When will she eat again?

[HOLWACHAGOT]

Over the years I have heard all sorts of theories about the mortality of hook and line caught fish. The commercial hook and liners I know stand firm that most don't make it. The conservationalist say they do.
There seems to be evidence that some species fair well after being released. Take the study Dr. Neil wrote about on the Striped Bass for example. Several fish that were tagged with satellite tags travelled many miles shortly after being caught, tagged, and released. Obviously, these fish were not much worse for the wear after being caught.

To get to my point of discussion...How soon will a fish eat again after being hooked? after being caught? Understandably, depending on species, water depth, temp, etc. the answers will vary greatly. I will speak of two situations I have experienced first hand.

Togs- Two years ago I tagged a bunch of Togs out on the CBBT. One particular female was tagged in the morning...a 13" long fish. The same day, same piling, two hours later, she was caught again by my fishing partner. I know it was the same fish because of the tag number. I was suprised she ate again that soon after being brought up 40 feet, unhooked, tagged, measured, and released. Before it happened I would have said NO WAY will that fish eat again for at least a few days. A week later to the day, I caught the exact same fish on the exact same piling. She was caught three times in a week on my boat.

Flounder- Two weeks ago I hooked a decent Flounder. She was on six pound test mono because we were fishing a shallow sandbar. The Captain tried to net the fish for me and she parted the line after getting hit with the net. Less than five minutes later, after grabbing another rod with a slide rig on it I had another Flounder on the line. This time The Captain didn't miss with the net. Low and behold, the fish still had my leadhead and belly strip in it's lip. The fish shook the jighead in the net. I was suprised that the fish ate again that soon after being hooked, reeled in, and hit with the net.




I have also heard from a reliable source of a Blue Marlin spooling a TLD and dragging 300 yards of High Vis through an adjacent boats spread still eating baits. If I am not mistaken boat number two caught the fish.

I have also seen a Grouper Squid caught with a hook still in it's jaw.

Anyhow, what are some of your experiences with how soon fish feed again after being hooked and or caught. I am sure that others have seen or witnessed similar experiences. Any thoughts?
Holwachagot

[SeaBiscuit]

You will like this story Geoff.
A few years ago, Slip and I were fishing on the Class Action with captain Mike King. We had gone well south fishing a marked wreck. We caught a number of large (1+ lb avg) blue runners and proceeded to use them as live bait on the bottom.
I got slammed, rocked and broken off on one such bait. Same thing happened to Nick immediately there after. The third large blue runner was the charm, as I was able to land a husky (high teens) red grouper with 3 circle hooks in his mouth. One on each corner with broken leaders and one around the top lip attached to my line! That is one photograph I have always regretted not snapping.
Fatso ate 3 baits (3-4 lbs worth) in a row, got hooked after each, fought off the "pull" and broke two off and just kept on eatin'

Gotta love a puddinhead!

[DropinBack]

I have hooked the same tuna on 2 differnt rods... but, doubtful he knew he was hooked when he hit the second bait...

Also, have had sailfish eat 2-3 life hooked baits before we would set the hook on any of them... but once again, on the second and third the fish didn know it had any hooked baits in its mouth...

[Skipjack1]

Tog fishing, my friends son broke off a nice one. Minutes later I hooked a nice one, and in its mouth was the sons rig. It was a HUGE tog. He was mad.

[Anders]

VCU is doing research on sturgeon and in one report they noted that after catching one in the james river and placing a tranducer in it it was eating again in 4 hours. to put a transducer in it they have to surgically implant it in the sturgeon's belly. i think they originally caught the fish in a net though so I dont know if this counts but they still cut it open and released and it still was eating in the same day.

[austin ensor]

THATS INTERESETING... NEVER THOUGHT THEY WOULD EAT THAT QUICK

[joeksr]

Few years back fishin with a buddy we were catching skipjack
just for fun.
He had one hooked up and reeling it into the boat.
fish let go about 10' behind the boat.
I'd been reeling in and was about 5' behind him.
Watched the fish turn and grab my lure. Handed my buddy his fish.

Released a small Mako. Watched him go right back into the spread checking out the baits. Didn't bite. Maybe just didn't see anything he was interested in.

Another Mako my son was reeling in spit the hook.
Again I was about 10' behind his line.
Immediate hookup and landed the fish.
Can't be positive it was the same mako but prety sure.

[Captain Michael Buffington]

hooked a 524 mako 4 times before he got it to the boat. The last time it swam right at the boat and got a load of 000 to the noggin 10 seconds after he hooked it

Mike

[hotshot1]

Fishing a spill way in college, caught a pickeral with a hook in it and then proceeded to catch the same fish 3 more times that day

[Squid]

Two years ago while trolling inside of the Steeples, some friends and I were killing gaffers as quick as we could get lines in the water----literally one of those days you dream about. At one point we were bailing 20 pounders.

Anyway, as we set lines out after one blitz, a wahoo skied on the left long no more than 30 feet from the boat as it was being set. The fish cut us off since we were fishing all mono. A few seconds later the right short goes off and we catch our wahoo (or so we thought). When I gaffed the fish, I stuck him in the back---was aiming for his head and he kicked just as I pulled the trigger.

4 hours later, while still trolling the same weedline, we catch another wahoo--the same size as the first. This one I gaff in the head and put him in the box.

When cleaning the fish, the second fish we caught (the head gaffed fish) had our stainless steel Mustad hook in his stomach. This was the fish that had cut us off 4 hours before we caught him. I've always wondered what the odds were to troll back through the same area and catch the fish that cut you off.

On another note, going back to what Seabiscuit wrote, on more than one occassion, I've missed a red grouper bite only to drop back down a fresh bait and catch him. When they come on board they puke up both baits. Again, gotta love a stupid puddinhead.

Below is a picture of the gag that Geoff originally mentioned. This is a fish I caught last fall which had a decomposing circle hook embedded in his jaw with a section of mono attached. The fish's jaw had grown around the hook making it impossible to remove.