mice and fish

[searles 0]

Hi I was told a story about all the mice over at Smoky Bay. an old couple from over that way who I don't think would tell a fib said some salmon were caught in a river near the bay and when they where cleaned there was mice inside not wanting to eat them they were cut up for bait could someone tell me if this could be true selraes

[Softy 2,991]

Well they will eat anything that moves pretty much, so i would believe it, there are a few videos on Youtube of people feeding mice to fish, and they dont last long at all.With the current mouse plague over there, the fishos will have plenty of bait haha

[rollcast 1]

Get a copy of the video "once in a blue moon " based on mice eating trout in NZ.Every few years (sometimes only once a decade) the beach trees in NZ flower.This is known as a beach tree mast.This results in a mouse plague feeding on the beach tree seeds.This is an eagerly anticipated event as the trout reach trophy size on a diet of mice that try to swim the lakes and rivers looking for more beach seed.Fly fishermen tie deer hair mouse patterns to target these fish.There was two mouse plagues in the last two years.Many huge fish were caught near Nelson and in the Fiordland.I did a quick trip to try and catch one in February but was a bit late as the Americans and Kiwis had already given it a flogging .I still caught trout but no mouse feeders.Oh Well maybe next decade...Cheers rollcast

[Humf 2]

If the mice are baited before the salmon eat them, are the fish still ok to eat? For example - mouse is baited and then gets eaten by salmon. Fish gets caught 1 hour later and then gets cooked/smoked and eaten. Will we get affected?

[coonta kinta 1]

Probably depends on the state of decomposition, but either way I wouldnt be risking it.

[carps 1]

now this brings about a whole new debate on the bait side of things dont it,,technicly you cannot use mice as bait as its not from the ocean,, but what if you do pick a mouse up from in the ocean is it then ok to use as bait or do mice attract sharks as well

[SandyWhiting 0]

Softy wrote:

With the current mouse plague over there, the fishos will have plenty of bait haha

Ill second that too, my uncle has a farm over there and they are bad, rabbits too..

[Piranha 76]

it's certainly a plausable story,Iv'e caught plenty of cod that regurgitate mice when hooked, always after farmers had plowed their paddoks at the end of summer!They would be great surface livies but havn't tried them.With the rat bait question,, couldn't makem taste any worse

[archerfish 685]

Barra love mice....

[searles 0]

Thanks for your comments folks I will believe them now but I would not be eating any of them selraes

[Dubs The Tackle Man 0]

carps wrote:

now this brings about a whole new debate on the bait side of things dont it,,technicly you cannot use mice as bait as its not from the ocean,, but what if you do pick a mouse up from in the ocean is it then ok to use as bait or do mice attract sharks as well

Carps there rule about not using anything in the ocean that doesnt come from the ocean isnt because it attracks sharks that was just an excuse made up by an angry fisherman, its because of all the bones and chicken carcasus that end up on the beach which is then a hazard to swimmers as the bones dont decompose in the water, thats what I have been told by a volunter fisheries officer.But on this topic I know when I was out bush baiting foxes we would sometimes put 1080 on dead chicken carcasus and rabbits not 10 mins after the fox has consumed the contaminated baits they were dead so I guess it would be the same for the fish.Salmon are sea carp they will eat anything

[statesquider 0]

I was at streaky bay the other night and the mice were terrible. They chucked out some of that sticky paper stuff and in two hours had about 30 mice screaming and covered in blood all over the 6 pieces of paper. When we were on the jetty to there were mice constantly falling off the jetty and swimming around in the water. Not an easy thing to catch with a jag :woohoo: but it didn't stop me trying... Was just hilarious watching mice swim around in the ocean, some swam several metres away from the jetty before swimming back in.

[kayakfisher 0]

If you find a mice swimming in the ocean does it count as a marine mammal? Isn't it illegal to kill any marine mammal?

[statesquider 0]

I highly doubt it. If you put a whale in your backyard does that make it a land mammal?Both are just lost haha