You Never Know: What You'll Find in a Fishes Belly.

[SportFishStaff]

Well, while I was doing the

How To: Cleaning a Sea Bass
How To: Filleting and Cleaning Sea Bass

I came across something I've never seen in a fishes belly and I have seen a lot. My fish cleaning business we cleaned thousands of striped bass, tuna, sharks, sea bass.etc.etc. Found rigs, lures, with braid attached but not just a wad of braid. My theory is that the hooks rotted out and the leader was passed but the braided line got hooked on something and couldn't be passed. it had been in there a while and was in the process of being broken down.

But Check it out for yourself:


Thanks For Watching

[Capt Josh]

Weirdest thing i've ever found was a complete steak dinner in a halibut's belly. Back when i used to work at fishing lodges up in Northern BC we'd routinely fish right off the lodge dock for halibut. Well i guess this particular halibut was feeding on more than fish cleaning scraps as it hunted the depths around the resort. Obviously he liked the scent of a perfectly BBQ'd t-bone and fixins because he had an entire t-bone, corn on the cobb, and half a baked potato in his belly! In case you were wondering it was a 140 pound halibut!!! One i'll definitely never forget...gave me new meaning to the term "surf and turf"

[seapower]

They put in metamucil??? What do ya think there, "Gottafly"???? Frank

[reel fool]

But it didn't kill him. Too many theories over all the things that fishermen do to fish to kill them, after releasing them (sometimes involuntarily)

Being a fish cleaner, I'm sure you've seen far more odd things come out of fish, but here's a few of mine:

Caught a wahoo on #3 wire while livebaiting for kingfish. That wahoo had my 2 hooks (1 treble, 1 J) in his mouth, another rig handing from inside his mouth, and about 7 more hooks & various rigging in his belly--some wire rigs, some mono. that fished loved to eat around boats. the hooks/rigging were in various stages of decay.

and, found an in-tact juvenile sailfish in the belly of a 20 lbs mahi mahi. thought it was funny--someday that saifish would have been feeding on that critters offspring

[gottaflylee]

They put in Metamucil??? What do ya think there, "Gottafly"???? Frank

Whats Metamucil Frank, something you old guys drink for something...

Found a bunch of weird stuff over the years, chicken bones, hooks, leaders and another Speckle Trout that was 1 and 1/2 pounds in another Speckle Trouts belly...

[SportFishStaff]

Damn Josh, That halibut was eating good.

My list of oddities I have found in fishes gullets
Striped bass Every species of fish you can imagine on the inshore grounds of the north east.
A 42inch bass had 36 3 inch weakfish stacked in like cord wood and still ate a live spot.
38 inch bass had a Live croaker that swam away once we dug it out, as I went to fillet that bass its stomach started to wiggle.
Completly digested sea robins skull spines and all wonder how he was gonna pass that one.
live knobby conch
aluminum foil
Stripers are swimming trash compactors they will eat anything. Although I have never found another striper in ones belly.

Tuna:
Green Machine
Chicken bones that we had been throwing over while chunking.
Another tunas heart that i threw over while bleeding and gutting one on the deck.

I gotts run I'll post more later