Disolving Hooks

[troylikesfishing]

Hey quick question. One of my friends that i fish with keeps saying that if a bass swallows your hook it will disolve in it's stomach. But i am almost 100 percent sure that is not true. I'am correct right ?

[Guest avid]

This is "old folk wisdom".  it stems from the fact that you will probably kill a fish by trying to remove a hook it has swallowed, so it's better to just leave it in there.

A fishes stomach acid could probably disolve a little hook over time, but my owner 5/0 ai'nt going nowhere.

There are techniques for removing hooks that greatly reduce mortality.  someone will post a link I'm sure.

[Clayton]

I know that in saltwater the hooks will dissolve quickly, but in freshwater I am not sure what the time frame is.  As far as removing the hook, depending on certain circumstances you could poke it through cut the barb and pull the hook out.

[boondocks]

I read an article once that said that this is a myth and that fish that swallow hooks are prone to infection. That doesn't mean that every fish that swallows a hook is gonna die from it. It just means doctors don't recommend swallowing hooks all that offten if you can help it.

I dad caught a white bass this summer that a jighead hanging out of its anus with the hook still inside the fish. I figure after a couple more poops it probably would have dislodged itself. I'm kidding about the poops thing but the fish really did have a jighead hanging out of it. I was amazed that it would actually pass all the way through it system like that.

[NBR]

They won't dissolve in any reasonable amount of time if at all. There are techiques to getting barbed hooks out or like I do pinch the barbs down or buy a barbit which is a tool you can run down the line and cut the hook in two. The barbit also has magnets which bring the hook pieces out

You can also do all of the above which is my method.

[Dan:]

I've had cheapo eagle claws practically dissolve in my tackle box after they got wet for a while. I would say that some of the cheaper hooks made from cheaper materials would dissolve in oxygenated water, but some of the heavier hooks like EWGs and such would probably take a long time.

[chitwnbass]

Many people belive that a hook will disolve when swollowed by a fish due to acid in digestion. In a human stomach this may br true but fish don't have a traditional stomach though. A fish's digestion has no acid phase in it, organic materials are broken down predominatly by enzymes. These enzymes have little or no affect on hooks or any other non-organic material. This is why a jig could pass through untouched.  

[Bluecraw]

I read an article once that said that this is a myth and that fish that swallow hooks are prone to infection. That doesn't mean that every fish that swallows a hook is gonna die from it. It just means doctors don't recommend swallowing hooks all that offten if you can help it.

I dad caught a white bass this summer that a jighead hanging out of its anus with the hook still inside the fish. I figure after a couple more poops it probably would have dislodged itself. I'm kidding about the poops thing but the fish really did have a jighead hanging out of it. I was amazed that it would actually pass all the way through it system like that.

;D ;D ;D ;D ;D....I think I woke-up my wife laughing so hard!!!

[Pa Angler]

Here's another one for you. I was fishing in a friends pond with a Poppin Image topwater bait my line broke with the lure still in the Bass's mouth. A few months later my friends Son found the bait and only  one hook on each treble was gone as if it where cut off at that spot or disolved while in the Bass's mouth. I was given the lure and I still have it somwhere in my basement. I have been told on more than one occasion the fishes body chemistry not the digestive system will disolve the hook almost like steel has a chemical corrosive reaction with aluminum in which the aluminum wins in case you wanted that bit of useless info.