Fish hooks. How long before they disolve?

[Louis]

G'day All,


Just curious if anyone knew the ins and outs with regards to hooks disolving away in fishes mouths once they are released.

What is the normal time frame before the hook disolves away and the shank falls out?

What hooks go the quickest?

Does the fish type, play a large role in how quickly or slowly a hook disolves?


Many Thanks



Louis

[land-lubber]

hey,
my fiances grandad has a hook that he caught a marlin on in cairns, the hook was in the fishes mouth for an hour and a half. he has it in a jar, and there are corrosion pitts in it from the acid (orwhatever) from the fishes mouth even after it was taken out. this leads me to believe that if a hook stays in the mouth, under constant contact with the chemicals, it wont take very long at all.
cheers

[Louis]

Thanks for the reply Land-Lubber

It certainly is an amazing process isn't it.



Louis

[Jeremy87]

Difficult question to answer. When i was gutting a flathead not too long ago i noticed it had a hook in its guts. It had worked its way out of the fishes stomach and into the abdominal cavity. the hook appeared to be made of stainless steel and seemed as good as new.

[Louis]

Thanks for your reply Jeremy87





Louis

[Burley_Boy]

Stainless steel should be banned.

[slugo]

Stainless steel should be banned.
TOTALLY AGREE

[rando]

Brad Smith (the fishing guide) told me, that when he was supplying the DPI with Jacks for their breeding program ,deep hooked fish would spit the hook overnight in the holding tanks .
I thought that it was quite amazing .
cheers
rando

[mr_stinker]

I HAVE DONE A LOT CATCH AND RELEASE COMPS,HAVE FOUND THAT MOST BEACH FISH HAVE NO DRAMA IN GETTING RID OFF THE HOOK

[rajawolf]

Wish I had that info before..while trying to remove a hook from a fish I wanted to release..it passed away....if I had known I would have just cut the line and released. :(

Anyway it is good to learn from other fisherman, and now I know what to do.

[DICER]

I cut the line and release it into the creel - no spit outs there....

[tshort]

I've had same experience as Jeremy except with mackerel. Hooks weren't SS and were well embeded into the flech of gut cavity. Fish looked in good order though.

[bidkev]

Fishing a Tope competition in the UK, the deckie caught one at 42lb with 5 hooks in it's gob. All were stainless steel and one belonged to the boat a hundred metres from us. Now considering that it is a very small percentage of anglers that use stainless, and that it is likely that the fish had been caught more times by anglers who *didn't* use stainless, then just how many times had the bugger been caught? :o :-/ I can't believe that the tope had never been hooked by a non stainless hook and mathematically, there must have been a multitude of other hooks that had dissolved?

I agree that stainless hooks should be banned. Apart from the damage they cause, they're pretty much crap anyway and lose their edge so easily.

kev

[tshort]

Last weekend when the cricket was rained out they put on a re-run of ben cropp. He spoke of grey nurse sharks with stainless hooks in there guts. If anyone else saw it did he say the sharks were already dead or did he kill them then find the hooks? I cant remember.

[Duyz72]

I have been wanting to use this pic as my avatar, maybe soon when the site sets it up again so I can! #This is a neat little thread to show it I supppose.

If we can tag a fish (ie pierce it's flesh) and fully expect it to live a full and healthy natural life, why wouldn't a pierced lip, mouth etc. I can understand if the hook fouls up the digestive sphincters etc as a fatal thing.

I always just cut the line as close to the hook as possible (not on a lure though) to release a well hooked fish. Better than tearing the living bejeezuz out of it.

[Leo_N.]

Use nickel plated hooks. They rust quickly and are sharper than stainless.

Stainless hooks last for a long time within a fish. Remember that rust is oxidation, so it happens much faster out of the water than in the water. Salt sppeds rust, but more so when out of the water. Now think of that stainless hook that you used for 5 different trips over two months and is still doesn't show much sign of rust. That takes a whole lot of time in the water.

I was in a boat recently when someone caught a coral trout that had previously been foul-hooked with a stainless hook in the gut. There was a scar where it had been pulled against, but it had totally healed up around the entry wound. I would estimate that that would take between two weeks and a month and the hook was all but untouched by rust.

[DaveSue_Fishos_Two]

Years ago I remember seeing some of the fish at Seaworld with bloody big hooks still hanging from their mouths.
Under the QAL wharf at Gladstone, lives a very large and probably quite old groper. He has been there since I was a teenager (probably longer) and every now and then someone hooks him and manages to bring him to the surface. He has more hooks hanging out of his mouth and lips than what you would find for sale and Big W! :) And, few are stainless.
It really is an interesting topic. For smaller fish caught with smaller hooks I guess they would eventually corode away or the fish may manage to spit them. But larger, stronger hooks bedded into the jaw of larger fish I think would probably remain for a long long time. Years maybe, and that big groper is testimony to that.

Cheers
Dave

[rabbitohbill]

When a fish is deep hooked, & the only way of a release is to cut the hook & leave it, I have always wondered whether the fish should simply be sacrificed, for food, burley, crab bait....whatever.
What are their chances of survival?
Judging by some info in this thread, I'd say stuff all. :-/

[bungie]

This seems good. All tho follow the link at the bottom. The writer is selling a product that I like and is easy to make yourself.


http://www.nesportsman.com/articles/article11.shtml

[Duyz72]

Rabbit - I'd say it has a better chance of survival back in the water than our eskies!
If you want to release the fish, do so quickly. Cut the line as close as possible to the hook and send it back to the deep blue. And if it does die at least you gave it every chance. Plus, it will provide plenty of food for everything else that lives down there too.

[Louis]

Thanks for your replies.




Louis

[Freeeedom]

I have caught a tailor that had a set of three ganged 5/0's ulcerating out of its arse! It had obviously swallowed the bait and cut off the line, the hooks, which were folded back on each other had passed through its gut but were too large to get out the other end. Although the hooks were a bit corroded they were substantially intact. You'd imagine that they musy have been there for at least a number of days if not weeks. Obviously the fish was not too put off by its sore ring since it was still feeding for me to catch it.
Cheers Freeeedom

[Big_Ren]

I agree that stainless is not the way to go. Sure some may fall out of the fish's mouth but mostly I would think it would remain as a long-lasting reminder of its encounter with us. I use BM circle hooks, sure they get a bit rusty after one trip but soak em in dishwashing detergent, dry them, re-sharpen them and place them in talcum and you are right for next trip...no wastage. :-/

[littlejim]

Freeeeedom,

that's an incredible piece of info. Nice to know they can survive something like that! thanks for letting us know.