In order to participate in the GunBroker Member forums, you must be logged in with your GunBroker.com account. Click the sign-in button at the top right of the forums page to get connected.

When bass swallow the hook....

callktulucallktulu Member Posts: 3,451 ✭✭✭
edited March 2010 in The Fishing Hole!
Speaking in terms of Catch & Release:

I don't have much luck with needle-nose pliers, or the specialty tools that are supposed to get the hook out of a bass' throat. I just cut the line as low as possible and leave the hook in, because I've always heard they will rust out in a few days/weeks.

Is this really true? I tend to doubt it, as I've had plenty of hooks in the water, yet not one has ever rusted over the winter season. So what really happens? Does the hook eventually kill the fish? Does it work itself out?

[?][?][?][?]
· Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

Comments

  • jonkjonk Member Posts: 10,121
    edited November -1
    So far as the rust goes, I'm sure there are some digestive enzymes at work as well. I would suspect that in some cases it does just work/rust out and in others it does kill the fish. Probably depends what it is hooked into. But I too would appreciate more info beyond this.
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • callktulucallktulu Member Posts: 3,451 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Well, when they swallow the hook on me, the end is still in its mouth, but the barb end is deep inside. I know for a fact it'll kill the fish if I try and take that hook out from its throat; that barb just tears up its digestive track.

    [:(]
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • MMOMEQ-55MMOMEQ-55 Member Posts: 13,134
    edited November -1
    I leave the hook in and let it rust. If they have swallowed the hook into their gullet you will kill them if you try to remove it.
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • ljwrenchljwrench Member Posts: 5,053
    edited November -1
    Leave it in. You'll do more damage getting it out. Even if it doesn't "rust" out I doubt they'd mind it much.
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • bigbill0910bigbill0910 Member Posts: 1,119 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    I like 'em fried!
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • callktulucallktulu Member Posts: 3,451 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    quote:Originally posted by bigbill0910
    I like 'em fried!


    Me too, but I like catching them more. The more I release, the more to catch again!
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • hrbiehrbie Member Posts: 521 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    I have actually heard that bass have digestive enzymes just like humans. And that those enzymes will break the hook down until it prett much dissolves. I wonder if there has been any studies on this?
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • callktulucallktulu Member Posts: 3,451 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    quote:Originally posted by hrbie
    I have actually heard that bass have digestive enzymes just like humans. And that those enzymes will break the hook down until it prett much dissolves. I wonder if there has been any studies on this?


    There's about to be, because I'm going to swallow a 1/0 hook and find out!
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • bigbill0910bigbill0910 Member Posts: 1,119 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Make sure and cut the line off. You will trip on it![:D]
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • hrbiehrbie Member Posts: 521 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Dont forget to use powerbait....really good flavor.[:)]
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • Knife CraziedKnife Crazied Member Posts: 13 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    I've always heard it will rust but I most of the time easy as possible try and take it out. I was told it won't kill them they will just regrow the insides. So, I find it more friendly to take the hook out. Just my opinion though.[:D]
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • Sig220_Ruger77Sig220_Ruger77 Member Posts: 12,754 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    I haven't had too many times where I have had to leave the bait/hook in, but last summer I had to leave one of my Mini torpedoes in a little Northern I caught. Dang thing devoured it and there was no way I was getting it out without harming the fish. Felt bad, but there really isn't anything else a guy can do sometimes.

    Jon
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • Liv2FishLiv2Fish Member Posts: 655 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    I have caught fish that have a old hook in their mouth. The fish usually are thin and the hook is rusty. I have been able to remove a few but more times than not just left them alone and released the fish.
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • evileye fleagalevileye fleagal Member Posts: 4,238 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    simple fix push line down an out gills. close to fish body there is a gap there if you look. you are wanting to bend the hook over itself. so you can grab the bend ,you know the bottom of hook. dont run the line over the gills but rather under them if any bleeding starts squirt a little sprite on them.take an extra one just for this poke a hole in the top so you can squirt a small amont its somthing bout citrus asid. hey just take my word for it hook will come right out after the the eye is pulled down toward tail of fish hold the line grab bend of hook with neddle nose you can thank me later when you prove it to yourself.
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • bigoutsidebigoutside Member Posts: 19,443 ✭
    edited November -1
    barbless hooks?
    I busted up a small mouth last year and, like you, felt pretty bad about it.
    I'm doing the catch and release deal as well (unless I'm hungry and paying an out of state license fee) So I started mashing down the barbs.

    Since they are going back anyway, I'd just as soon lose a few before they get to my hand in favor of getting them back in the water safely.
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • bustinstainlessbustinstainless Member Posts: 451 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    i caught a big small mouth a couple weeks ago
    and it had some line and a hook in it from someone else
    the line looked pretty old but hard telling couldny see the hook
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • fishhead896fishhead896 Member Posts: 4 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    I have had jigs deep in a bass and just cut the line. If im gonna be on the water for a few hours,ill keep the fish in the live well and see how it does,on numerious occations the fish has worked the jig out of it self
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • fishkiller41fishkiller41 Member Posts: 50,608
    edited November -1
    Stainless hooks have been outlawed in Florida, for a long time.Commercial species and many sport fish species have been studied for enzyme/digestive acids and they will and DO rot a steel hook.If u want to C&R fishing in the future, i suggest buying "CIRCLE HOOKS".They are as good, if not better at hooking fish as a reg."J" hook but u need to relearn how to "SET THE HOOK"..Using a circle hook, their is no more actually "SETTING".U merely allow the fish to pull the line tight, then you simply begin reeling.Allowing the fish to "SWALLOW" the hook is now what U WANT.The hook is designed to slide back up, out of the fish's gullet and hook it in the jaw.
    Good luck guys, and LEARN THE BENEFITS OF USING "CIRCLE HOOKS".
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • oldemagicsoldemagics Member Posts: 5,845 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    i finally get to give an educated answer to this question!
    son started a rather large aquarium and put several catfish and smallmouth in it
    two catties and one bass had swallowed hooks when he caught them
    less than 2 weeks passed before the hooks had been dissolved enough that the remaining line/hook eye were laying in the bottom of the tank
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • woodguruwoodguru Member Posts: 2,850
    edited November -1
    If they swallow the hook they are eaters.

    We used to go to the Mammoth Lakes area in October right before the season close. My wife and her dad and I had gone down to the lake where we liked to fish and there was some big fat pig that had been there, we figured at the rate of pulling a fish out every few minutes he would be limited out in a little while.

    He was using power bait and ripping the hooks out with a pair of pliers and throwing pound and pound and a half fish into the water to float around dying or dead. I watched him do that to half a dozen fish and had finally had enough. I said that's it, he's leaving now. Jeanne's dad was trying to tell me we didn't need the trouble and I told him there wouldn't be any.

    I walked up and quietly told the guy he was done, he said he only had four fish so I picked up one from the shore and held it out to him and told him that was his fifth fish. He said no it wasn't as he had released that one because he wanted a bigger one. I simply told him to pack it up and if he had anything to say about it I'd get a warden over to count his dead fish with the same power bait in their mouth as he was using. He wasn't happy but he packed it up and left.

    Guys that are serious about releasing fish use flies or lures where 9 out of 10 are good to go for another day. Bait that gets swallowed is for meat fishermen.
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • joshmb1982joshmb1982 Member Posts: 8,228 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    theres a difference between a hook just sitting in the water and a hook thats stuck in a fish. heck leave the worm on the hook for a few weeks and see how rusty it gets.
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • BamavolBamavol Member Posts: 966 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    I tend to agree with fishkiller41. I doubt that a stainless hook will rust away. However the fish may encapsulate the hook with growing stomach tissue. I release most of my catch. But if deep hooked I will keep. I like circle hooks, but I fish with jigs and lures that have regular hooks. I try to avoid plugs with several triple hooks. A single hook is trouble enough.
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • thermonuculerthermonuculer Member Posts: 100
    edited November -1
    Huh?
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • kumateliveskumatelives Member Posts: 2,609
    edited November -1
    get out the fillet board,be kind to your prey and kill it quick
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • fishkiller41fishkiller41 Member Posts: 50,608
    edited November -1
    quote:Originally posted by kumatelives
    get out the fillet board,be kind to your prey and kill it quick

    We're talkin "FILLET&RELEASE" now.
    then U release the fillets into some got grease!![;)]
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • brucey44brucey44 Member Posts: 25 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    quote:Originally posted by fishkiller41
    quote:Originally posted by kumatelives
    get out the fillet board,be kind to your prey and kill it quick

    We're talkin "FILLET&RELEASE" now.
    then U release the fillets into some got grease!![;)]


    No your talking why waste the line and the hook. :)
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
Sign In or Register to comment.