Who says fishing can’t be educational?

Tom Panei, right, and his son, Luca did not hook this 36-inch musky. Luca hooked a bass and as he was netting the bass, the musky came up to eat the bass and got netted. Submitted Photo.

Luca Panei, 8, of Butler, got an up close and personal look at the food chain during a recent day of fishing with his father on the Mahoning River in Ohio.

“Fishing is a big tradition in my family,” Tom Panei said. “My father, brother and I fished together for years. Now I’m enjoying that experience with my son. Call it the new generation, I guess.”

That new generation has something to talk about.

While on the boat on the lake, Luca felt something tugging on his line, but couldn’t quite figure out what was going on.

“I was trying to reel (the fish) in, but my line kept jerking all over the place,” Luca said. “It felt like it was snagged or something.”

His father encouraged Luca to keep reeling the fish in.

“Bass usually put up a fight, but this one seemed to be swimming toward the boat,” Panei said. “I told Luca to hang on and keep reeling ... But there was something odd going on.”

When Luca finally pulled the approximate 15-inch bass in and prepared to put it in the net, he discovered a bonus came along for the ride. A 36-inch musky was attached to the bass.

“He was trying to eat the bass,” Luca said. “He never let go, so I wound up catching both on the same cast.”

“If I wasn’t there to see it, I wouldn’t have believed it,” Panei said. “The musky never realized it was on a fishing line. It was just trying to pull in that bass, which was being pulled away from him.”

That was the first musky Luca had ever caught. It was his biggest fish as well. The previous biggest was a 27-inch northern pike.

“I was pretty surprised,” Luca said of catching the musky. “It was dark in the water and I never saw it until I actually pulled it out of the water.”

“Luca did it all himself,” Panei said proudly. “I never even touched his rod.”

Panei has been taking his son on fishing trips since Luca was a year old. They go to Canada every year to test the waters.

“We go all over the place,” he said. “Wherever we go, we go fishing.”

But not expecting a two-for-one deal on a single cast.

“That was a once-in-a-lifetime kind of thing,” Panei said. “I’ve never seen that happen before and I don’t expect to see it happen again.”

But Luca isn’t finished yet.

“Salmon or steelhead is next on my list,” he said.