We came upon a bass belly-up in the water while boating with friends on Dale Hollow Lake in Celina,Tennessee, this weekend. We thought that it was dead at first but as we drew nearer we realized that it was still alive and choking on a bluegill fish lodged in its throat! We managed to get close enough for one of us to snag the fish and, after some dogged persistence, the offending bluegill was removed from the bass's gullet. I don't know if the bass survived, but we did see it quickly swim away after a moment of recovery.
I did not know that fish ate other fish this large. I really had never thought about it, but I suppose I thought they all ate algae and minnows. I just wonder how often something like this occurs. Out of curiousity I Googled "fish choking on fish" and found the following story:
Giant Pike Chokes
I seem to be fascinated more than others about this experience, but to put it in perspective: Dale Hollow's surface area is 27,700 acres, and the Dale Hollow National Fish Hatchery produces 1.5 million trout a year. That's just trout. I can't guess how many fish of all species are in the lake. I'm no good at odds-making, but I do know that the odds of us running across that fish at that particular place and time are pretty darn small. I am sure we have better odds of winning the lottery, which are 1 in 175,223,510.00.
By the way, I highly recommend a visit to Dale Hollow. It's a beautiful place. And if you see a choking fish, by all means, rescue it. Print this post
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