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Casey Reed was competing in a regional kayak bass fishing tournament this September when he spotted something unusual on the surface. As he paddled closer, the 39-year-old angler<\/a> found a cannibalistic bass choking on another bass.<\/p>\n\n \u201cI saw something white on the surface that looked pretty big,\u201d Reed tells Outdoor Life.<\/em> \u201cI got closer and could see it was a bass, but it wasn\u2019t dead. Two bass were hung up after the bigger fish tried to eat the smaller one.\u201d<\/p>\n Reed recorded the video on Sept. 16 on Hyco Lake in North Carolina, which lies just south of the Virginia state line. It\u2019s a perfect example of how a bass will eat<\/a> anything that fits in its mouth\u2014along with some things that won\u2019t. Like other predatory fish, bigger bass will oftentimes prey on smaller ones.<\/p>\n In this instance, however, the bigger bass bit off more than it could chew and got the smaller bass caught in its throat. Both fish likely would have died had Reed not intervened.<\/p>\n \u201cThe bass are still alive, let\u2019s see if I can help \u2018em out here,\u201d he says in the video.<\/p>\n Reed then picks them up and tries to separate them. He slowly works the smaller bass free, and after holding them aloft in his hands, he revives and releases both fish back into the lake. He says it took around five minutes for the bigger one to swim away.<\/p>\n \u201cI tried to revive both of them,\u201d Reed explains. \u201cThe smaller bass swam off pretty good after I worked with it a little. The bigger bass seemed more shocked than the smaller one. But I revived it, too, and it looked okay.\u201d<\/p>\n