Break off mortality?

[billmac]

Other than a pike that broke me off, and I caught again a few minutes later, I've never caught a fish with a lure or hook in its mouth or gut.  I hate break offs, obviously because I hate losing tackle, but more so because I hate the thought of leaving a lure or hook in a fish.

 

Has there been a study of the mortality of fish that keep our hardware?

[A-Jay]

Can't quote any studies done on the subject,

but this was mess . . . .

A-Jay

[Team9nine]

Lots of studies in this regard, it just depends on the species and hooks in question. High level summary: Depending on study/species/hook-type, anywhere between 45%-100% of the hooks/lures get expelled by the fish over a period of time ranging up to 10 days. Pike were the best at shedding lures, doing so 100% of the time. Delayed mortality averaged around 12.5% for fish that couldn't expel the lure, and most fish eventually regained normal feeding patterns regardless.

[The Bassman]

I've caught bass with worm hooks in their gut more than once. I was able to remove them with the gill method. The biggest concern of mine is gill hooking when fishing treble hook baits. I go barbless so it's easy to remove them.

[Kenny Yi]

3 hours ago, Team9nine said:

Pike were the best at shedding lures, doing so 100% of the time.

Pike are mean beasts, I've seen some with part of their gills hanging out of the gill plate swimming and hunting with the same ferocity, I wouldn't be surprised if they used the newfound hardware as another weapon, not that they need it. 

[Bluebasser86]

@buzzed bait caught a bass with a whole Deps 250 stuck to it a few weeks ago. 

 

I've caught several bass with baits in their mouths and throats. A buddy of mine caught a bass that I broke off in a tournament the week before with my jig still in the corner of her jaw. The fish weighed 8lb 2oz ?

[TnRiver46]

7 hours ago, Bluebasser86 said:

@buzzed bait caught a bass with a whole Deps 250 stuck to it a few weeks ago. 

 

I've caught several bass with baits in their mouths and throats. A buddy of mine caught a bass that I broke off in a tournament the week before with my jig still in the corner of her jaw. The fish weighed 8lb 2oz ?

So you got a new very expensive fishing lure as well? A win-win

[Bluebasser86]

1 hour ago, TnRiver46 said:

So you got a new very expensive fishing lure as well? A win-win

He actually found the owner and returned it to him. He's a standup guy just doing what we'd all want done in that situation if we were the poor soul that broke off the $150 swimbait on a fish.

[DaubsNU1]

This bass broke off my lure...and about an hour later I caught him again...and GOT MY LURE BACK!

 

(did not seem to slow him down...that greedy wretched!)

 

 

[TnRiver46]

4 minutes ago, Bluebasser86 said:

He actually found the owner and returned it to him. He's a standup guy just doing what we'd all want done in that situation if we were the poor soul that broke off the $150 swimbait on a fish.

Gotcha, sorry I read that before coffee. Kudos to @buzzed bait

[gim]

I've broke off my fair share of lures, almost exclusively to pike.  I'm sure most, if not all, have survived to swim, eat, and wreck or steal another lure someday.

[Bluebasser86]

Caught this one yesterday morning. Obviously was not doing great with the hook sticking out through it's gills. Hopefully doing a little better after it was removed. 

[NHBull]

Last year I caught a LL Salmon with more metal in its mouth than a 10 yr old girl going to the orthodontist.

 

It took so long to remove the gear I couldn't get a picture.

 

 

[Tatsu Dave]

Other day fishing I lost a new rig to a pickerel, that's quite common where I fish actually. My son started throwing right back to the weedline and two cast's later he caught the fish. If and when I figure out how to make pics small enough to post I will post up the pic of him with my new hook, CPS, and senko in his mouth along with the rig my son used to catch him. Wish they all had this type of ending.........

[the reel ess]

I've caught fish with hooks in the roof of the mouth. I've had a fish break off my Spook and I found it a little later floating. But I've also caught bass that had a mouth full of trebles. They could have swam for days and not worked them out. Those fish would likely die if they had broken off.

[David 7]

I had a smallie break off my line the other day and I still feel bad about it, think I tied my knot in haste while changing lures and that was the culprit. Poor little guy probably still has a circle hook w senko in his mouth. Definitely learned my lesson but I’m still feeling bad about it.

[Tatsu Dave]

Hard to do much study on break-off mortality if by definition they actually broke free from angler and swam away. I'd have to figure they had the fish where they could monitor them to know how long they lived and if they expelled the lure. That would mean the hook and lure was put in the bass by someone for the study. You would wonder where this information actually would come from........a study on hook life has proven plated hooks will last a long time even hung in a fishes jaw (they put the hooks there). They dispelled the idea that they were quickly dissolved or rusted away, by the fishes body chemicals, even in salt water. Makes my head hurt considering it, means we should do as good and effective job as possible to remove any such items.....but this question was break-off mortality. Hard to watch or remove from a fish that get's away I suppose. 

[RealtreeByGod]

I caught a dink on a Rebel Crickhopper Popper last night, that was no longer an 10 inches, and had a 4/0 EWG hook and 5 inch Senko pinned in its gullet. It was too small and the hook too big for me to make any headway in removing it, but I got the plastic out and cut the eye and bend off the hook. Maybe that might make it easier to work out, but he's probably a goner. 

 

For a happier ending, a few months ago while I was bluegill fishing I had some sort of catfish break off at my leader knot because my drag was set too tight and swam off with a 1/32oz jighead, a slip bobber, and 10 feet of J-Fluoro. The next morning, I saw the bobber floating 50 yards down the bank and got my whole rig back minus the fish. 

 

 

[WRB]

Most C& R studies evolving fish with hook imbedded from break offs are about cold water species like trout and salmon.

Studies regarding barbed and barbless hook injuries for example.

Ironically barbless hooks penetrate deeper into the fish causing more organ injuries then barbed hooks.

Over my lifetime I rarely catch a bass with a hook exposed, mostly torn lips from the fish ripping the hooks loose themselves. 

My belief is about 3% of all bass caught, handled roughly or placed in a livewell die from post mortality, just being caught.

Tom 

[king fisher]

I have seen salmon spawning with enough tackle to stock a shop.  The mortality rate on spawning salmon is 100 percent so it would be impossible to tell if they could live for years.  The salmon had travelled 100 miles

up stream from where they were hooked so apparently the tackle is not doing much harm.  I think the male salmon with 

most hardware probably gets the best looking girls.  Fish are tough.  I am sure the damage to my ego is far greater than the damage to a monster Bass that breaks off.  Of course if it breaks me off it must be DD.

 

 

 

 

 

[roadwarrior]

On 9/4/2021 at 9:26 PM, king fisher said:

 Of course if it breaks me off it must be DD.

 

                                                     

[DINK WHISPERER]

Just depends what bait, hooks and where it was hooked. My 12 yr old son and myself encountered this last week while on a late afternoon quickie run to one of the ponds we fish. We saw a small bass jumping out of the water a couple ft thrashing violently. I heard the unmistakeable sound of treble hooks banging around.

This went on for a few minutes until the little guy got hung up on some matted grass. My son all the sudden jumps in the water yelling "I can't let him die"! He brought the fish to shore and it had a huge spook stuck on his upper and lower jaw. We got a new baby bass colored spook and the fish swam off seemingly ok. 

And of course I forgot my phone in the car so no pics!! ?

[PressuredFishing]

On 8/28/2021 at 8:42 AM, billmac said:

Other than a pike that broke me off, and I caught again a few minutes later, I've never caught a fish with a lure or hook in its mouth or gut.  I hate break offs, obviously because I hate losing tackle, but more so because I hate the thought of leaving a lure or hook in a fish.

 

Has there been a study of the mortality of fish that keep our hardware?

I am not quite sure, but one time I caught a tiny tiny bass (like under a quarter pound) with a 3/0 EWG in his mouth and he was still feeling fine, the hook was rusted and had been in there for at least a month, but only God knows how long. ended up popping right out and put him back in the water, im sure he wasnt happy swimming around with that thing in his mouth but im not too happy when the dentist shoves a bunch of wires and metal pointy things in my mouth either.

On 8/30/2021 at 5:41 AM, DaubsNU1 said:

This bass broke off my lure...and about an hour later I caught him again...and GOT MY LURE BACK!

 

(did not seem to slow him down...that greedy wretched!)

 

 

Oh thats Alfed the bass, yeah hes a nice guy he just returns your lures if he mistakes them for food, his brother Larry the pike isnt as forgiving...

[fin]

I caught a largemouth and found an offset shank worm hook stuck in the roof of its mouth backwards. The hook looked like a snake fang in the fish’s mouth. If I had stuck my fingers inside its mouth without looking first, I would have got stuck good. Anything that fish bit was not getting away.

 

I really wish I had gotten a picture of that, but it took so long to get that hook out, I wanted to get that fish back in the water. It was pretty healthy though, just a lot of redness around the hook.

 

I’ve never caught a live fish and found a hard lure in its mouth. I’ve seen a few dead ones though. I have caught fish and found jigs and hooks and stuff like that in their mouths though.

[Zcoker]

Actually, there was a study done in the below link. The study was done on northern pike and it was amazing how these fish could easily remove deeply embedded treble hooks. In the study, they used barbed hooks, barbless hooks, shallow embedded, deep embeded....in other words, they simulated many different break-off possibilities. Very interesting findings. I'm quite sure most have wondered the same thing when they have a break-off.  Well, here ya go:

 

https://www.saltstrong.com/articles/fishing-lure-left-in-a-fishs-mouth/