Hey guys I had a really nice bass today out of a pond by my house. Amazingly I caught the same fish the day before and I know this because of a distinctive eye shape. I hooked him in the side of the mouth by the joint where the jaw opens in a bony part of his mouth and he got tore up some and I was wondering if he would be ok because I am really worried that he will not make it.

Hey guys I had a really nice bass today out of a pond by my house. Amazingly I caught the same fish the day before and I know this because of a distinctive eye shape. I hooked him in the side of the mouth by the joint where the jaw opens in a bony part of his mouth and he got tore up some and I was wondering if he would be ok because I am really worried that he will not make it.

 

You worry too much, I´ve caught the same fish 4 times in the same week, actually I´ve caught the same fish twice the same day in just a different location a few yards away from where I caught it and released it with the same lure a few minutes later. I´ve caught many fish with what at the time must have been terrible mouth injuries.

If your worried about killing a fish.....................take up golf.  Even with C&R, some die.

I would not worry to much if I was you, bas a very quick recovers compared to other fish say like northern..... so you have nothing to worry about

I don't think that kind of injury will hinder the fish too much, the stress of being caught and out of the water, in my opinion, is more of a risk to the fish so be sure to learn and practice proper catch and release techniques!

 

I'm not a fish biologist by any means, but I would imagine that a tear in the area you're referring to (if I'm thinking of the right area) would regenerate and close up after some time. How long, I'm not sure, but hopefully someone who does know can come along and answer that for sure.

Yeah, I think he's fine. He can open and close mouth, so he can eat. I agree with Oscar, the stress is more of a risk, let them go asap. And loosing too much blood is bad.

I've seen bass with all kinds of injuries and deformities that were still feeding successfully, a little hole isn't going to slow him down.