Caught this big ol girl last Wednesday. Giant head and 39 inches in length but only 21lbs. She looked like she was starving; lots of loose skin hanging on her belly like she had bariatric surgery. She put up a good fight and revived well on the release and went to terrorizing perch and shad in the shallows for about two hours after I put her back. Ya'll got any guesses as to why she was so skinny?

A 39” fish should weigh around 26 lbs. could be a number of things from genetics to parasites but I noticed there is some strange looking marks up by the mouth which could indicate that the fish was possibly hung up on a jug line for a bit. I see jugs swimming by quite often with no string of jugs close by. I actually saw one swimming by Sunday and ran the jug. The Tag was 4 days old and the fish was beat to hell from trying to rub that jug off. I wish they would change the rule to make juggers have to watch their jugs as they are definitely killing some big fish. In the spring I see jugs tangled up in the trees with big fish on them that have been there a while. I found one this spring with a 25 lb blue on it and the tag was 2 weeks old. I was able to release that big fish to live another day but I know quite a few aren’t so lucky. When you leave your jugs unattended a big fish will swim off and be miles away before the jugger returns to check them.

jugs and trot lines is not fishing to me,..

May be worms?

I only run jugs/lines in a creek & always respect others. I make my own, its time consuming & a pain in the a$$. Im in my 40's, my grandfather's have done this in there past. Call it a family tradition.

Idk, I've ran across things that upset me as a liner. I agree it's probably been in wrapped up & left to starve. I wish I could share the joy of line fishing done right with others...at least to give the rap a rest.

Jug & trotline fishing are legal means in Texas, Do I wish it was illegal-yes.
This fish very well could have been a male fish and they don't weigh nearly as much as females.

To each his own...

I used to flathead fish with jugs on Rend Lake in Southern Illinois. That was where I first got the fever for big cats. Watching one of them pull a big jug under and then seeing it shoot out of the water like a missile from a sub was a blast. Chasing them around the lake after they pulled a jug lose was fun too.

Today, I'm am strictly a rod a reel fisherman. I don't begrudge the guys that jug fish. You do you fellas. If jugs are your thing, have fun doing it. As long as we all do what we do responsibly, we should all support each other in doing it.

Sermon over...

Think maybe it was from too much smoking?

LOL

Just joking Bones!

Ken

Well if he did smoke I wish he would have been around Sunday, we could have used his lighter...