Partner and I pulled up on a large area with open water structure where there were numbers of fish. We caught 5 fish, spots and largemouth, back to back and the 5th fish chocked the lure and got trebles in the gills causing some bleeding. We got the hooks out and fish was released in good health. Happy about that, but the bite was gone after the fish was released. Has anyone experienced this? Do fish let off a warming scent or pheromone when they get injured more than a hook in the lip?

Another reason could be we are the best fishermen ever and caught every fish that was there!!! LOL. Probably not the case!

Either you moved off the school of fish or they moved while you were trying to get the hooks out of that last fish.

This is common and to be expected. You can only hit a school so many times (or for so long) before they jet outta there. That's why it's important to act quickly after a catch. If there is a school, you start a countdown clock in a sense. The time you took getting out a hook carefully (thank you for respecting the fish by the way) was enough time for the school to move on.

Put the injured fish in the livewell till your done fishing the area, they will a release pheromones and alert other fish of Danger. Release that fish before you leave especially if it's undersize you don't want to get caught with it...

School leaving very well could have happened but the area is large enough and has structure to hold more than just one school of fish. The fish we caught were scattered on the structure and I do not think it was just a roaming school. We also fished it long enough for it to reload after the initial catches. These reasons have me thinking it could have been the injured fish. We also threw multiple baits afterwards and nothing worked. So for some reason they left or shut down.

I hesitate to put an injured fish in the live well but next time I could move away from the area for the release if they are able to alert other fish.

Thanks for the feedback.

Some fish, minnows and catfishes for sure, are sensitive to an "alarm pheromone" called schreckstoff that is either intentionally or coincidentally (scientists aren't sure yet) released when a fish is sick, injured or aware of a nearby predator. I don't know if black basses also release or can detect an alarm pheromone but I would wager that they probably do to some extent.

Did you by any chance catch the largemouth first, then the spots?

Mixed. Largemouth first, three spots and then the fifth injured fish was a largemouth.

Your deep spot could have been over ran by the spots. I've had it happen several times, mostly on Rayburn, where you're catching 'em good deep, then the 13" spots move in, the largemouth leave, then the spots leave. Very frustrating, especially in a tournament.

I also believe that an injured fish released back into the school has some effect on them.

LOL. I had to google that to make sure it was real!! Interesting.

You forgot to pour "Sprite" on them.

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