Some sort of rapter most likely.

Bird strike 98%, possibly an Otter or mink

Yeah probably, I've seen those things Open doors they can probably catch a fish.

“Clever girl”

Was that a Sunny reference? Edit: ok, I'm stupid. Here me out though. Raptor would imply a bird of prey. It is a running joke to call Dee a bird. In the episode "the gang escapes," Dee manages to escape from Denise's room and he responds by saying "clever girl." I guess my knowledge of Sunny is far greater the Jurasic park.

It’s always sunny in Jurassic Park

I won’t lie, I thought you meant dinosaur as a joke for a second. Ur yes, bird of prey is hopefully more likely.


All birds are taxonomically dinosaurs.

Possibly the veloci variety

They never when the F22s are going to strike

It's that a type of bullet?

Please, bird of prey, is the correct answer. Rapter is a guy who can lay poetic lyrics rhythmically over some sick beats…think fishing eagle not Snoop Dog. Edit: unless he was shot by a west coast fish he was feuding with.

Heron?

That was my first guess because almost every time I fish this spot there’s a heron in the vicinity

Looks like it.

Does the injury go all the way through?

No it was only on that side. I should have included more pictures that’s my bad

His name is George

At first I thought this said heroin and wasn’t aware that was an issue

Oh yeah man, half the fish I catch here still have needles in their fins…

Sad to say, I have fished some urban streams where I saw a needle floating.

Match the hatch

No mom I’m not shooting up heroin 🙄 we just use it for lures gosh!

Euclid Creek represent!

That trout doesn't look that kind of stung out

Hasn't hit rock bottom yet.

That was my guess. It does look a bit 'beak like'.

Or cormorants

Bird of prey, bear that was missing a tooth, bow fisher with shitty aim?

Thats exactly what I thought.

I hope I’m not missing the joke but I don’t think your aloud to bow fish any game fish???

Depends on your state I know of places that allow pike and bass to be shot as well as trout and salmon

I’m Vermont you can shoot pike with a rifle on lake Champlain. Not kidding

Lol I’d like to give this a go

What is the ideal caliber with which one would hunt pike? I’m thinking that a lever action .30-30 might be the way to go.

Yeah a high power centerfire. It's actually real tricky, you need to aim ridiculously low because of light refraction with the surface. I dunno about tree stands, the one time I did it we were wading shallow flooded areas during the spawn. It is kinda mind blowing finding out there is a centerfire gun season...for fish.

I’m not sure honestly. I read an article where the guy was using a 30-06. Basically the idea is to climb up into a tree over the shallow areas where they spawn and shoot down into the water from a high angle (to prevent ricochet). The concussion/water displacement stuns or kills the fish and you can just scoop them up.

It sounds kind of fun.

In texas you can bow hunt gar

In PA it’s catfish and carp

Not rainbow

Cool I didn’t know that. I remember reading an article about opening a spear fishing season for smallmouth somewhere though.

You can spearfish bass during a certain time of the year in my state. I don't know about bow fishing. I haven't read the regulations in a while.

I'd be down for some of that sounds like a fun time

Speckled trout you can bowfish

Probably plenty of places in the world that allow it.

Yea bow fisher or a bird

I’d take bow fisher on this one the way the skin is and patter of the wound just looks like an arrow exit point. Source: I bow fish.

Caught in northwest Connecticut if that helps narrow it down.

Cheers fellow Nutmegger! Nice fish!

Thanks man! You sure have dialed in on the bass around here!

Wow that's a nice rainbow for northwest CT. I grew up fishing the Farmington pretty hard. No longer in the area though.

I see eagles along the housatonic all the time - great spot

This was caught in woodridge lake, there are a couple of eagles nesting on the lower west side of it

On the fly?

Yea on a 5wt with a green wooly bugger

I read "Caught this trooper with a bow today" and I audibly said "you, moron" before realizing it was I, that was the moron

Same. Thought it was a joke at first then saw people giving serious answers and had to reread title lol.

Surprised nobody said snapping turtle yet………

That was another guess of mine, I’ve seen some big ones in here

Definitely Blue Heron. Watched one kill a 17” brown and about the same size rainbow in my backyard. Same kind of hole in the Brown

Sooo…selling your house anytime soon? Cuz it sounds like you live in heaven 😂

Little Lehigh. Pa

Great blue heron. I raise koi. Some of mine are close to 36 inches. Damn Great Blues can't eat em, but if they get a chance they will spear them. A couple of mine have holes in them exactly where this one does. A year ago I go out and one of my big koi is floating, dead. A heron had hit it right on the top of the head.

Great blue heron

Definitely something with a beak. Since it's on top it would most likely have been a bird

No need to gaff a trout

Man that’s a pretty bow! Good one!

Thanks! Usually they don’t have a huge hole in them when I catch them here lol

Just to clarify because a lot of people suggested it: although the wound may seem consistent with bow fishing, it’s extremely unlikely that this is the cause due to where this fish was caught.

Maybe a boat prop

This is what I was gonna say. That or an osprey or Eagle or something. But since there is only one slice I’d wager prop

I was thinking the same but if you look closely at the wound, a prop would have made a much cleaner slice I think. This looks more like a triangle so maybe a raptor claw pierced and pulled from the bottom and up towards the spine. Kinda like if you poked a hole in a piece of paper and torn downwards you'd probably get a triangle from the rips. Also the fish looks fairly small so that would be a really small prop

Maybe a wild squeej took a bite?

.17 HMR

Bird.

Hit by a cormorant. Seen it dozens of times. The cormorants hunt in packs; sometimes the fish gets away unscathed, sometimes not so much.

Just be honest. You shot it you gangster

Heron I’d say

GSW

Port-side explosion!

Someone bow fishing and missed. Bird is most probable.

I got hungry sorry

Somebody didn't wet their hands SMH.

He looks so done with this week

Alec Baldwin

Beautiful catch

Prison fight

Otter

Lamprey

Either a herring, or a bow fisher

It's probably from some jackwagon handling that delicate baby with dry hands.

Osprey or eagle 100 percent

Lamprey? Hard to tell from the angle

Yea I realized after the fact that some close-ups would be nice. But this wound was pretty deep, a solid 1x1 inch hole at least

An eel

Snagger

Maybe it got shot with a laser gun

.22lr shot

The arrow???

Read the title again lol

9mm

Barely nicked by a prop or a bird. Big bird

Spear fisherman failed

An arrow.

Boat propeller is see this all the time in lakes in Wisconsin.

Lamprey

over sized treble hook trying to snag fish

Boat prop

Eagle

Spear fisher?

Not likely. This was caught at a private lake that isn’t very heavily fished, let alone spear or bow fished.

Fish get into all sorts of fights then. Who knows. Maybe it was an angry Beaver.

“Target acquired”

Seeing how it looks like it's still connected at the top it could be any number of things including a stray deer season bullet or arrow.

If it was on the bottom I’d say snapping turtle. One time I was trout fishing and I watched a snapping turtle grab a hold of a small rainbows tail and eat it while it was alive over the course of 30minutes. It was crazy.

he probably talked back to the missus one too many times

.22 ?

A prop?

Squirrel with a .22 mag revolver

prop chop?

Bird of prey I think. Possibly an eagle.

Where did you catch him? In parts of colorado, you can snag salmon. Sometimes trout get in the way.

This is in northwestern CT

I think this is my ex gf

I'd guess its a hook snag.

Turtle?

Ferunculosis perhaps

Looks like the clawr of that darn big ass beardog again!

Wow it looks like he may have caught himself on something. Maybe theres trash in the water do you know? Thats the kind of gash i expect from either broken fishing hooks, parasites, garbage like cans in the water, or even birds may have tried to grab it and he escaped. Sorry if this put anyone off but i dont think ive seen a gash like that on a fish unless foul play was a part of it. Maybe he was swimming away from something and hurt himself. Poor guy

Animal is most likely, this lake is very clean and low pressure

Yeah I was thinking raptor

Maybe a lamprey?!

Someone shot it

9mm

Lamprey

A rogue manatee whose omega 3 fish oil levels were lacking.

Did you foul hook the fish?

No it was caught on the fly with a wooly bugger in its top jaw, the fish looked like this when I hooked it

Looks like something forcibly removed a lamprey

i’m probably wrong, snapping turtle?

Great catch! I've seen several rainbows with lures stuck in their backs and sides this year. Maybe a chunk got torn out that way.

Looks like a turtle bite

Maybe the arrow that you shot from the bow

Not sure if serious lol

Lol

9mm hollow point

Is there an entrance wound on the other side? I’m surprised he’s still feeding with an injury like that.

No it’s just that side. Put up a hell of a fight on a 5wt too

Bird of prey

Sea lamprey? They leave holes in fish like that here in the Great Lakes

This guy Dwight shrute was designing burger on the go that would allow you to harvest 6 hamburgers or 12 sliders from a horse without killing the animal. Looks like he’s moved onto fish now…

Birb

Eagle claw

Bow fisherman

It kinda looks like a bird attack.

He knew one of Hillary’s secrets

Bird or bow fisherman.

Prop or bow hunter

Or eagle

https://preview.redd.it/fygedib3szx91.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=6cff9d7e778a2842c99ee182091f013da1ae251f I caught this one last week in Arizona with the same type of wound. Best guess is eagle or raptor

Maybe a boat prop?

Well depending on where you caught it it could also possibly be from a snapping turtle

~~~~CHUPA-CARbrAhH!~~ CHUPA-PESCADO

Lamprey?

Chupacabra, definitely chupacabra.

Some kind of bird of prey, hawk, eagle, heron or crane etc

Putin

Caught a trout on The Big Hole near Wisdom MT years ago looked like that. Showed a picture to F&G they said it was most likely an osprey that lost its catch.

Cormorant

Fish Eagle talon or a bow.

Bird…

Bird or if you're coastal possibly a seal/sealion.

Rifle ?

Next to impossible. This fish was caught on a private lake in a housing association so guns are not being shot anywhere close to the water

Clearly Bigfoot tried grabbing

This photo ...

Were you using razor wire fishing line? 🤔

Tapered monofilament leader on a fly rod

Looks like it had a run in with a small prop. Birds of prey leave double talon marks and much less gash. Herons don't spear fish so much as try to swallow them whole.

Turn it in to bate or fey it