Derek;

Great fish care videos & info !!!!

This last weekend, I caught a nice keeper that started bleeding everywhere (the only good reason for having red carpet). I opened one of my Diet Cokes and poured it on the spot where it was bleeding and it stopped almost immediately. I learned this from Mark Menendez last year at the TTBC when he deep hooked one on a topwater. I asked him if a "Diet" drink would work, and he said any carbonated drink will stop it.

"After you remove a deep hook froma bass's mouth, if he starts bleeding, you favorite lemon flavored soft drink such as a "Sprite, Mountain Dew, or 7UP" could do the trick for you. Simply pour some of the drink into the fish's mouth and the acids from the carbonated soda will make the "Capillaries shrink," stopping the potential death of the bass."

Source: B.A.S.S. Bassmasters Magazine, December 2008. http://www.bassmaster.com/