Battle Scars?

[kent meadows]

In the last 2 weeks we are beginning to catch some larger fish that look as if they had a fight with a weed eater. Scrapes, angry red wounds, etc... I do know that red or sore looking tails are a sign of post spawn activity, but does it include body scars? My 1st thought was these poor things had a close encounter with a yellow cat or some other very large fish. These fish themselves are in the 9" to 10" range. But there are just to many to be predation. What are your thoughts?...BTW some are showing red "rear ends" but not all. Il try to take a pic of 1 today.  

[David, aka, "McScruff"]

Ever get that pic?

Cant be but so may things.

[kent meadows]

David, thanks for the response. Sadly Ash and I never found any fish last Tuesday that showed any signs of injury. That being said, we found very few fish in general. We here in south central Texas have now entered full blown post spawn summer time blues. If the holiday crowds allow, we will hit some other of our spots this weekend.  

[Slip Sinker]

my home lake is a reservoir Wixom Lake with mostly sand and rock mix tails usually get badly damaged. then our gills have to worry about toothy preds walleyes , muskie and northern pike. many times ive had them attack a panfish while i was cranking them in.

[David, aka, "McScruff"]

If the fish are otherwise normal, I'm inclined to think

1. Mating scars

2. Encounters with toothies - gar, for example

Is it possible you are mistaking some sort of biologic parasite, infection for scarring?

[Slip Sinker]

yep ... things have really slowed down here also... post spawn /early summer period gets tough around here. b.crappies are starting to come around along the deep breaks