Was practicing this weekend for a tourney I have next Sun, and I broke off about a 7 lb on a shakey head near the boat. Do you think that bass will spit that lure somehow this week and hit the same thing next Sun, or will it possibly swim with it for several weeks and I'll have no chance catching him in 7 days. The hook was not swallowed, as you could see it when he was jumping.

It will probably get hung up on some brush and the bass will be eaten by a monster catfish.

I read about this a while back in Bassmasters where someone had done research on this. I want to say that most lip hooked fish could get rid of a hook like that in a matter of a few minutes to hours.........

I bet it came out within minutes

Had a fish do almost the same Sat. morning to me. Pitching a SH under a dock, hooked-up, fish hung me up in whatever mess that was down there and broke me off, less than a min. later, I witness the fish twice trying to throw the hook. Not quite a 7lber though, maybe around 3 or 4. Great question!

I wouldn't think it would hold that hook long. But don't get your hopes up that she will eat just the same way again. Better find a pattern. I have caught a handful of fish with hooks in em still but the hooks looked fairly fresh so i doubt they had them long before that.

A bass can and will still eat with a hook in its mouth, I have seen this several times over the years. I presume that as long as its mouth isnt obstructed to the point it cant get food past the obstruction he will continue to eat or at least try.

As far as how long it takes to shake it loose......I seem to remember reading several articles from various publications and all of them pretty much come to the conclusion that your typical nickle plated hook will rust out enough in a couple of days for a bass to shake it.

There's a YouTube video that I can't find where a guy breaks a fish off on either a drop shot or shaky head can't remember. A while later his buddy catches the fish and the other guys rig is still in the fishs mouth. If they don't swallow it I don't think it bothers them that much.

A buddy of mine and I were fishing for hybrids with Rooster tail inline spinners and caught several during a feeding frenzy. One almost every cast. He stuck one and couldn't get the lure out so I told him to tie another one on and get back to the feeding frenzy. We put the fish in the live well and later after the frenzy was over took the fish out to get the lure out. It was already out of its mouth and on the bottom of the live well. We were both surprised because it was stuck in its lip pretty good.

I was fishing a creek a couple of weeks ago caught a beatifull little bass about 4 lb's it broke my line and took my lure , tied on anouther of the same lure and caught it again and was able to get both lures.

I think in most cases the fish will dislodge the lure fairly quickly. Early this spring I lost a $65 bait to a fish. I was sick to my stomach. I waited for close to an hour for the bait to come to the surface but I never saw it again.

COUGHT A 3LB WITH A FLAW ON ITS FIN. LET IT GO ,CAME BACK 2HRS LATER AND CAUGHT IT AGAIN IN THE SAME PLACE.
AND WITH THE SAME BAIT.

I was fishing Ray Roberts a few weeks ago and broke off a Carolina Rig on a hook set. About 13-15 minutes later, and about 75 yards down the shore line, I caught the fish with my Carolina rig still in his mouth. I couldn't believe it! I took lots of pics, but don't have the "attach" button on my TFF screen for some reason.

Funniest thing about it was... I had retied a Texas rig fluke after the break off, and the broken Carolina rig leader was entangled on the Texas rig hook. So, I had my line, my Texas rig hook tied to my line, the Carolina rig leader tangled on my hook, THEN the Carolina rig hook in the fishes lip!!!

I was going to share this story a few weeks ago and didn't do it... However this seems like the appropriate thread.

Yep...they still eat while hooked!

I fish a local pond that has some nice fish in it. I've lost 2 Fat Johns to big fish in the last month by big fish pulling me down into barb wire.

Yesterday, a friend of mine that fishes the same pond ask what kind of crankbait I had been throwing, I told him, and he asked if I wanted it back. It was the Fat John from over a month ago, in a 6 to 7 lb bass. He went to lip it and said no way with 2 crankbaits in it's mouth. Back hook of my bait in the mouth, front hook in the side of the head. It looks pretty rough, but I bet it will still catch 'em!

BTW, the hooks were not rusted and the fish was healthy and lives to fight another day.

My dad had one break a popr off at a pond. Ten minutes later 100 yards away from where he hooked it, the fish came up, shook his head and threw the bait in front of us.