Plastic Baits - Dangerous To Fish’S Digestive System

[J-Doc]

*** PLEASE DO NOT THROW USED PLASTICS IN THE LAKE!! ***

http://www.bassresource.com/fish_biology/skinny-fish.html

I am posting this for AWARNESS, not to start a mile long thread of rants or arguments about fishery management, etc. I’m also not going to point any fingers because I’m just guilty of this as much as the next guy. I’ve done it several times over the years. NOW I know better. If you do fish tournaments often, dude……….keep your baits in your boat. Don’t throw them in the lake! You’re only hurting yourself in the future.

While I have not caught a lot of fish on Beaver that suffer from plastics in the digestive system, my personal best on Beaver was caught around July 4^th night fishing. The fish went over 6lbs and was a massive bass for this lake. Problem was it was only 6lbs and could have gone 8lbs with a very healthy diet.

So if you see a skinny fish (I mean starved skinny), chances are it has plastics in it’s digestive system. You can’t “fix” the fish either. You can’t help the fish. All you can do is put the poor thing out of its misery in a hot oil bath. It’s not going to grow if it cannot process food like it should so it’s not going to get any bigger and will probably starve to death anyway.

Here is the victim of plastics in his gut (the FISH.........not me. I don't eat plastic but my gut says otherwise) :-)

[jeb]

Agreed. I once caught a fish with half of a 6 or 7 inch senko sticking out of it's, um, exhaust port. I'm not sure how you can tell a skinny fish is suffering from this issue, but I for sure keep all my used up plastics in the boat now. Easy to clean them out when I get home.

[J-Doc]

Poor guy. Trying to digest that and then pass it? Ouch.

[1969Larson]

Is that more painful than being jerked out of the water by a treble hook in the lip? Fish is fish.

[J-Doc]

Not concerned about pain. Concerned about the impact to the fishery overall.

[1969Larson]

I know. Couldn't resist. Nobody likes throwing back a fish that probably won't make it though. It hurts.

[JohnF52]

I caught a 23 inch LM Bass in Lincoln lake a couple years ago that only weighed 3.75 pounds. I kept it as it would not have survived much longer. Probably plastics, but I did not think of that at the time. Soft plastics might be off the market or illegal soon, who knows? I wonder if the Maine bill passed last year?

[kjackson]

The Maine bill on soft plastics did not pass. I've also caught fish that were in the process of passing plastic. The smallest was a yellow perch about eight inches long. I think the size and shape of the plastic does play a part, as this plastic was a thin worm about four inches long. Regardless, we shouldn't use the lake as a trash can.