Caught my first bass, and it Died...

[Foyt20]

But not because of me. I was fishing at a pond down the street from my house, after fishing at a state lake off the bank, without a nibble. It looked like a bass rocket convention. Now Im jealous

Any way, I am fishing a chartruce spinner bait, just walking around the pond, and I notice a fish sitting on the bottom (about 12" of water). I cast way past him, and on my retrieve, the bass takes a swipe at my lure, and... i catch him.

But I cant reel it in. I spent 45 minutes trying to untangle this fish, when I discover that its not my line that is caught.

The bass had at a previous time, swallowed a hook, and whoever caught it, just snipped the line off about 5 feet from the end, and let him go. He got tangled on a post that was in the pond (Manmade, complete with marine life nesting nets... Ill get pictures for the future).

I felt really bad after figuring out the whole picture, removing my spinner, and attemping to remove the original hook. I threw him back (more like placed him back) and he swam about 3 feet and went belly up.

But, it was my first bass

Just a bad finish to the story.