mishandled or deformed at birth??

[choo-choo]

I caught this salmon back in october and was amazed that it could get so big and reach maturity with such a deformed mouth, nose and jaw. One tough and determined fish....could it have been ripped apart,mishandled as a skippy? What do you think...choo-choo steve

[Capt Vince Pierleoni]

I'm almost certain it is a Salmon that was caught and released, or ripped free. They have an amazing ability to heal providing the gills aren't ripped. Because they often nearly choke on spoons with trebles too large for their mouth as 1 yr old "skippers", even careful anglers will split the lower jaw removing the hook.

[GAMBLER]

I caught a laker a couple years ago that had the same jaw. It must not have had trouble eating because it was an upper teens fish.

[choo-choo]

Capt. Vince...I think you are probably right that it was split open and healed over when it was young...I felt bad for the fish when I caught it, and thought about it going through life like that....I am guilty of being hasty and rough sometimes while "shaking" and releasing small fish.....i am going to a little more gentle and careful from now on.....choo-choo steve

Gambler....upper teens, nice laker.... I guess they learn to adapt with their deformities, maybe have to hunt more often due to not being quite as efficient...steve

[Big Dave]

viewtopic.php?f=2&t=13591&p=72801#p72801 this is one that we got last year

[choo-choo]

Big Dave....that fish had one messed up upper lip....a face only it's mother could love !!

[Big Dave]

Chasing parked boats I think !!!!

[choo-choo]

Too funny.......the boats win everytime!!!

[frm03064]

could have gotten sliced up by the sharp fin points of something it tried to eat... or someone set the hook to hard... alot of amateur fishermen really yank back hard on the rod and cause damage to the fish (and break the line losing tackle) when really only a little pull is usually enough to do it.