I had a really good fish break off with a small nymph in his lip with some of my tippet attached and that got me thinking about something that I’m betting this esteemed group might be able to address.
Assuming that we’re only talking freshwater - how long does a hook stay in a fish’s mouth before it rusts/wears/falls out?
I’ve always heard that it usually “removes” itself after a “couple of days”…but really, what does THAT mean? A week? A month? And does it fall out or rust out? If it’s rust, then I’m GUESSING that it’s probably a lot longer than a month.
Any thoughts out there? Any anecdotal stories or empirical research that anyone has found on this?
I can’t recall ever catching a fish with a lure hanging out of it’s mouth.
Well, I did catch a bluegill twice in the same day once that had my hook from earlier in the day stuck in it. I got both hooks on the second time I caught him.
So, once out of thousands of fish I’ve caught one with a hook in it.
My guess is they do not say in that long before they shake them lose. (unless it’s way deep and they swallow it in which case, the fish probably dies in a day or two anyway)
Read the article after posting. I think there are two questions here. One is the “swallowed the hook” and one is the “hooked in the lip but broke the line” questions.
I was with Jim and saw the fish that broke his line (how many times is a fisherman lucky enough to have a witness to the one that got away?) and I doubt if that fish swallowed the lure. I would be willing to bet it was hooked in the jaw or lip.
I once caught a trout at the mouth of the Waiteti stream and as I was fighting it, I thought “Darn, I’ve foul hooked this one!” I was quite pleased to notice that when I finally landed it, I saw the line and hook in it’s mouth. As I reached to remove the hook, I realised the hook wasn’t mine, but it was a bait hook. The line looked like it was a dropper cut off of a long line. I then found my hook caught in the side of this one. I removed both hooks and figured this fish was having a pretty bad day of it and sent it back on it’s way.
I have seldom throut hooked a trout. The only exception to that is fishing with a fly tied on a # 32 hook. It seems that even trout have a hard time detecting that the fly is artificial. Bass are a different story and are such hogs as to throat hook themselves all the time.
The link above was interesting and ran contrary to what I’ve heard my whole life. I too always heard that the fish would expel the hook after a few days.
I wonder if barbless hooks increase the rate of survival?
I’ve heard the same general information. Here’s an idea: Send the feds an application for a grant, say $500,000 to study the phenomena for a year. You’ll have to build a fresh water water tank of some sort, go fishing, keep some trout, label each for identification purposes, hook each one with a hook, observe each trout and chart the progress or rather egress of the hook. Of course you’ll have to study if species of trout from different rivers vary from each other. Therefore, you’ll have to travel to different geographic areas. Make sure to build that into your grant budget. While you’re at it, make sure you have the proper equipment, nothing short of top-of-the-line. We can’t let our tax dollars be spent on anything less.
Good luck and report back when the results are published or give us a sneak peek.
The first Lake Erie Steelhead I ever caught looked like the trout version of “Moby Dick”. The only thing missing was Ahab himself lashed to the side with one arm pointing to the sky. It was a spring fish caught in Elk Creek, PA. The fish had been in the river awhile (very dark colored male, no silver left in him at all). Tough to say how long he’d been in from the lake but it was awhile. I wasn’t the first fly fisherman he had tangled with. He had seventeen different flies hooked to him in various locations. Including three in and around the mouth and jaw, (including my wooly bugger) and fourteen other flies in pecks, dorsal, adipose, tail, belly and other various and assorted locations.
All but one of the flies was decomposed beyond use. How long does a hook stay in? Not sure, but it looks like it was possible that some were there several weeks. The good news was the fish didn’t see to show any adverse effects but I’m not sure my observations constitute empirical proof.
If you are going to spin fish or bait cast then use circle hooks. If you don’t use circle hooks then mash down the barbs. This will allow you to easily remove a swallowed hook with a cheap hook disgorger. It boils down to this; pay attention to your line and set the hook on the first strike! You will loose a few more fish but more of the fish you release will survive.
Back to fly fishing. I mash down the barbs on all of my flies. The very nature of our sport requires us to pay very close attention to our line thus allowing us to detect even the lightest strike. I think that is why we kill fewer fish. It allows us to set the hook into the jaw somewhere and does not allow the fish time to swallow the fly. I have caught plenty of bass on the fly rod. Never had one swallow a fly but that is not to say it doesn’t happen. Just hasn’t happened to me yet.
I have had blue gills swallow the fly and was able to release them, unharmed, thanks to mashing down the barbs on my hooks.
Depends…
I get bugged when flies get left and broken off in fish’s lips…Not because I lost the fly…But because I have caught trout at my local lake. With a lure and a beadheadnymph in its mouth!!! and not to mention it ate my fly as well!! i relieved him of all those hooks… and he swam away a happy fish :lol:…another time a couple months later I broke off a fish on a sunday…and on the NEXT saturday…CAUGHT THE SAME FISH!!! WITH MY FLY THAT BROKE OFF STILLL IN HIS MOUTH!! I then pulled out my fly I caught him on… Which was a PTN…and pulled out the otyher fly I had broken him off on sunday out of his mouth…WHAT WAS THIS FLY??? DANGIT IT WAS ANOTHER PTN!!. :lol: :lol: some fish will just never learn…
There’s my experiences…Im NOT pulling ur legs either!
I have caught fish with flies still stuck in their mouth, but usually on heavily fished waters. I don’t know or care how long the hooks have been in their mouth. I only care that the fish lived to see another day and be caught and released by me. I have heard all the myths and I only assume one thing, it is best to use flies and hope that fish will still eat with body piercings.
I think based on the article that Nick found and posted and the feedback from eveyone else - I think the old adage that “It will fall out in a couple of days” isn’t at all true.
I think the best that we can hope for is that:
with barbless hooks the fly may eventually work its way out as the tissue around the hook heals (not unlike a body piercing) or
someone else catches it or (as in Chris’ case) YOU catch it again and are able to free it of it’s additional hardware.
Clearly even with the additional jewelry in it’s mouth, the fish continues to feed, so it’s not completely impeding it’s ability to eat.
The most blatant one that I saw was on the Bighorn River in Montana…there was a big brown in a pool that was towing an ICE FISHING BOBBER attached to an ice fishing jig in it’s mouth. I made it my mission to try and catch that fish - which I did - and released him without the additional tackle and hopefully better off for the experience. How that fish made it BELOW the dam into the river where you CAN’T ice fish, I’ll never know.
Thanks for all the discussion and feedback (and federal grant suggestion!) and I guess we’ll have to assume that when we lose a fish with a fly in it’s mouth, it’s going to be there for a very long time. It’s not the end of the world for the fish, but certainly not a lot of fun for him either.
I have always wondered this, thank you for initiating the discussion. I bet the grant is something we see someday, originating out of a college with a well centered outdoor education program. Will be an interesting study.
The ice fishing bobber thing reminded me of a day at my lake.
a school of trout was coming around the lake and you would not catch fish if you didnt chase the school around the lake… Kinda hard when they dont stay near the surface. Anyways 1 of the fish in the school had a bobber attached to him!! he would tow the big orange bobber around the lake with the school CLEARLY giving away the schools position… IT was AWESOME!!! I just followed that dumb orange bobber around alll day and conistently caught fish for hours… finally the bobber dissapeared…I was like Darnit there goes the fishing…5 minutes later it pops up on the other side of the lake…HEY THERES THE SCHOOL!!! :lol: :lol: :lol: It was a great and funny experience…To bad when I was leaving I could not catch the damn fish with the bobber so I could relieve him of it.
The ice fishing bobber thing reminded me of a day at my lake.
a school of trout was coming around the lake and you would not catch fish if you didnt chase the school around the lake… Kinda hard when they dont stay near the surface. Anyways 1 of the fish in the school had a bobber attached to him!! he would tow the big orange bobber around the lake with the school CLEARLY giving away the schools position… IT was AWESOME!!! I just followed that dumb orange bobber around alll day and conistently caught fish for hours… finally the bobber dissapeared…I was like Darnit there goes the fishing…5 minutes later it pops up on the other side of the lake…HEY THERES THE SCHOOL!!! It was a great and funny experience…To bad when I was leaving I could not catch the damn fish with the bobber so I could relieve him of it.
Simple. Catch one fish. Attach hook with some line and bobber. Follow the bobber anf catch more fish. At the end of the day use snagging rig to catch the bobber. Remore the “marker” unit from fish thank him for the services provided and release. :lol:
I have also found this to be a great read. I have removed new and old flies and jigs from fish before there release. Have also targeted and caught said swimming bobber to remove it from a fish.
