Home Forums Fishing Freshwater Swallowing The Hook

So, the catfish thread got me to thinking. The other night, I was watching my rod tip and it dipped about an inch and then went back to normal. I turned the reel a couple of turns and felt no resistance. There are a lot of bluegill and other fish that will bump the line and some will even drag the bait a foot or two, so I waited. After about 30 seconds, line started playing out and I set the hook and the fight was on.

I landed a approximately 30 inch channel cat and the hook was completely out of sight through the gullet orifice. While I was inspecting the fish to determine if there was anything I could do, it did a classic crocodile roll and twisted out of my hand and fell about 4 feet from where I was sitting and into the water. The drop broke the line and the fish was gone.

My question, what is the consensus regarding the survivability of a fish that has swallowed the hook completely where it's no longer visible in the mouth? I've heard that they dissolve. There was no blood and the fish hadn't been gilled.

I don't know but Catfish are pretty tough. If it wasn't bleeding I'd say it's got a chance of surviving. I've seen that happen on a big farm pond we used to fish a couple of times a week and no one saw or reported any dead fish floating.

There's enough stomach acid to dissolve a hook. Fear not, Dan - that cat is fine.

Agreed. I did a science project for school once, driving a 16p sinker nail into a coke can and observe the results. In about 2 weeks, the nail fell over, the bottom half gone. The acid in the soda was that strong, yet I drink 4-5 every day. Stomach acid is stronger by an order of magnitude, in mammals the fish should be fine. (Imho)

Thanks.

The old story is the fish will live. I cut a hook on a small walleye not long ago. The best chance that fish had.

If you are super worried you can always switch to circle hooks.

Made the switch. Odd thing happened in the last two days, I've landed to 24 to 26 inch channels who were hooked about midway down their bodies through the skin! In essence, I snagged them! How in the hell?

A while back, I had a large lake trout hit a large lure......the fight felt like a big one but
lasted only seconds and left me with some dead weight on the lure. The trout had
half swallowed a 3# whitefish and the tail was still sticking from the trout's mouth.
My jig hook had hooked the whitefish tail and I pulled it from the trout.

The tail and back half of the whitefish were still intact but the head and body were
digested down to the skeleton......that portion within the gullet had been eaten by
digestive acids......gotta be strong acids.

Vern—had the exact same thing happen to me too—only difference was the half digested fish was an eel-pout.
Dan—I’m told the trick to circle hooks is to not set the hook—you just gently lift the rod tip and the hook is supposed to roll and turn and bite the corner of the mouth.
I have been fishing for more than 60 years—I can not seem to just ‘not set the hook’.
I drift fish big brookies here with dead smelt in the river—I missed so many strikes I quit using circle hooks but I did hook a couple as you describe in the side.

X3 for circle hooks. If the circle hook is small enough it will be swallowed too. I too had trouble not setting the hook; just reel up the slack until you feel the fish. If you set the hook you will likely just yank the fish out of the fish's mouth. They make unhooking a lot easier most of the time and reduce the chance of injury to fish you don't keep.

Okay, don't set the hook. This is probably why I'm getting empty hooks when I reel in. I feel tension, set the hook and voila, nothing. No fish and no bait.

Rumor has it the hooks dissolve. I have no personal experience with this. I have to think it can't be all that good for the fish

That is typically what I do as well when they swallow it, if it's too small to legally keep.

I once landed a good small mouth with table intentions that had about 5 inches of leader projecting from it butt. Upon cleaning, it was attached to a hook that was about 2 inches short of making it through the large intestine and out the butt hole. The intestine was perforated by the hook and the hook looked to be rusted and an estimated 50% of its original mass. The fish was quite healthy though.

I've landed several other fish over the years that were packing hooks in some portion of their jaws, but nothing else that had one work it's way through the digestive system. I've not looked for any peer reviewed literature on hooks decomposing, but one would think there might be some real data out there somewhere.

In my younger bait days I'd simply cut the line and let the fish have the hook. Now I've pretty much gone the fly route and a swallow is an extreme rarity.

Here's a little info although it's not a peer reviewed article Pike and lures link

and a second link with a little duplication (Hooks and strippers link

and a third summary (A third summary link)

With today's animal welfare mandates, I suspect it's becoming quite difficult to conduct such studies.

When I was a kid, my mom and dad built a new house and had a large built in aquarium in the living room.I caught fish and brought them home in a bucket to stock the aquarium. Some lived and some didn't but numerous times I would hook a fish too deep and cut the line. Within a week or 2 they would cough the hook up and it would be lying on the gravel. Usually rusty.
A built in Aquarium piped in to the utilities is a very entertaining feature in a house.

I can see a steel(wire) hook rusting quickly but not so sure about bronze or stainless hooks.

THanks for all the replies. I'd sorta forgotten about this thread. I didn't realize it would generate all that interest. I've gone to circle hooks and since then, every fish I've landed has been lip hooked. Some have gotten off, some have run with the bait and not been hooked when I took up the slack. and unfortunately, one recently broke the line while I was trying to lift it and he wiggled loose and his weight snapped the line. I use 10# so I'm thinking I'm going to have to go with something a little heavier next season.