Plastic Baits Left In The Lake

[hatrix]

How long does it take a plastic bag or bottle to breakdown??? Same theory really. 

A bottle will never break down. They do "break down" but only to a level. They breakdown to a ton of super tiny pieces and stay that way for well.. I guess ever. None of us will be around I can tell you that. The ocean is wrecked with plastic everywhere and there is so much you cant see because it has broken down to that tiny level. If have never heard of it. Look up the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. There is many of them actually but that one is the biggest I believe. They catch fish and when they open them up and look they all have these piece of microplastic in there stomachs. It is everywhere and so small you cant see it. Its bad news

[Choporoz]

I don't get too worked up about a lost worm, however, I am much more careful after having read this.

 

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

 

 

Thanks, Glenn, for linking this last time it was discussed a couple months ago.

[buzzed bait]

I don't get too worked up about a lost worm, however, I am much more careful after having read this.

 

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

 

 

Thanks, Glenn, for linking this last time it was discussed a couple months ago.

 

thanks for that link, very interesting yet alarming.  again, not saying i think there's some crazy epidemic.... just one event led to another and got me thinking about it.  really appreciate everyone's responses though, very interesting topic in my opinion.

[buzzed bait]

A bottle will never break down. They do "break down" but only to a level. They breakdown to a ton of super tiny pieces and stay that way for well.. I guess ever. None of us will be around I can tell you that. The ocean is wrecked with plastic everywhere and there is so much you cant see because it has broken down to that tiny level. If have never heard of it. Look up the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. There is many of them actually but that one is the biggest I believe. They catch fish and when they open them up and look they all have these piece of microplastic in there stomachs. It is everywhere and so small you cant see it. Its bad news

 

i was in NYC like 2 weeks ago and walked past some shop that sells clothes all made from ocean plastics.... thought that was interesting, but ties right into your argument.  crazy thing is these wild events like indonesian/japanese tsunamis, hurricane katrina/sandy, etc. will keep dumping trash into the ocean TONS at a time....

[Bluebasser86]

I always have a "dead pile" in the bottom of the boat after a fishing trip. Any plastic that's too torn up to be fixed or used as a trailer goes into the pile to be tossed later.

 

Can those old plastics be melted down and used to make new plastics?? I don't make my own but I know some guys that do. If it's possible I might start saving them in a bucket for them. 

[iceintheveins]

I've caught plenty of bass with plastics in their stomachs. That being said, some looked fairly unhealthy. Assume that it CAN be harmful to fish, because it can. It's not a death sentence, but you want to try and retrieve your plastics if possible.

[Josh Smith]

Along the same lines, how long does it take mono or fluoro to dissolve?

Josh

[Catch and Grease]

Along the same lines, how long does it take mono or fluoro to dissolve?

Josh

 

I've always heard normal monofilament fishing line will take 600 years to decompose in a lake. dunno how accurate that is.

[J Francho]

Along the same lines, how long does it take mono or fluoro to dissolve?

Josh

 

Simple answer, they don't dissolve.  That's one of my peeves - leaving balls of line behind. 

[Josh Smith]

I tend to catch way more snagged line than lures. Using braid, I can usually get most of the snagged mono in.

I would guess that an advantage to braid would be that it reduces line breaks.

Josh

[OkobojiEagle]

To do harm to a fish, plastic baits must be ingested.  Most game fish such as bass, walleye and pike are not scavengers and most likely will not pick garbage off the lake/river bottom and eat it.  Scavengers have a very good sense of smell/taste and will examine their food before swallowing.  Don't intentionally litter the waters you fish, but don't lay awake nights and worry about the plastics you lost the day before.  (I've read a couple sources that claim the vision of a bass (and other game fish) is triggered by motion and will ignore what is not moving in the water.)

 

 

oe

[hoosierbass07]

If soft plastics have been around for forty years or more how come the manufacturers haven't come up with a plastic that dissolves when in a fishes stomach? They've had the time, where's the safe plastics at? We can take hard aspirins and other pills that dissolve in human stomachs. The fishing companies can't make safe safe plastic worms for fish? I bet they can if they really wanted to.

[tomustang]

I've always heard normal monofilament fishing line will take 600 years to decompose in a lake. dunno how accurate that is.

Nylon lasts longer if it's wet, without it it becomes brittle. So yeah it'll take a very long time to disappear if not ever in the water

[tomustang]

If soft plastics have been around for forty years or more how come the manufacturers haven't come up with a plastic that dissolves when in a fishes stomach? They've had the time, where's the safe plastics at? We can take hard aspirins and other pills that dissolve in human stomachs. The fishing companies can't make safe safe plastic worms for fish? I bet they can if they really wanted to.

Those are two different processes though, one is meant to be dissolved after eating and the other is suppose to be reusable.

Materials like geltab, soon as they get wet they start to degrade so they are easier to digest. That's very different.

[tomustang]

To do harm to a fish, plastic baits must be ingested.  Most game fish such as bass, walleye and pike are not scavengers and most likely will not pick garbage off the lake/river bottom and eat it.

Dead sticking a senko does work

[OkobojiEagle]

Dead sticking a senko does work

 

 

How certain are you that your bait is "dead" motionless?...

 

 

oe

[F14A-B]

You Guys are making me wanna quit fishing! (Kidding) yea, plastics are petro, they leech out, same as a plastic bottle, don't reuse a plastic bottle or drink outta one you left in the truck say over nite ( opened ) some company should work on a line type that would dissolve at some point.. As far as 600 years? Geez, that's a long , long time for line to live..

What about Braid? Seems like it could decompose quicker than say nylon- composites.

Anyone know?

[tomustang]

How certain are you that your bait is "dead" motionless?...

 

 

oe

 

Bass are opportunistic feeders, what's stopping them from eating a stationary senko in there travel path or line of sight when they are known to eat them any other time

[Slade House]

My theory is that when i leave a jig or jook with a plastic bait stuck on a stump or log, that bait will become less effective for a little bit there because the fish around there become a custom to it.  most likely this is all in my head , but hey , isn't most strong convictions we have about fishing?

 

[Bluebasser86]

Simple answer, they don't dissolve.  That's one of my peeves - leaving balls of line behind. 

Can't hardly go fishing at a lot of the local lakes without catching someone's line they left in the water. Seems like a lot of people don't know how to break off if they get snagged so they just cut it, leaving yards and yards of line in the water. I always retrieve as much as I can of their line if I snag it and throw it away when I'm done fishing. I found a blue heron stuck in someone's heavy catfish line this summer. Taped a knife to the end of my telescoping lure retriever and managed to cut it free. It makes all fishermen look bad and it drives me crazy!