Are today's plastics, biodegradable?

[FrankN209]

Just like the title says. I see a lot of videos of guys, tearing off the top of trailers and tossing the partial piece into the lake, bass biting worms in half and getting away, things like that. And I just wonder if today's plastic baits are biodegradable? You see guys with 10 or 20 more packages of plastics in their boat. 

[MN Fisher]

For the most part...no.

[WRB]

No they are not biodegradable let alone digestible bass. 

Tom

PS, I am sure someone will reference a degradable soft plastic but 99% are made from plastisol that doesn't degrade.

[A-Jay]

49 minutes ago, FrankN209 said:

Just like the title says. I see a lot of videos of guys, tearing off the top of trailers and tossing the partial piece into the lake, bass biting worms in half and getting away, things like that. And I just wonder if today's plastic baits are biodegradable? You see guys with 10 or 20 more packages of plastics in their boat. 

As mentioned above, most soft plastics do not degrade very quickly - if at all. 

On any give trip I'll usually have a decent load of plastic baits & trailers in the boat.

Doesn't mean I'm pitching whole baits or even parts & pieces in the lake - Ever. 

And here's at least one good reason why . . . 

A-Jay

 

[Bluebasser86]

I stopped tossing plastics in the lake many years ago due to the issue of fish eating discarded baits. It's not hard for me to toss them into the bottom of my boat and then toss them in the trash when I'm done for the day.

[FryDog62]

I stockpile the torn up pieces over the season and take them to my local bait shop.  The owner's son sorts by color and melts them down and makes his own worms.  He said most are gray in color but he can separate the whites and greens fairly easily.  Accent them with a little Spike It colors and you're good ~

[FrankN209]

Thanks everyone. I was just wondering. I'm not saying everyone, but I've seen videos of people being careless with this. I'm not one of those, "save the earth" type of people, but I don't want to be a contributor to the problem either...

[flyfisher]

11 minutes ago, FrankN209 said:

Thanks everyone. I was just wondering. I'm not saying everyone, but I've seen videos of people being careless with this. I'm not one of those, "save the earth" type of people, but I don't want to be a contributor to the problem either...

I try not to be careless either but it is inevitable at times.  

Just curious but what is wrong with wanting to save the Earth?

[MN Fisher]

18 minutes ago, flyfisher said:

I try not to be careless either but it is inevitable at times.  

Just curious but what is wrong with wanting to save the Earth?

Not a darn thing. Break-offs, bitten off - those are unavoidable at times. Carelessly tossing ripped plastic over the side is just neglectful. I keep an empty coffee can in the canoe as my 'trash can'. Everything from unusable plastics to my cigarette butts go in it and thence into the trash at home.

 

I'm not a 'tree-hugger', but I do what I can.

[FrankN209]

2 hours ago, flyfisher said:

I try not to be careless either but it is inevitable at times.  

Just curious but what is wrong with wanting to save the Earth?

Nothing wrong  

2 hours ago, MN Fisher said:

Not a darn thing. Break-offs, bitten off - those are unavoidable at times. Carelessly tossing ripped plastic over the side is just neglectful. I keep an empty coffee can in the canoe as my 'trash can'. Everything from unusable plastics to my cigarette butts go in it and thence into the trash at home.

 

I'm not a 'tree-hugger', but I do what I can.

I agree. Even when I'm fishing on someones property, I pick up discarded fishing line that I find on the ground from someone else. 

[J Francho]

I thought Gulp! products were biodegradable.

[schplurg]

12 hours ago, flyfisher said:

I try not to be careless either but it is inevitable at times.  

Just curious but what is wrong with wanting to save the Earth?

The Earth doesn't need saving, we do. The Earth seems to be taking care of itself just fine right now with this here virus thingy. One day it may nail us real good. Meantime, I'm going fishing

 

PS: I hate littering too.

 

[Mbirdsley]

On 3/18/2020 at 6:24 PM, J Francho said:

I thought Gulp! products were biodegradable.

I think you are right.  If not biodegradable they at least break down faster.  Take a gulp product and leave it out of the sauce for a couple of days and it Will shrivel up to about a 1/4 of the size it was 

[Bird]

I have an enormous amount of respect and admiration for the resources I've been handed.

I do my part and will continue. 

 

No tree hugger either but do love trees.

[TcRoc]

The Plastics are 1 of many things I see on the banks. Plastics,wadded up fishing line,Styrofoam containers from worms.

Amazes me how stupid people are.. take that back doesn't surprise me at all. I did find nice new Shimano Pliers.. was grateful for that lol.

[WRB]

Senko's are popular and tear off hooks easily during the fight and sink out of sight due to the heavy salt content. Is everyone going to stop using a Senko?

Tom