What Happens to plastics?

[Cmj]

im with pappy on this one...........

Off with his head!!!

[montagc]

I used to snorkel a lot and found many lures. We often found older soft plastics that were degrading. Could be due to sun exposure in the clear water.

[huskerwill]

Off with his head!!!

Dang, kinda skeered to post now!! JUST KEEP FISHN!!!!!

[Tim The Lippa Rippa Mon]

Well, one day I actually did a small Bluegill I'd caught a very big favor. He/she had ate a discarded tube jig body, and most of it was hanging out from it's hind side. The poor fish had did all it could to pass the tube completely through it's system, but it just couldn't quite finish the task, and looked to have been starving due to it's predicament. Once I removed the tube from the poor thing, I let it go to live on. Since then, I don't leave any type of tackle behind if I can at all help it.

One other experience I had in the field concerning discarded fishing items came while I was hunting one early Winter day. I was out in the center of a corn field, no where near any fishable water. I flushed and shot a small rooster. It was so small, I was kind of worried that I'd might of popped a hen by mistake. But it was a rooster. The poor thing had mono wrapped all around both of it's legs. One of it's spurs had nearly been severed off of his leg from the line, and in many spots, the line had worn through the bird's flesh, and was exposing bone. It definitely could not walk at all, and had obviously been starving to death. I believe I did the poor thing a favor by putting it out of it's pain.

I used throw short leaders of line and ripped bodies into the water before these things happened, never knowing just how big of an impact that I could be effecting nature with. I don't take nature for granted that way anymore. I try to take out more than I bring in too now. Something to think about when you are out there, enjoying nature's beauty.

<,"}//>{ Tim

[Tennessee Trey]

Pretty rare that I lose a soft plastic bait in the water. Most of the time it gets replaced with a fresh one well before it is at risk of coming off the hook and the discarded bait is thrown in the bottom of the boat to be thrown in the trash at home.
Now if we could just teach people to not toss their used baits in the water. It is littering and illegal.
I see it happen all the time and have actually called people out on it. It embarrasses them a little but they usually net them up.
If they are on my boat they don't have a choice unless they want to swim back to the dock

[Slab Slayen]

Yea its not a good idea to intentionally throw anything in the water.