Swallowing Soft Baits

[jaysen]

i am new to soft plastics. i have been using the senko style stick baits texas rigged, zoom horny toads, and keitech swing impacts. most of the time the fish take them and i have no idea until the line moves or i feel resistance. the problem with this is that they often swallow the bait with the hook. i do my best to remove the hooks and i am usually very successful, however, this past weekend didnt go so well. i caught a 2.5lb bass on a senko and it was gut hooked. i de-barb all of the hooks i use so it came out easily. i released the fish and he swam off with force. a minute later i saw him struggling at the top. i spent a half hour trying to revive him with minimal luck. i decided to take it home to eat so it wouldnt be as much of a waste. upon the autopsy, i found the hook likely hit a major artery when set since there was immense internal bleeding. kind of scary to think about all those 4-6lb bass i have been releasing that may have swam off looking perfectly fine but did not make it.

is there any way to stop them from swallowing the lures? any techniques to use? would a bigger or smaller hook help?

 

[ABW]

Sometimes you just can't help it. The wind may be blowing, and you'll never feel the bite. Happens to me all the time. You don't need to do anything to change the way you're fishing. I guess paying more attention to your line would help.

[Sam]

You will have to set the hook faster.

 

By doing this you may prevent the bass from swallowing the plastic but...you also may prevent you from any hookset whatsoever.

 

Therefore, keep your finger on the line coming off your reel and take as much slack out of the line as possible. And always watch your line.

 

Know how the bait feels without a fish on it. If it feels different in any way, set the hook.

 

And if you are not using a spinning rig please consider throwing your plastics on a graphite spinning rod. Graphite sends the vibrations to your hand better than other materials.

 

Keep your finger on that line coming off the reel and be ready for some line twist.

 

Good luck.

[jaysen]

i use a shimano cumara spinning dropshot rod along with a shimano sustain fg and power pro moss green 15lb braid. sometimes as i set the hook when i feel it, they have already swallowed it. it is as if they just inhale them. i will try to be more attentive. thanks for the advice and any more insight is appreciated.

[Bluebasser86]

No matter how fast you are or how sensitive your equipment is, you're going to gut hook fish on occasion. Set the hook at the first sign of a bite to try to reduce the swallowed hooks. Smashing down the barbs like you are is a good measure to try to prevent further injury to the fish and aids in hook removal. 

[buzzed bait]

honestly sounds like you're doing everything you can and in fact more than most do to keep the fish healthy.  not sure i have anything that would help you any further.  BUT i have to say i love the avatar!!  although i prefer the pseudonym "Rusty Shackleford" ... 

[fishguy613]

Dale gribble**!!

[Glenn]

In case you need it....

 

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

[F14A-B]

Try FC rather than braid... It should help you feel a bit quicker, but it still happens occasionally.

[Jtrout]

They smoke my 4-5 inch storm swimbaits not even big bass 1.5 lbers smoke em bad . They just inhale them first bite

[Bobby Uhrig]

If you want the simplest remedy-if you are not tournament fishing -just pinch the barb down. Fish don't get hurt-hooks come right out-no harm no foul. Tournament fishing keep the barb -SIMPLE RIGHT

Im a smart SOB

[buzzed bait]

If you want the simplest remedy-if you are not tournament fishing -just pinch the barb down. Fish don't get hurt-hooks come right out-no harm no foul. Tournament fishing keep the barb -SIMPLE RIGHT

Im a smart SOB

 

not smart enough to read his post.  he de-barbs all his hooks.  he was asking beyond that, what measures can be taken to promote the health of the fish.

[windjinx]

Kudos for smashing the barbs. That goes a long way.  Braid is great for sensitivity, however if there is slack in the line the bite doesn't always transfer well. The softness of braid will bow under the water if a fish swims toward you before it will actually move above water. Maybe this is some of the cause of excessive swallowed baits. Mono and FC on the other hand will jump on a hit or react to movement faster. Try and keep a tighter line if the presentation allows.

Best solution for swallowed hooks is determine right from the start if it can be removed without a lot of effort. If it looks to deep or difficult, cut the line and leave the hook in place without do more damage wiggle and pulling on the hook at different angles and keeping the fish out of water for extended periods of time. I have caught healthy fish with old hooks in them and I have even had fish regurgitate a hook that I left in a fish during a tournament in the livewell prior to weigh in. The least amount of damage you do the better chance the fish has.

[rippin-lips]

It's all part of the sport. You're doing what you can to avoid it but it's gonna happen now and then.

[uncustered]

We carry mountain dew, all gut hooked fish get a healthy swallow. I've been told the citric acid and the caffeine help the fish recover....

[rboat]

I found going up a size of hook really tends to help. Otherwise it sounds like you are doing everything you can and I praise you for it.

[JGBassinAL]

We carry mountain dew, all gut hooked fish get a healthy swallow. I've been told the citric acid and the caffeine help the fish recover....

 

Sprite is a lifesaver   learned that from Derek Remitz.

[F14A-B]

You Guys! Just give those fish a shot of penicillin while you are pouring sodas all down there throats, Lol.... Or Doritos ......

[JGBassinAL]

You Guys! Just give those fish a shot of penicillin while you are pouring sodas all down there throats, Lol.... Or Doritos ......

 

You're making me hungry with this Doritos talk over here...

[jaysen]

i appreciate all the input i have received here.

it is great to see some king of the hill fans as well.

most hooks are removed easily, even the swallowed ones.

i guess it was just bad luck that the hook punctured a major blood vessel.

i will keep working on earlier hook sets.

with the whole soda in the fish, its hard to know if you are joking or not, seems pretty unrealistic. regardless it wont treat a punctured blood vessel.

[jaysen]

In case you need it....

 

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

thanks glenn, i have been using this technique for several months now with good success.

[Tim Kelly]

Shorter casts and bright coloured braid may help too. If you're casting a long way and using dark coloured braid it's going to be harder to detect strikes. The closer you are to your bait the more chance you have of seeing something unusual happening to your line too.

[JGBassinAL]

i appreciate all the input i have received here.

it is great to see some king of the hill fans as well.

most hooks are removed easily, even the swallowed ones.

i guess it was just bad luck that the hook punctured a major blood vessel.

i will keep working on earlier hook sets.

with the whole soda in the fish, its hard to know if you are joking or not, seems pretty unrealistic. regardless it wont treat a punctured blood vessel.

 

No we are being serious about the soda part. Bleeding stops almost immediately, but I do agree that it won't treat a punctured blood vessel. Would be cool if it did though.

[dam0007]

This is exactly why I use a medium light rod!!!!! I emphasized this in another post awhile back. I also use mustad size 1 KVD double wide hooks wacky rigged with a O ring. The first sign of anything I sweep to the side slowly and now it's a 99.9999% chance I have the upper corner of the lip. I don't even like piercing them when culling I have clamp style tags. Everyone has different techniques so you'll get a million pieces of advice. But for your reason which was mine is why this is the only way I fish senkos.

[TorqueConverter]

If you're wacky rigging the baits, then their are wacky circle hooks you can use to prevent gut hooking.  Beyond that. switch to baits without salt or pour your own and replace salt content (for weight) with sand.  Unless I'm mistaken, the only taste buds a bass has are located in the backs of their throats, and are used to detect the presence of salt in whatever item they attempt to ingest.

 

Tastes like sale = ingest

Does not taste like salt = reject

 

Salty stickbaits in their mouths too long = actually eating them.