Would you believe it?

[Horse]

Last weekend I picked up a Cod on a soft plastic that was as big as any I have seen from inside Moreton Bay. Inside its mouth was a jighead and there it gets interesting:o
http://www.ausfish.com.au/vforum/showthread.php?t=152685

The jig head was actually the hook and weighted insert from a Storm Wildeye Live Mackeral 6" swimbait. The funny thing was that the last time I was fishing spot Y I was with chris (bayfisher) and he lost a very good fish on one of these lures
http://www.ausfish.com.au/vforum/showthread.php?t=150809

This sort of lure is not widely used in this area and I would suggest that the hook came from the lure Chris lost well over a month before:o . Hundreds of fishos would have hit this spot between our trips as it is a well known and hard fished area. On Sunday there were about a dozen or more boats within 500m of the hook up point. I am pretty sure these hookups came from using lures that the fish would not have seen before and using stuff that most people would consider too big for fishing inside the Bay
What do you reckon? Was the Cod I caught the same one that ran rings around Chris;) ;D
Here are pics of the jighead I pulled out of the Cod and a Storm insert from a dead lure Chris cut up.

Cheers

Neil

[Dezzer]

More than a good chance that it is.

Debunks the theory that a hook will perish in 2 or 3 days though. Always suspected Rex was having a lend of me. Had it deteriorated (not the lead of course) at all?

Nice fish by the way.

[Horse]

The hook was still in very good condition with only a little surface rust

[Noelm]

hooks do NOT rust away overnight as most TV hosts will tell their audience, they take yonks to disolve/rust and of course it certainly could be the same fish, but it also may not be, you will never know for 100% certain.

[Swindells]

Hooks will rust very quickly, if you buy the non stainless type. it'll cost a bit more having to replace hooks all the time but i don't like the idea of a fish having to suffer a mouth full of metal.

Stainless steel hooks should be prohibited.

They now have bio-degradable sinkers, i bought a pack and they were very unimpressive, i swear the thing almost gained bouyancy after an hour.

[Noelm]

non stainless hooks do not rust quickly at all, just try it, get a glass of Sea water, put an old black/bronze hook in it and see how long it last, it will be weeks untill it rusts away!

[Swindells]

Well i buy hooks that are specifically non stainless, if you do this and crush the barbs the fish will have a greater chance of ejecting the hooks, i'm not saying its fool proof but it's better then saying stuff it i won't try anything.

Keeping a hook in a glass of seawater has too many variables, in a full marine environment the water is constantly agitated removing the soft corroded layer and exposing fresh metal, a stable unagitated jar would create poultice/crevice corrosion which is quite slow.

[marty+jojo]

Yes i would believe it. I don't think many people would be fishing there with storm softies. They work well in deeper water, the fingermark in my avatar was taken on a storm 6" shad.
Marty.

[Lucky_Phill]

Yep Neil, same fish. :)

and yes..... you outfished bayfisher, because you boated the creature you hooked........


interesting......................



Phill
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[sparkyice]

when i was a kid fishing in a pond, i hooked, brought to shore, and lost a fish to a snag, he swam away with my mepps spinner in his mouth.
less than 20 minutes later, i hooked a fish, brought him in, and retrieved my mepps spinner from him. same fish!
guess he was hungry!!

[3rd degree]

I reckon it would be the same fish.

Was there any line attached that you could match up with what was being used last time?

Cheers

Jim

[thelump]

One of the Marlin I have caught (not the one in the Avatar)took 2 livies about 2 minutes before the one that brought him undone. I will explain. My mate and I were fishing for cobes at South West Rocks (NSW) we both dropped down a free swimming slimie and within a couple of minutes I was on. About 30 seconds later my mate was on. We both fought our fish for a while and noticed our lines drawing toward each other. "We might have the same fish here" I said. Just as I said it my line popped. I quickly pulled back in and tied another hook on when my mate pulls his hooks on the fish. I put another slimey on and swam him down thinking we were onto a hot cobe bite when my line takes off again. A few minute later he swam toward the surface ( as cobes do mid fight) and i say we will get a look at him now. All of a sudden a Small black launches into the air. WOW. To keep it brief we got him after about an hourish and took him back for tea.(Sorry to those who this may offend but small blacks taste good) When we cut him open there is my Rig in his stomach still in the slimie and another slimey with 2 hook holes in it laying in front of it. We did have the same fish and he came back for more.
So yes it probably was your plastic.

[thelump]

The fish in the above story.

[bayfisher]

It must be the same the fish, seems strange but there really is no other explanation, The hook weight pattern if from such an unusual swim bait the odds of some one else tossing that bait in that area would be even greater than hooking the same fish twice a month apart.
For me the more interesting question is why this fish has not been caught earlier, like you said the area is no secret and there are always plenty of people live baiting around there, yet on both occasions it took unusual plastics. It may very well go to show curiosity killed the cat or fish in this case ;D.

[Poodroo]

There is a good chance that it was the same fish. Cod apparently don't move around very much. Once I was fishing with Scalem and I caught and released the same cod three times. It was the same fish every time because I could see the damage my previous hook ups had done. He was obviously swimming back down to his home and getting sucked in by the same lure every time. The desire to eat obviously over ruled common sense.

Poodroo

[Jurkyjj]

YES!! I would believe it!!
I have no doubt that it was the same jighead.

Sometimes shit happens I guess.

[sparkyice]

hmmm...

a common theme here- a fish will bite twice, and will live to bite again if released.
the PETA fish kissers would have society believe that hooking a fish is the moral equivalent of ripping the lips off of a child with a hay hook.
i'll bet my paycheck that a housecat could never be hooked twice.
sea kittens indeed!

[the gecko]

Cod are known for this. Doesnt say much for all the other dozen boats there last week, lol.

I had a similar experience, heres my post from last year.....

"Fri nite was fishing a rocky patch by the mouth of the Coomera, and I pulled a black spot cod around 55cm on a slab of tailor and 40lb leader. Then I see that he has an old rig of mine stuck in him, and that this is the same fish that buried me in the rocks some 4-6 weeks ago!

The old rig was a red wire trace with a gamma 7/0 that was stuck down his gut. This American bleeder wire is pretty rare, and the wire knot that I use is pretty unique, so it was definitely the same fish in the exact same spot! I havent used wire for over a month now, since Im not chasing sharks anymore.

He seemed in good enough condition, and looked like he could go another 6-12 months before the gut hook and 30cm trace would finally kill him. Whats more the gamma hook hadn’t deteriorated in the slightest. I thought they rust out?

OK, revenge was nice, but I was more interested in the fact that the fish had stayed in the same spot. Are they territorial?

This fish has a habit of burying you in the rocks, then he sits on the bottom and waits for you to get impatient. Eventually, after freespooling and winding for 5-10 mins, you will think hes not there and then you break the braid. This time he did the same thing, but he came loose after a bit of freespooling."


cheers
Andrew