An angler taking part in a fishing tournament in Ontario, Canada, reeled in a massive bass but what he discovered next to the hook is what had him shaking.
Two fishermen, identified as Cole Menard and Alex MacFarlane, were fishing a Bass Anglers Association club event on July 29 when Menard reeled in a bass that they thought was a Senko lure in its mouth, Wide Open Spaces reported. Senko lures look like long worms.
However, to the surprise of the fishermen, it was no lure in the fish’s mouth — it was a live snake.
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“We removed the hook, removed the snake and put the fish in the live well — as it was a decent keeper! Tossed the snake back in the water and watched it swim away. Definitely looked at home in the water,” MacFarlane said, according to Wide Open Spaces.
Take a look at the surprise catch here:
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It looks like Menard is shaking a bit in the video, and I don’t blame him. Reeling in a fish with a snake hanging out of its mouth is about as shocking as it is creepy.
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As odd as catching a fish with with a snake in its mouth sounds, it has happened before.
Last year, a Australian fisherman caught a fish and when he attempted to remove the hook, saw a snake curled up inside the fish’s gullet.
Andy Warton said that in 18 years of fishing, he’d never seen anything like it. He freed the snake from the fish and released both of them back into the water.
The prospect of catching a fish with a live snake in it is frightening enough to fuel an internet hoax that’s reappeared occasionally since at least 2009. But as an official with the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission told KTHV in a story about the hoax, “the odds of that happening are almost nil.”
That’s probably the best news I’ve heard all day.
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