large rubber worms

[yummy]

I learned when I was young that you never spit into your soup!!    I've fished for 50+ years, have always opened the stomachs of my keepers to see what they have been eating. When I was younger I was learning a lot from doing this, now the contents are horrific to say the least. From cigarette butts to these large rubber worms the Lakers aren't digesting, but instead are starving to death because they can't pass them. I've caught a few where that was all the stomach contents I found, under weight, wedged in and blocking any bowel movement. A slow death! I just wished fisherman would stop using these, have a little respect for the fish.

[thefishingweatherman]

Yes, I have seen this as well a few times, and indeed it does stunt the fish. They should really make rubber worms out of something more digestible.

[yummy]

It's getting so that it's a very common. I could almost fill a coffee can with these things, with some very sizable ones at that. Kinda sad when you see a nice Laker that is starving to death. One other thing...if your not planning on keeping the fish don't pull it out of the hole, cut the line!

[DirtyDan23]

It's getting so that it's a very common. I could almost fill a coffee can with these things, with some very sizable ones at that. Kinda sad when you see a nice Laker that is starving to death. One other thing...if your not planning on keeping the fish don't pull it out of the hole, cut the line!

What?! So cut your line and leave the hook/lure in the fishes mouth? Hope you're joking!

[peteinvermont]

I see it more often now too.  This came from a skinny brookies belly this winter:

[Hardwater Renegade]

I caught a 30" laker a few years back off from Shadow lake in Glover that was very skinny only weighed little over 5 pounds. When I opened him up I found a 4-5" white jig worm in his belly. Was kind of glad i kept him and prevented him from starving to death.

[zwiggles]

I don’t think any of these fish starved to death....

[lowaccord66]

This type of thing is the fodder anti's will use to try to stop fishing overall.  Be very careful which side of the fence you sit on. 

[thefishingweatherman]

This type of thing is the fodder anti's will use to try to stop fishing overall.  Be very careful which side of the fence you sit on.

Perhaps that's why a prohibition on non-digestible ones makes some sense.

[stick eyes]

Dirty Dan..I don't think he was kidding  I think most would say it's best to remove the lure before letting the fish go. Cut the line?  don't think so. And he is worried about a rubber worm ?

[Champlain Islander]

I fish with rubber a lot both for crappie and spring open water perch. One thing I do to minimize the chance for a fish to eat one is to make sure when the rubber is getting worn out to change it and put the old one in a container on the boat. If I see any floating I try to scoop them up and throw them in my worn out collection. When fishing with rubber it is rare at least for me to have a fish strip a whole one off the jig. My opinion is when fish get them they often have been discarded after being either ripped or the color has faded.

[DirtyDan23]

Dirty Dan..I don't think he was kidding  I think most would say it's best to remove the lure before letting the fish go. Cut the line?  don't think so. And he is worried about a rubber worm ?

Crazy! I rarely have a problem releasing a fish safely. I also lean towards real worms over the rubber ones!

[Champlain Islander]

Real worms have their own problems for large game fish like bass. That's the reason why live bait isn't allowed in tournaments where the goal is to catch and release.

[fishingidjit]

I think a troll has stirred the pot !

[stick eyes]

I was waiting for him to say using fish eyes to catch perch was a bad thing .   and fish do like worms. 

[lowaccord66]

Perhaps that's why a prohibition on non-digestible ones makes some sense.

First is a prohibition on those, next it'll be hooks....

[Dickbakers]

 ???how about real crawlers and cheap bronze hooks?  Cut the line if you won't keep the fish.  I
Dick

[esox_xtm]

Just an observation: Seems like they were doing better with the worms in their bellies than a fillet knife. I've heard it all before to justify harvest of fish. They were dying anyway, swallowed, ripped, torn, gills, eyes, bleeding, etc. Fact is they do better in the water than they do on a cleaning board.

That said this is not an indictment of any that choose to keep their catch within the limits of the law. I keep fish. I've kept a couple muskies though they are considered primarily sport fish here. Made no bones about it. Just wanted to eat a couple. Get over it.

Would your precious trout have starved to death if you'd left 'em to work it out? We'll never know, will we?

Just be honest.

[DR.SPECKLER]

Just an observation: Seems like they were doing better with the worms in their bellies than a fillet knife. I've heard it all before to justify harvest of fish. They were dying anyway, swallowed, ripped, torn, gills, eyes, bleeding, etc. Fact is they do better in the water than they do on a cleaning board.

That said this is not an indictment of any that choose to keep their catch within the limits of the law. I keep fish. I've kept a couple muskies though they are considered primarily sport fish here. Made no bones about it. Just wanted to eat a couple. Get over it.

Would your precious trout have starved to death if you'd left 'em to work it out? We'll never know, will we?

Just be honest.

right on!humans are the biggest threat to fish populations in many ways.yeah they eat rubber worms but we stick a fillet knife in them to find that out!so it was a dead fish either way.

[ran7ger]

esox i've always been curious...what did the musky taste like?  similar to pike?  same y-bone?

[esox_xtm]

esox i've always been curious...what did the musky taste like?  similar to pike?  same y-bone?

Missed this ran7ger... Just like pike. They are after all kissin' cousins, literally to the point where they can interbreed. Same y-bone structure, same firm, flaky white flesh. So good, in fact, I had to threaten my mother with taking her musky tackle if she was going to keep killing 'em. One once in a while is no great deal, she was gutting every one for the table and she was darn good at catching 'em.

[lowaccord66]

Just an observation: Seems like they were doing better with the worms in their bellies than a fillet knife. I've heard it all before to justify harvest of fish. They were dying anyway, swallowed, ripped, torn, gills, eyes, bleeding, etc. Fact is they do better in the water than they do on a cleaning board.

That said this is not an indictment of any that choose to keep their catch within the limits of the law. I keep fish. I've kept a couple muskies though they are considered primarily sport fish here. Made no bones about it. Just wanted to eat a couple. Get over it.

Would your precious trout have starved to death if you'd left 'em to work it out? We'll never know, will we?

Just be honest.

Best argument ever on the subject.

[stitch]

Has anyone seen a study on wether or not the rubber worms actually kill fish.?just curios not looking for a fight.

[RyanW]

Has anyone seen a study on wether or not the rubber worms actually kill fish.?just curios not looking for a fight.

I’m not even sure how a study could be done. Much like what has been proven in this thread, these fish were killed AND THEN the objects were discovered. If a conservation team has to kill the fish too see if rubber consumption is a threat, well then........... I direct you to esox’s statements. On the other hand if they net fish that are alive and even if they could examine internal contents without killing the fish, well, the fish aren’t dead so how is rubber harming them? Sure, some fish may look thin but how could we relate that directly to rubber consumption? Schooling fish, which a vast majority of the species we catch are, feed in an order. Like a pack. There are leaders and there are followers. If the fish being caught have nothing but rubber in their stomachs, I’m led to believe that they weren’t the alphas in the school to begin with, scavenging for whatever they can find. And that’s rubber at the bottom.

I do understand compaction as a legitimate threat with regards to fish eating artificial bait. That’s the case for any organism consuming a foreign object. However, If we have to kill the fish in order to find that out though, at what point is rubber consumption a fatal threat? Well, that’s just where we have to be humans and decide what’s a legally ethical way to preserve our fisheries. I suppose we could have the same debate over lead free waters. How many organisms have been killed by the use of lead tackle? I guarantee it’s absolutely no where near the amount that have been cut open to find sinkers and jigs nor soft plastics. I’m well aware lead is a much more dangerous and toxic substance than soft plastic baits and it’s an overall environmental concern not contained to closed body of water and that a lead test is actually conceivable but it still wouldn’t give any numbers on wildlife fatalities.

There would have to be a documented mass die off to even get the information required to see if rubber worms contribute to fatalities or not. And even then, a mass die off wouldn’t be associated with rubber worm consumption, in my opinion. Maybe that’s where the lead comes back into play.

[Seamonkey84]

Well if we get some hatcheries to feed a few rubber worms to some brood stock, that would be a somewhat controlled test.

[LittleFishin]

I've seen fish eat rock after rock on an aqua view and I know those dont digest... Just re-use the rubber worm and catch another

[SoVT Troutbum]

Researchers sometimes use a stomach pump to see what food items (plastic, rocks, fish, etc.) are in the stomach. Fish lose their meal but can be released back into the water. I don't know of any studies focused solely on rubber worms killing fish, but the tools to do that study are out there.

[lowaccord66]

Rubber worms have been used in fishing for so long (1949) that if they were killing fish right and left, we would have noticed already.  One thing we can all agree on...fishermen were and are killing fish in '49 and in '19.  That hasn't and won't change.