Angler lands bass with snake in mouth; it 'was looking at me'

In a year when it seems that anything is possible, a Tennessee angler has reeled in a bass with a live snake in its mouth.

“Be careful when you reach your hand in a fish’s mouth! You never know what might be in there,” the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency cautioned its followers Saturday via Facebook.

A photo showing part of the snake lodged inside the throat of the bass was supplied by Dan Boudrie, who caught the bass earlier this month near the town of Paris, after it had apparently snacked on the reptile.

Boudrie is quoted as saying, “The head was looking at me right before I took this picture. I thought it was cool but wondered how I would explain to an ER doc that I got bit by a snake from putting my fingers in a fish’s mouth.”

Bass fishermen commonly use a thumb and forefinger to hoist fish out of the water, in a practice called lipping.

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Reads one of more than 100 comments on the TWRA Facebook post: “If I had lipped the fish and then saw the snake, I probably would have thrown the fish, snake and rod and reel across the lake! No pictures!”

Reads another comment: “Guess I’m done fishing for 2020.”

The snake was identified as a non-venomous water snake, according to McClatchy News. Water snakes are sometimes confused with venomous water moccasins.

Boudrie was said to have thrown back the bass with the snake still in its mouth.

Bass are opportunistic and have been known to eat snakes and lizards that venture too close to water’s edge.

–Image courtesy of the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency