Fish bites angler in Missouri competition first: 'Something bit me!'
'I pulled my foot up and there was blood all over it'
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It turns out, the fish really were biting in Missouri.
A fisherman brought home a unique story while preparing for a tournament. While reeling in one fish, he reportedly stuck his foot in the water – and got bit hard.
Zach Raynold says he was bit by a muskie hard enough to draw blood while reeling in another fish. (iStock)
Zach Reynolds was recently angling at Pomme de Terre Lake in Missouri when he hooked a bass, the Columbia Tribune reports. While reeling the fish in, however, he says he was bitten by another fish.
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He told the news outlet, “It was so hot, it was burning the tops of my feet so I had them in the water as I was reeling in that bass. I was still reeling when something hit the top of my left foot. I pulled my foot up and there was blood all over it.”
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Apparently, he quickly recognized the V-shaped bite mark on his foot and knew what happened.
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“I knew it was a muskie,” he said. “If I had to guess, I’d say it was maybe 20 to 30 inches long.”
Reynolds was preparing for the Mo-Yak Tournament Series during the trip. The Missouri Department of Conservation has reportedly stocked muskellunge "muskie" fish for the tournament at the Pomme de Terre Lake since 1966.
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Muskies have rows of sharp teeth and are predatory fish that can reportedly grow to be over four-feet-long.
Reynolds was with a friend when the incident occured, but apparently the story was a bit hard to swallow at first.
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“He started shouting, ‘Something bit me!’” pal Zach Armstrong told the Columbia Tribune. “I thought he was just messing with me, but then he pulls his foot out of the water and it’s all bloody.”
Armstrong continued, “People spend hours and hours trying to catch one of these, and here he got bit by one. I guess we found a new bait!”