Recently after my "Bass Patrol"post, I read a post Mr. Alan used the term"Hitch hiker".Even as little salt water fishing I have done have experienced on party boats and smaller charter boats catching a smaller fish and on the way up a larger one slams a Black Bass or Vermilion Snapper.Once surf fishing in Ormond Beach with sand fleas I caught a whiting and on the way in I suppose a shark slammed the whiting and took my whole rig,after that I started using steel leader rigs.Lately,I like to go down to the pond around 7:30 p.m and take a cricket or a small piece of big red worm and catch small bream on a #10 cricket hook.If I catch it near the bank I just let it stay out.Within 2 minutes usually I will see a bass hit it or a V in the water moving toward the bream,I make sure the bass has it and usually they have already swallowed the bream.The #10 hook gets them after they have devoured the bream.The other night I caught a
2 lber that was bulging from a bream he had already eaten and was trying to eat another just as big but he knocked it off the hook and the hook got the bass.It's very interesting that they would still try to eat something that large, where would it fit in their stomach?
they swim around w/ second big meal half-swallowed until first big meal is digested enough to make room
pike will do it for days, having half-swallowed something almost as big as themselves -- often, another pike
Never did the hitchiker bass thing, but the farmpond bass I learned to catch were people, line and usually lure shy. Lot's of kids like us, from the surrounding, area fished that pond. But, we learned to use little fly hooks(~#18)with tiny worm pieces to catch fingerling bluegill for bait. The bass knew we were there, but still couldn't resist those distressed little 'gills swimming in circles with about a #4 hook behind their dorsal fin. Worked well in other waters too. But we were kids doing anything to bring home the catch and receive praise from others.
However, in Calie., it's illegal to use a gamefish to catch another gamefish, so hitchiking would be the "accidental" way to go!
Fish gorge themselves and if they feel like it eat till the food that can't fit in its stomach sits in its throat and often regurgitates when it can no longer get stuff down.
Monday I cut some Yellowtail whose stomachs were full to the brim with 1 inch and 3 inch Anchovies, then they still eat my lure on top of that.
When they eat lager fish like sardines/pilchards they sometimes pack them in that you can see one sticking out its throat. I don't know how long they would take to digest that, but probably only a few days.
Must be uncomfortable to swim with bait fish sitting with its tail in your mouth ::)
The fish eating more than their bellies will hold just shows to go ya there is GREED in all of the Animal Kingdom .
One of the classic "hitchhiker" scenarios here on the West Coast involves ling cod - twice i have caught lingcod when the only hook in them was the gaff when I got them to the boat, and have seen it done many times by others. Ling cod are...pretty damn mean, and have wicked teeth. They will grab a smaller rockfish and will not let go, and providing you do not pull their head up out of the water AND always maintain steady pressure on the fish (if you slack off it gives them a chance to let go) they will keep holding on, even though they do not have a hook in them. I believe it has to do with the way their teeth are slightly angled (the mouth of a lingcod is pretty much designed as a "one way" opening). Hopefully the guys on the Morro Bay trip coming up will get to experience the shout of "hitchhiker!" and deckhands scrambling for gaffs! - john
I threw a mahi carcass, sans head, of about 24" into a salt water pen in the Bahamas once. I thought the big lobsters they had in there would pick on it. Nope. Came back 20 mins later and the 25lb gag grouper was swimming around with tail sticking out of his mouth; he was maybe 40" long. There was anther black grouper in there even larger, yet they didnt bother the bugs. They were really big bugs.