November 24, 2013 — With thousands of speckled trout and puppy drum caught at this time of year, and with anglers relying largely in jigs teamed with the plastics, it makes you wonder how many fish are eating discarded baits that are clogging their digestive systems and killing them.
Anglers sometimes help their catch potential by opening the bellies of fish they are cleaning to see what those fish have been eating.
That way they will be able to do a better job of matching the lures.
Ron Crumb was preparing some puppy drum recently when he decided to look.
He didn't like what he saw.
"I always like to check what they have been eating for future bait choices when cleaning my catch," Crumb, the vice president of Eastern Shore-based Cherrystone Aqua Farms, said in an email. "I was really surprised to find discarded, scented artificial baits in several of the puppy's stomachs.
"We were fishing in an area with about four or five other boats and a couple I'd never seen before. One of the baits looked like it had been in the fish's belly for a day or two and the other ones looked like they had just been eaten."
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