If A Largemouth Breaks Your Line....

[Missourifishin]

and is just lip hooked with a single hook, do you think it'll be able to shake it out and not have it cause any problems?

I'm just curious because it has happened to me before, and I'm sure I'm not the only one.

[Darren.]

I have caught one bass with a hook in its mouth. And it was one I snapped off earlier that same day (same hook).

 

What I've been told, read, is that hooks will eventually degrade/rust out.

 

Others with perhaps more experience will have more information.

[lmbfisherman]

I have caught a fish with a small ball jig head protuding out (on it's way out of the fish's body).  I thought for a moment if there was a way to help it along, but decided it wasn't the best idea and I could cause more harm than good.  The hook did look a little rusty, but it looks like it still had some time before it would rust away.  I hope it was able to pass the jig!

[jhoffman]

A hook will take a LONG time to rust out. If youre talking about a size 16 thin wire dry fly vs a 6/0 swimbait hook its probably longer than you might think. Ive caught fish where it looked like they were gonna be on the cover of the next teen mag, still eating.

[Missourifishin]

A hook will take a LONG time to rust out. If youre talking about a size 16 thin wire dry fly vs a 6/0 swimbait hook its probably longer than you might think. Ive caught fish where it looked like they were gonna be on the cover of the next teen mag, still eating.

 

So, in other words, having something like a 1/0 hook in their mouth might not even slow them down?

[Wbeadlescomb]

It hasn't hurt them at all. I broke a 4lb bass off on a Texas rig in a tournament at lay. Let the wind blow me back re-rigged trolled back to the brush top bump bump set the hook got him in the boat there's my hook and bait still stuck in the top of his mouth.

Wouldn't have believed it if it hadn't happened to me

[Avalonjohn44]

I've caught bass that have been gut hooked with line hanging out of their mouths.  Twice I've gotten one that must have swallowed the hooks and had a few inches of braid hanging out of its rear vent...

[fishinthedacks]

Well this wasn't a bass story but last year my brother and I were fishing a local spillway. About once a month the carp stroll in and scare pretty much everything else out so we begin to jig fish the rocks on the bank etc. Well before we saw the carp because they were heading in one snagged a beautiful spoon he was using. He thought it was a rock and decided he couldn't free it and yanked and snapped the line. Two days later I was fishing the spillway. Carps were in again so I said screw it I'm going to catch a carp today. After about 30 mins of reeling in a wet boot I realized it had something snagged to the side of its mouth. I'll be damned it was 150% my brothers spoon because he had been bragging about how well it worked blah blah blah 2 days earlier and was so mad when he lost it. Haha took a pic of the carp sent it to him and that spoon still sits in my tackle box today as a bragging tool that he couldn't tell the difference between a rock and a d**n carp lol. Plus he had his biggest rod/reel combo he owns with 30lb test ( wouldnt personally run a spoon on that combo of all the set ups he has but all the bragging he was doing he wanted to show it off)  and I worked that bad boy in with a cheap old shakespear spinner reel that I was using because it was raining with 15lb test.

[long island basser]

i've caught a few bass with hooks still in them, two of them still had a single hook in the mouth and one had the shank of a 1/0 worm hook sticking out of its rear end.

 

Now i dont know if the bass was hooked in the rear or this hook passed through its digestive tract.

 

All 3 bass were healthy looking and seemed fine, hooks were only slighty rusted and still strong.

 

I did remove all 3 hooks. all be it with the last one a little more carefully!!! 

[The Rooster]

No it's not. I've personally caught bass that had old hooks in their mouths about to rust out. The top part of the shank was still shiny metal while the part entering into the bass itself was so corroded at the entry point that it just broke off when I attempted to remove it. It's always made me suspect they must secrete an acidic substance that helps this along.

I have no idea how long this takes but I know it does happen. All the bass being caught with hooks in them still looking new I would suspect it's been fairly recently since they were caught, and that leads me to think it doesn't take much recovery time for them to start eating again after being hooked. Heck, I don't think it slows them down at all. I once lost the same bass twice from break offs on 4 pound mono so I switched to a rod with 8 pound and hooked it again but didn't lose it that time. The thing had several of my hooks in it at that point, which I removed all of once it was in the boat. This was all within minutes. I was using live night crawlers for bait and it just kept hitting them in spite of adding hooks to its mouth each time.

[Jar11591]

I caught a bass with a hook sticking out of the side of its jaw. Just a single red hook and it was completely healed over so it had been there a while. The hook wasn't rusted at all.

[Sam]

.....its probably your fault.

 

You either,,,,,,,

1.  Allowed slack in the line;

2.  Were fishing with old line;

3.  Did not check the line for knicks, scrapes, cuts, abrasions, etc.;

4.  Did not retie after two or three caught fish;

5.  Rod did not have the power to set the hook in the structure and cover you were fishing; or

6. The line test was not strong enough to handle the fish.

[Sam]

As for the hook, it will either rust out or heal over.

[cbass12]

I have caught a fish with a small ball jig head protuding out (on it's way out of the fish's body).  I thought for a moment if there was a way to help it along, but decided it wasn't the best idea and I could cause more harm than good.  The hook did look a little rusty, but it looks like it still had some time before it would rust away.  I hope it was able to pass the jig!

I caught a smallie like this at Table Rock a couple years ago. It was a single feathered treble hook with the line still attached. I attempted to pull it out but stopped when it became obvious it was not coming.

[BuckMaxx]

I dont know the only time I ever break a fish off is on a really expensive custom bait...

[bassguytom]

I caught a fish last year that had a line comming out of its throat. I pulled on it a a 6 inch swimbait came out of it must not have been in there long but I had a hard time believing it was trying to eat again. The myth that the hook will eventually rust out comes from saltwater fishing. In fresh water it will eventually rust out if not stainless but will take a very long time.

[zachb34]

2 years ago I put a 3/0 bps hook in my fish tank still very very lights rust on it there's not really enough oxygen in the water to get through the finish