# How fast do bass heal? Or do they?



## ducman491

I caught a fish yesterday and the little guy was pretty beat up. His lower jaw was broken right in the middle. Upper lip was torn almost completely on the right side and the plate at the corner of his mouth was damaged too. He was about 12"-13" so not very mature. I would assume the damage was from poor handling by a fisherman and his injuries seem pretty extensive so I don't expect him to heal or survive very long. Especially considering he ate a white wooly bugger coming through the pads and then ate it again at my feet when I released him. It made me think do they heal from the holes in their lips and things like that? I try to be gentle and release them as quickly as possible. I felt really bad for this poor fella.


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## ostbucks98

Sad story but must have been doing well enough to still be feeding.


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## NCbassattack

He'll probably be ok, I've seen them beat up like that too, and appeared healthy otherwise.
That being said, it's one reason I don't throw crank baits unless conditions dictate that's all they'll hit.


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## Mr. A

I was just at the Cincy BPS and the whole take of fish seemed to be a retirement home for the sick, lame, lazy, and crazy! I've never seen such badly scarred and deformed fish like that.

I will say there is, what I believe to be, a world record or near world record bass in there. Eyes were bugged out so badly it looks like it's wearing steampunk goggles. But it's size is freakishly huge! I wish there was a way to figure out how big it a tually is. I asked several workers but they had no.clue and did not know who you could contact to ask either.


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## guppy824

I caught a LM at Chautaqua with aTexas rig in is mouth. He still hit my crank . Just shows the have the will to survive. Cleaned the worm and weight out , had to leave hook in .


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## grant778

The fish will probably survive since if it can eat your fly it can most likely feed. The fish's jaw was probably broken by an angler trying to hold it horizontally with one hand. And yes, they do heal from smaller holes in their lips, like all fish do. Its like if someone gets their ear pierced, if they don't keep an earring in it, the hole will close up. However, the issues with their mouths not healing/healing slowly comes not so much from single hook lures like flies, but more so from barbed trebles, and especially lures with two sets of barbed trebles. Those can be devastating when removed and tear out a large chunk of skin, which can take a long time to heal, if it does, and negatively impact the fish's feeding. But even that is probably easier for a fish to deal with than a broken jaw.


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## Aaron2012

I caught a bass this year that had a broken lower jaw also. Right where the break was it was pretty roughed up too.


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