Random question

[BNL]

I have a question about bass that I have caught with very obvious wounds / cuts on their body.

There is a pretty decent population of pike in the lake I fish a lot and my question is whether these bass were attacked by a pike while I was reeling them in? I have seen pike following small bass and so I know it happens. Also I have seen about the muskie attacks on LSC.  Is it possible the bass were attacked prior to being hooked and still have the wounds? Or is more likely they were hit after being hooked?  Is there anything else that would cause these kinds of wounds, like the fish rolling on the line during the hookset or being reeled in? Could fishing line cause this? Anything else?

I know its a pretty random question, but I see it pretty regularly and so I think about it quite a bit. And I've seen some pretty nasty wounds on a various sizes of bass.

Does anyone else see this a lot? Have any thoughts on this topic? Do these bass recover fine, just with scars?

[fuzzygrub1611]

 I know line can cause some injury. I also think they may rub against a sharp object. I'm sure there are other ways it can happen.

[FishermanJohn]

I have seen fish get wrapped in the line and get cut, as well as from flying treble hooks during the fight.  I have also seen pike follow a hooked fish to the boat, and I have read about pike attacking a hooked fish. 

[rkillick]

Thought I had a toad on last year, got it to the boat-12inch bass with my hook in his mouth and a 30inch plus muskie latched on. He finally let go at the side of the boat, realeased the bass and he swam away like nothing happened. The bass had four cuts across(two on each side) its body where the  teeth latched on - not too bad though. Got the blood pumping a bit, to bad it was not 5 pounder.

[djkimmel]

It could be sores, an infection, injury from bumping into something, injury from attack from a larger fish, injury from fighting during spawn. Many possibilities. Some heal up and are fine, and some don't make it and become crayfish / turtle dinner.

[Team houston]

Cormarant is a possibility also