Ever caught a fish....

[Wagon1]

with a hook in it's mouth?? I lost a few fish this weekend (big jack) thinking it would be fine (like I always do) and got to wondering....of all the fish in my lifetime I have hooked and lost (line snap, leader strip, not hook toss), I have never caught a fish that had a hook/lure in it's mouth.

Are they dying, or do the hooks work/rust loose over a period of time?

Or, are there just so darn many fish in the ocean that the ones that break the line don't get caught again?

Or, am I the only dumb@$%^#$% that looses a line or two every weekend?

[Phenom]

You may in fact be a dumba$$, but you're not the only one losing fish.

I have in fact caught many fish with other hooks in their mouths. However, after time I beleive a lot of them do work them selves out.

Rusting out is not nearly as common as people think. Oxygen is needed for rust to take place. Unless a fish surfaces frequently to breath air, oxidation will not take place.

Most hooks will eventually come free or the fish will live on with them.

A lot of fish do die after being caught, but not always as a result of the hook.

Have you ever had fish or bait hit about half way up or down in the water column? Just think, if you lose a red snapper 15 ft below the boat in 120 feet of water. That Snapper has a very dangerous 105 foot swim to get back down to the bottom. A lot of cudas, Ajs, sharks, and grouper.

[Phenom]

The dumbas$ comment was a joke. I just re-read my post and wanted to make sure that was understood.

[hammer65]

I caught a yellowfin tuna once that had seven hooks in it including mine. The three things that really amazed me were the fish had six hooks in it, including hooks in it's stomach that were encased in cysts and breaking down. one with a foot and a half of line that it had chewed through from another angler on the same trip as me. The fianl thing that amazed me was this fish was only 35 or 40 lbs, it sure had the attitude of an 200 pounder to break of all theese hooks.

[cgrand]

amberjack come up with lip jewelry all the time
don't use SS hooks and they will be just fine
i believe phenom to be correct...more released fish die from predation than from hook injury

[Preoccupation]

Phenom - 7/18/2005 7:05 PM

Rusting out is not nearly as common as people think. Oxygen is needed for rust to take place. Unless a fish surfaces frequently to breath air, oxidation will not take place.

Ummm...water is a source of oxygen...that's what the "O" is for in H2O...

[fishr]

I've seen plenty of 'Cudas swimming just fine w/ lip jewlery in the Keys. Dosen't seem to slow them a bit when it comes to nosing arround my spear fishing efforts.

[auguste]

Phenom - 7/18/2005 7:05 PM Rusting out is not nearly as common as people think. Oxygen is needed for rust to take place. Unless a fish surfaces frequently to breath air, oxidation will not take place.*

Sorry to disagree but that*to be*an old fisherman's tale.

Drop a non stainless steel hook into salt water and it will rust while lying on the bottom . . .

[twotems]

Phenom - 7/19/2005 12:05 AM* Rusting out is not nearly as common as people think. Oxygen is needed for rust to take place. Unless a fish surfaces frequently to breath air, oxidation will not take place.*

Hmmmm, I guess that means we can raise all those wrecks on the bottom of the ocean and*assemble our own fleets. I'll start with the Titanic, since it's*still looking new!

I had a 30lb*Barracuda last year with a nice rusty 7/0 hook in it.*

[evernic]

I've caught fish that had MY hooks in their mouths from losing them earlier in the day, a grouper once cut me off in the rocks...caught half hour later with old rig including 4 oz. sinker and live grunt still in mouth .

[robbielinton]

Speaking of catching a fish with a hook in its mouth.... I went fishing with a girlfriend when I was about 25 in my stepdads pond. She had just bought e a new $350 Shimano baitcast outfit. I was throwing a spinnerbait and hooked a fish, got it to the bank and started to lip it(about a 9lb bass) and it wiggled and broke my line off due to the drag being set to tight. The next weekend I took some friends of mine back to the pond to fish for Crappie. 3 of us went in the jonboat and my girlfriend and a friend's wife fished from the bank. To make a long story short.. the fish swam by her line and the spinnerbait still in the fishes mouth got wrapped up in it and her hook stuck it in the side(foulhooked). She started screeming and we thought she seen a snake so we headed over to help. When we got there she had the fish in her 5 gal. bucket still hooked. When it was all said and done she asked if I wanted the spinner back. I told her No put it in its mouth when you have it mounted so people would believe the story. BTW She caught this fish on a $19 Rino rod & reel combo. Talk about pissed

[Slow Drifter]

I once caught a bass in a small pond by my worm-hook going into the eye of a jig-hook in its' mouth. sill have the hooked-together lures somewhere.

Just recently an angler caught a STAR-tagged redfish somewhere here on the TX coast. When he removed a mess of weed from the fishes mouth, he found a hook and about 6" of line. Somebody had hooked into the STAR redfish and it broke off. The guy that caught it the second time wasn't entered in STAR, so HE ATE THE REDFISH!!!

[capt_dalton]

I was running an offshore trip and our anglers were losing tons of 10/0 and 11/0 circle hooks. When we boated a couple of sharks with a mass of hooks lodged in their pie holes, we decided to get some back. I think we got about a dozen total from two sharks. And the sharks didn't seem very greatful about it at all.As far as a hook rusting out, don't hold your breath, It'll happen, just very slowly. I have cleaned a lot of fish with hooks in their stomachs, intestines, hanging out of their butt and even poking through their stomachs to the outside of their bodies.We had a 28" gag grouper with a 11/0 mustad in it's lip Friday.

[Phenom]

I guess aluminum is different then. I have seen beercans on diving trips that were the old pull tab style.

As for the Titaninc comment. I think its in pretty good shape for being over 90 years old.

I don't know enough about metalurgy to argue, but I really think most hooks either work themselves out or get grown around. I don't believe that many hooks actually rust out.

[Phenom]

auguste - 7/19/2005 3:15 AM



Sorry to disagree but that*to be*an old fisherman's tale.

Drop a non stainless steel hook into salt water and it will rust while lying on the bottom . . .

True, but at what point does it becoe brittle enough to crumble out of the fish's lip?

A good way to see is like you said....take a 5 gallon bucket and fill it with sea water. Put a non stainless hook on the bottom. Every few days reach in and feel it (without lifiting it out of the water). By the time it is brittle enough to crumble, the fish wil leither be dead or have learned to live with it.

[twentynine]

Caught a redfish in the marsh with a 1/4 lead head jig in his belly, didn't seem to slow the joker down.

[fish_r_fun]

Neat -- never heard of anyone catching a fish w/ hook in mouth...
I've caught a lost fishing pole though & caught a fish's eyeball once...

[originalsin]

If you can believe it, every fish I ever landed had a hook in its mouth, with a fishing line and a rod attached to it! Except for the few that I foul hooked.