MitchCalcutt
22-10-2007, 07:24 PM
On a recent trip to my favourite bridge on Hope Island I caught a Trevally, which is not all that unusual except for the amount of hooks he was sporting. A rig from Hell trailing him from nose to tail, five hooks in all, 1mt of 20kg mono and a substantial amount of growth that had formed on the trailing mono. The rig consisted of a central 5/0 octopus stainless, with four high carbon or “chemically sharpened” hooks in a star configuration off it.
Its not all that uncommon to catch a fish with man made injuries, fish like all wild creatures heal extremely well without the intervention of our local vet. In the last year alone I have seen some amazing injuries to fish which you wouldn’t think they could possibly live through, but they do. A bream I caught had most of it’s back eaten away sometime in it’s early life, healed up quite nicely to become a more larger specimen than average.
So fish that escape from the clutches of ill prepared anglers with the hooks still in them will in most cases survive to throw the hooks at a later day. Providing of course there isn’t a huge amount of line accompanying the hooks.
After studying the rig I removed from the Trevally carefully, I began to ponder the theory that hooks left in fish will dissolve away in the fish over just a few days. To me that’s starting to sound like something the “Myth Busters” should get hold of. I have in front of me a rig, with all the growth attached, would indicate its been in the water for around two weeks. The stainless hook has the tip broken off behind the barb. The high carbon hooks have very little corrosion; that surprises me a great deal.
So why do the hooks in my tackle box corrode rapidly and not the ones left in the salt water? The answer is Oxygen: a highly corrosive metal can take many years to break down in salt water as long as it stays away from the upper layers where the oxygen levels are at there highest. Troll that same hook without an anode or similar protection for a day and say goodbye to the hook.
The explanation is not so simple at all to explain. To simplify it, there is a certain amount of static electricity in the air, especially when an off shore wind is blowing. Salt water mixed with the oxygen in the air, plus the static electricity in the wind creates a battery affect. On top of that, the moving boat ads even more oxygen into the lures path, enhancing the over all electricity passing through the metals.
“Electrolysis” The decomposition of a substance by passing electricity through it, as described in the Dictionary, is the effect taking place to the hook’s (Particularly High Carbon) when left in salt water with a high level of oxygen is apparent. This is more noticeable when other metals are linked; for example a shackle rig used under a skirted trolling lure has a Stainless steel shackle, Stainless steel stranded wire, Aluminium crimps and last of all, either a pare of Stainless hooks or High carbon hooks. If Stainless hooks are in the rig all the electrolysis goes to the softest metal being the crimps, then why does a High carbon hook burn away when it’s much harder than the crimp?
In the case of a chemically sharpened hook, or High carbon hook, the hook is the moving part of the rig therefore becoming the anode itself. Without a Zink anode attached to that last hook it will begin to arc away the tip. Stainless hooks don’t corrode under electrolysis, this point alone to me isn’t a good enough reason to use stainless hooks.
This explains away the theory of hooks dissolving away and falling out of fish after just a few days. The reason hooks fall out is a natural process every living thing on the planet goes through. The body gets something stuck in it that’s not natural to it, the body begins the process to rid it’s self of the foreign invader. Along comes the puss created by the infection brought in on the invading object. The tissue around the object becomes rotten and begins breaking down. At this point the tissue around the object is much like a paper bag full of minced Tuna left in a esky all day. The object falls out and the healing process begins.
Fish have there own medical fraternity just as we do, the difference is our Doctors remove the hook before the infection gets to bad and then prescribe Antibiotics, Fish have a mired of cleaners to eat out the rotten flesh allowing the healing process to happen quicker.
The Trevally I caught and released would have lived wether I helped it or not, that doesn’t change the fact that an angler’s pore decision in rigs created the problem in the first place. I catch and release fish all the time, some in better condition than others. The rigs I use are prepared for the species I’m targeting and my fishing ethics are sound, anglers without the same degree of experience deserve a helping hand not a kicking. Every chance I get to educate a young or inexperienced angler I will because I don’t like catching fish with bogus rig’s trailing off them.
Unfortunately I have seen many highly skilled anglers turn there backs on the disadvantaged but very keen fisho’s, who we see every day around our waterways. These are the people who don’t know how to tie a knot or know that wire isn’t necessary to catch whiting. Unskilled anglers are the ones that leave all the crap around our wharfs and bridges, some due to lack of knowledge, others don’t give a shit. You simply can’t help a person who doesn’t care, but the others do want to care and would love nothing more than to be shown how, he then may even have the thrill of watching his catch swim away again.
It’s a great feeling teaching someone a particular technique, then watching him catch the fish they want to catch. I urge every angler to share even a small amount of time, passing on a little bit of info to help a disadvantaged angler. You may just be the teacher that prevents the next 50mt’s of line left tangled on the rocks around your favourite fishing hole.
Its not all that uncommon to catch a fish with man made injuries, fish like all wild creatures heal extremely well without the intervention of our local vet. In the last year alone I have seen some amazing injuries to fish which you wouldn’t think they could possibly live through, but they do. A bream I caught had most of it’s back eaten away sometime in it’s early life, healed up quite nicely to become a more larger specimen than average.
So fish that escape from the clutches of ill prepared anglers with the hooks still in them will in most cases survive to throw the hooks at a later day. Providing of course there isn’t a huge amount of line accompanying the hooks.
After studying the rig I removed from the Trevally carefully, I began to ponder the theory that hooks left in fish will dissolve away in the fish over just a few days. To me that’s starting to sound like something the “Myth Busters” should get hold of. I have in front of me a rig, with all the growth attached, would indicate its been in the water for around two weeks. The stainless hook has the tip broken off behind the barb. The high carbon hooks have very little corrosion; that surprises me a great deal.
So why do the hooks in my tackle box corrode rapidly and not the ones left in the salt water? The answer is Oxygen: a highly corrosive metal can take many years to break down in salt water as long as it stays away from the upper layers where the oxygen levels are at there highest. Troll that same hook without an anode or similar protection for a day and say goodbye to the hook.
The explanation is not so simple at all to explain. To simplify it, there is a certain amount of static electricity in the air, especially when an off shore wind is blowing. Salt water mixed with the oxygen in the air, plus the static electricity in the wind creates a battery affect. On top of that, the moving boat ads even more oxygen into the lures path, enhancing the over all electricity passing through the metals.
“Electrolysis” The decomposition of a substance by passing electricity through it, as described in the Dictionary, is the effect taking place to the hook’s (Particularly High Carbon) when left in salt water with a high level of oxygen is apparent. This is more noticeable when other metals are linked; for example a shackle rig used under a skirted trolling lure has a Stainless steel shackle, Stainless steel stranded wire, Aluminium crimps and last of all, either a pare of Stainless hooks or High carbon hooks. If Stainless hooks are in the rig all the electrolysis goes to the softest metal being the crimps, then why does a High carbon hook burn away when it’s much harder than the crimp?
In the case of a chemically sharpened hook, or High carbon hook, the hook is the moving part of the rig therefore becoming the anode itself. Without a Zink anode attached to that last hook it will begin to arc away the tip. Stainless hooks don’t corrode under electrolysis, this point alone to me isn’t a good enough reason to use stainless hooks.
This explains away the theory of hooks dissolving away and falling out of fish after just a few days. The reason hooks fall out is a natural process every living thing on the planet goes through. The body gets something stuck in it that’s not natural to it, the body begins the process to rid it’s self of the foreign invader. Along comes the puss created by the infection brought in on the invading object. The tissue around the object becomes rotten and begins breaking down. At this point the tissue around the object is much like a paper bag full of minced Tuna left in a esky all day. The object falls out and the healing process begins.
Fish have there own medical fraternity just as we do, the difference is our Doctors remove the hook before the infection gets to bad and then prescribe Antibiotics, Fish have a mired of cleaners to eat out the rotten flesh allowing the healing process to happen quicker.
The Trevally I caught and released would have lived wether I helped it or not, that doesn’t change the fact that an angler’s pore decision in rigs created the problem in the first place. I catch and release fish all the time, some in better condition than others. The rigs I use are prepared for the species I’m targeting and my fishing ethics are sound, anglers without the same degree of experience deserve a helping hand not a kicking. Every chance I get to educate a young or inexperienced angler I will because I don’t like catching fish with bogus rig’s trailing off them.
Unfortunately I have seen many highly skilled anglers turn there backs on the disadvantaged but very keen fisho’s, who we see every day around our waterways. These are the people who don’t know how to tie a knot or know that wire isn’t necessary to catch whiting. Unskilled anglers are the ones that leave all the crap around our wharfs and bridges, some due to lack of knowledge, others don’t give a shit. You simply can’t help a person who doesn’t care, but the others do want to care and would love nothing more than to be shown how, he then may even have the thrill of watching his catch swim away again.
It’s a great feeling teaching someone a particular technique, then watching him catch the fish they want to catch. I urge every angler to share even a small amount of time, passing on a little bit of info to help a disadvantaged angler. You may just be the teacher that prevents the next 50mt’s of line left tangled on the rocks around your favourite fishing hole.