What Damage To A Bass If Swallowing Rubber Baits?

[maleko]

I've read many times about leaving a hook in a fishes mouth will be ok etc.. That will spit it out shake it out or it will dissolve.

Now, I've been thinking about what damage a rubber bait may do to the bass? Many times I've caught bass and they have been hooked deep or even just a lipper and my rubber worm is gone.. So either they inhaled it or it got ripped off. I'm betting they swallowed it .. Does it do damage the fish ? I'm pretty sure the rubber worm will be inside them for quite some time no?

If so do you think it affects their eating habits .?

Thoughts?

[Catch and Grease]

No it doesn't effect them... I've caught plenty of healthy bass with plastic inside them.

Its not okay to leave a hook in a fish if you can get it out btw

[kfelton0002]

A gut hooked fish will more than likey will die.  The hook dissolving in the gut is a myth.  It is true hooks corrode and rust, and will eventually break up but a hook can damage the fish internally, or make eating painful or impossible.  A big healthy fish can last maybe a month or two (maybe a little longer) without a meal, but it will die of starvation before the hook rusts away.  Yes I'm sure there are exceptions to this and there are fish swimming around that have hooks inside them that do not disrupt their eating or digestion, but I've always read that a gut hooked fish is better off taken home and eaten, than to be released to die slowly and even painfully.  Others may feel differently. 

 

As far as plastics, fish can live with plastics in their gut a long time with no problems.  The plastic cannot be digested and when the plastic is exposed to a moist environment for a long time it bloats and expands, taking up room in the fish's gut.  They can pass plastic worms whole and can even regurgitate them if they make the fish uncomfortable but they can also spend quite some time inside the fish.  I have had fish on many occasions to regurgitate their last meal in the cooler (we use as a livewell) so I imagine it isn't a big deal for the fish to spit up the plastic if it is causing the fish issues. 

[kfelton0002]

If the hook can be removed without causing the fish damage (evisceration, excessive bleeding, etc) then it needs to be removed and the fish released.  I have had fish gill hooked that die, and hooked even deeper to where all you could see was the line coming out of their gullet.  I have cut the line close and released a gut hooked fish before but I felt really bad about releasing it.  I wish I would have just taken the fish home instead.  But that was before I researched the topic and learned that odds are, most deep hooked fish don't make it.  Hooks left in a fish's mouth/lips can hang on food/prey they eat and cause them issues, so always carry kneedle nose pliers to remove difficult to get out hooks. 

[Fish Murderer 71]

about as much as you swallowing bubble gum!

[Mainebass1984]

The ingestion of soft plastics is a hotly debated topic across the country. Both sides of the debate have truthful points based on facts.

 

There are several scientific studies on this exact topic. I am sure you can find them on the internet. If you are truly concerned ask your regional fisheries biologist his opinion.

 

Will it cause stress/harm to the fish ? Yes. Will it kill it ? No.

 

The best way to prevent this from even being an issue is by properly disposing of your soft plastics or by changing out a beat up plastic bait before it goes flying off your hook.

[Master Bait'r]

No it doesn't effect them... I've caught plenty of healthy bass with plastic inside them.

 

 

 

This is actually not true.  Plastics can block the fish's digestive system and kill it very easily.     

[Glenn]

Will it harm them?  Take a look at this and then tell us your conclusions:

http://www.bassresource.com/fish_biology/skinny-fish.html

[RF813]

Wow, that's eye opening.  I'm wondering if they could use a material that breaks down a little bit quicker in the digestive tract.

[Catch and Grease]

Will it harm them? Take a look at this and then tell us your conclusions:

http://www.bassresource.com/fish_biology/skinny-fish.html

Thats very interesting...

[maleko]

Will it harm them? Take a look at this and then tell us your conclusions:

http://www.bassresource.com/fish_biology/skinny-fish.html

Wow...

Very interesting indeed.

Wonder if we are doing more harm than good?

[crazyjoeclemens]

I was operating under the assumption that, wether it killed them or not, it probably wasn't good for them.  Like I've said before, fishermen already get a bad rap when it comes to littering.  If I'm using soft plastics and I think it might fall off or get torn off easily, I replace it and put the old one in the trash.

[Kevin22]

He'll regurgitate it eventually. If he tries to pass it and it gets stuck then he won't survive.. but more times than not they will spit it back up. 

[gripnrip]

Will it harm them?  Take a look at this and then tell us your conclusions:

http://www.bassresource.com/fish_biology/skinny-fish.html

^^^ This is why I throw the plastics in the bottom of the boat and then they go in the trash when it is cleaned out. 

[FlipSide]

^^^ This is why I throw the plastics in the bottom of the boat and then they go in the trash when it is cleaned out.

This is a huge eye opener. I don't pitch plastics in the lake often but I do every once In a while. Definitely will not be doing it anymore though.

Never really thought about it when I was, but that definitely will make you think

[toni63]

I read an article about a managed bass lake (one you had to pay a daily fee to fish in, and it wasn't cheap), wish I could find it back again now, but they had some basic rules for people to fish in the lake. I remember 2 things mentioned distinctly.

 

One was you could not hold a fish out of the water for more than 30 seconds at a time for pictures because it wasn't healthy for the fish and they discouraged holding it sideways with both hands, preferring you held it by the jaw as the slime on the scales was the fish's defense and scraping away the slime left it vulnerable to infection. The guy commented he had found many large bass dead with fingerprint patterns of infections on them from being held that way.

 

The other thing was no plastics allowed. You could fish with anything else, but no rubber baits, as they had found many dead bass with rubber baits in their guts and presumed that ingesting the foreign objects was what killed them. The guy stated they insisted you bring everything back with you you took on the lake, snips of line, trash, anything. His comment was bass eat almost anything, so leave nothing out there.

 

Since then I have always been careful to hold a fish by the jaw only, get it back in the water quickly, and I really try to avoid letting anything get out of the boat and into the water, like remnants of a worm torn up from reeling one in or whatever.

 

I don't know if this is all true or not, but I just feel like its my responsibility to do the best I can to preserve things the way I find them and not introduce anything into their environment that might harm them or do them damage in the long term. And as the guy who was being quoted managed a very successful lake with a lot of large bass in it he had cultivated for sport fishing over a number of years, and he took a lot of time to survey his lake to see what killed his fish, I thought he was a credible authority to offer advice.

[OroBass]

I don't intentionally throw plastics in the water but the article clearly described this issue as an exception not the rule. Of course several plastics are going to harm a fish.

[geo g]

That's glen, that's a great article.

[PersicoTrotaVA]

I fish a few lakes where I hook into trash bags and plastic bags all the time.  I see cans and plastic bottles lining some of the shores.  There are bobbers, line, sinkers, hooks in trees, stumps, everywhere.  It disgusts me.  Litter of any type is going to kill a fishery.  It's up to us as fisherman and nature lovers to have good practices like the ones mentioned in this thread and educate fellow anglers that possibly do not know the damage they are doing when they litter in our lakes.  If you can get to a snag and get it free, do it.  I always go and get my snags out so I don't pollute the lake and because I am cheap and don't want to pay for more lures.  If you snag garbage, don't throw it back.  I have a plastic garbage bag with me in the boat just in case.  Now imagine if everyone did that and removed all the garbage that we get snagged on...

[Bluebasser86]

The article that Glenn posted is the exact reason I no longer throw plastics in the lake. Hooks and plastics in a fishing gullet or digestive tract may not kill it, but they aren't going to do it any good either. 

[coryn h. fishowl]

I usually take my beat up plastic worms, cut off the chewed up part, heat up the end with a lighter and meld it with another work. I've been called cheap before, as the argument proposing i am simply excercising my imagination doesn't convince those i fish with...but now I can say that i am alternatively disposing of plastics to protect our fish lol. All good humor aside though...when that Senko has been bit a few times, it might pinch your wallet to put on another one, but as Nike says..."just do it!"

[Master Bait'r]

Wow...

Very interesting indeed.

Wonder if we are doing more harm than good?

 

 

 

Honestly, what good does a fisherman do outside of controlling stocked ponds or catching invasive species (which are both man's fault anyways)?  I don't get this attitude that fishing does nature a favor, it is very much the opposite.  Fishing is a selfish activity much like hunting (not that I have a problem with either, mind you) and yes, it damages fish and a lot of other things.  I personally know of one local GBHeron nest that was abandoned because of increased presence of fishermen so it's not just fish either.  The only time fishermen perform a necessary service is when we ourselves have screwed up the natural balance in the first place, so is of limited relevance in terms of "big picture good".  

 

 

I'm also a very big skier and the same mentality applies to many skiers that think they're environmentalists because they love being outside and skiing- until I have to point out that they drove their battery-laden SUV hundreds of miles to visit a place that cut down the trees on 3/4 of a perfectly good mountain, built steel structures all over it and maintain it with a fleet of diesel burning cats and lifts.  Now I don't have a problem with any of that but don't pretend to be something we aren't.  It's just disingenuous.    

 

 

You can love nature and love fishing but don't let your love blind you to the negative things that fishing inherently causes.  It takes a diligent fisherman to minimize the impact he has on his surroundings, and that applies to many things- but even in our most careful implementation we are still damaging things even when we do it right.  We're putting hooks through fish and filling their bellies with plastic.  Lead weights, line sections floating around or in trees, gas and oil from boats in lakes...  I could go on and on but you get the point and I'm sounding like a lilly-liver'd liberal right now.

 

 

So to answer your question, yes.  We're doing much more harm than good save for manmade situations but the modern fisherman is a responsible and well informed sportsman in general and I have high hopes that we will be a bigger part of preserving what we love than destroying it.    

[jessejames556]

I think the aforementioned article posted by Glenn as well as the thread I have linked below on deep gullet hooked bass should be read by everyone on the forum.

http://www.bassresource.com/bass-fishing-forums/topic/12981-how-do-i-remove-a-hook-a-bass-has-swallowed/page-2

 

[hoosierbass07]

 When I visited the Indiana Outdoors show in February I talked with some Indiana tournament fishermen asking about their tournaments.  We got to talking about soft plastics and two of the fishermen said soft plastics in the bass will eventually kill it.  It will cause its stomach to bloat up or something.  Anyway, that's the first I heard of that.  I believe it.  I never did and don't throw used plastics away in the water.  Who throws used stuff in the water anyway?    

[johnson27]

i guess im gonna use hard lures more than @_@