So I fished today and got a good solid fish and I’ll be damned if I hadn’t caught her twice already! Head is unique and distinguished, but I also noticed her pelvic fins have a certain look and yeah, I’ve got her 3x now! I got her on a 7” speed senko, Texas-rigged pit boss and an 1/8oz bitsy bug/ finesse trailer. I always find this kind of stuff pretty dang cool. She was in the same deeper, weedy hole the first couple times, but had moved upstream a good distance to my June hot spot

 

Aug 07

 

 

Aug25

 

Sept 24

Yep. It's happened to me on more than one occasion.

I tell people that I let them go so someone else will have a chance to catch them, but in truth I do it so maybe I can catch them again.  

Nice!

 

Honestly, I CnR because I don't want to deal with cleaning the critters. I'd rather buy a fish sandwich from Cap'n D's.

 

My buddy Ryan don't even like fish lol.

She just likes you.

My Dad hooked a smallie, got broke off…. On out way back up stream , a few hours later. He stopped and fish that spot, I’ll be darned if he didn’t catch the fish. Had his green pumpkin zoom worm hanging out the side of its mouth, plus the one he had hooked it with. 
So yes I believe you can catch the same fish a few times.

 

I've often wondered if I've caught that fish before

Tight Lines

I know I caught the same bass three years in a row from the same spot.  It was beside the only boulder in a large bay and that bass was blind in one eye.  

I'm pretty sure I've caught the same fish twice since my main two spots are in the 20 and 30 acre range.

 

I can't say with 100% certainty though.

 

Cool story.

16 hours ago, Bazoo said:

Nice!

 

Honestly, I CnR because I don't want to deal with cleaning the critters. I'd rather buy a fish sandwich from Cap'n D's.

 

My buddy Ryan don't even like fish lol.

I’d much rather have a river fish than anything at captain Ds

On 9/25/2025 at 12:16 AM, Bazoo said:

Nice!

 

Honestly, I CnR because I don't want to deal with cleaning the critters. I'd rather buy a fish sandwich from Cap'n D's.

 

My buddy Ryan don't even like fish lol.

I almost entirely C&R mostly because I'm lazy. But my buddy keeps fish in a slot between about 1.5-3 lbs. Everything larger gets thrown back. The reasoning is sound. This is a 30 acre or so private lake. He and I are the only people I know of bass fishing there. Most people troll for crappie at this lake. 

 

Then there's another place I fish that has yellow grubs in the fish. Once you've seen those while cleaning a fish, you can't unsee it. 🤮

The bodies of water are really small around here.  Its not uncommon to catch the same fish 2 or 3 times within a year.

I caught a 5lber by a drain surrounded by a rocky bottom in early Sept on a neko rigged GB airtail.  She has a scar on her back that went from the flesh clean through her dorsal, probably from 1 of the many eagles at that lake.  Her right eye was milky and some googan cut a slit in one of the seams in her lower jaw so he could weigh her. (that infuriates me)

I caught that same fish the second week of November,  by a bridge on the other side of the lake, about 1/4mi away, on a white bladed jig.  She had gained about 3/4lb in just under 10 weeks.