are, the shiner hero shots will be a lot more impressive than the arti's


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## Flyline (Mar 3, 2008)

Great job guys! I went to BPS to pick up a 10ft topper with trolling motor and battery! today for pond hopping! everything for 650 bux not bad!

I'm ready! I'm bringing it with me every single day!


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## B.Lee (Apr 29, 2008)

Sounds like we have a convert! 

In high school I carried my 10' jon in the bed of my truck everyday. You never know when you might see a new pond or just feel the need to wet a line.

Of course it didn't hurt that I was only partially employed back then.


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## Green_Hornet (Nov 1, 2008)

Big fun! Like Deerfly said, you might want to start to name yer new pets!


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## tailgator (Aug 17, 2008)

name that fish "Curtis".

we all know why.............


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## HaMm3r (Dec 11, 2006)

Hey...look who I caught again today! Can you believe it? Three times now. ;D Like an idiot I took the picture of the wrong side, but trust me, it's the same one. 









I guess you guys were right about naming em. : So, from now on this particular bass will be known as Scuffs, because of the two distinct scuff marks on its gill plates.


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## mark_gardner (Mar 18, 2009)

just looking at the pics i thought that looked like the same fish then read the story a little closer and am convinced as well that it is indeed the same fish. glad you guys had fun. i gotta get my little "river rat" out and cleaned up as i have a small spring fed lake just down my street that is a great place to hit after work for a few hours of fishing. pretty much catch only 1 and 2 lb bass out of it so imagine the shock on my face when i hooked up with a run away submarine and ended up boating a 8.5 lb bass  unfortunetly i dont have a way to post a pic of it so you'll just have to take my word for it : i must admit that it actually scared me when it jumped boat side and i saw it for the first time. like i said, we have caught 1 and 2 lbers for years then this moose comes bellowing up from the dark depths


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## Tom_W (Oct 23, 2008)

My kid went fishing one day last summer and said he hooked into a nice bass but his knot pulled at the last minute.

That night we went to lake and I hooked into a nice bass...went to take the hook out and sure enough my kids hook from the morning was in the roof of his mouth.

C&R really does work.

Tom W.


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