Fishing with corn

[FishorDie]

Ive heard somewhere that fishing with corn can be harmful to the fish... is this true at all?

[Rumtan]

Fish cant digest corn....what goes in as corn stays in the fish as corn. An interesting foot note about corn is that when they uncovered king Tuts remains they found 8 kernals of undigested corn in his stomach, if it lasts that long you can see why its not good for fish.

[222rem]

Originally Posted by FishorDie

Ive heard somewhere that fishing with corn can be harmful to the fish... is this true at all?

So are worms, minnows, spinners, jigs etc.

[FishorDie]

Because I know alot of people fish with corn, and im not gonna lie I have too... Is there an alternative to corn that works as well?

[cujo1969]

We use power bait and have good luck. Lotsa diff kinds to choose from.

[FishorDie]

I have been fishing for a few years and havnt tried it .... maybe ill give it a shot this winter season

[deanmc]

I have heard this as well but never have been able to find it in the regulations. I know I have seen lots of it being used at Carson lake for trout. I have never seen (and I do look) corn in a fish when I cleaned it from that lake.
I dont use it myself. I like worms, maggots or marshmallows. This winter I plan to try beef heart since i have one I saved from a beef we butchered.

[FishorDie]

what i used is corn and maggots with the corn between 2 maggots ... but i dont want to use corn if it kills the fish!

[nicemustang]

If you're using it for trout, try velvetta cheese instead.

[Wood1]

Another myth. Corn is hard for trout to digest, hard for humans to digest also. Hatcheries have studied this, and no mortalities were observed. Growth rates were shown to be about 50% lower vs trout fed pellets. It is not harmful to the fish. For those that will call B.S, look it up on the net or I can post the studies and results. I have also "heard" that porcupines throw their quills and wolves regularly chase people down and eat them.

[Mudslide]

Wood1
Sure... I suppose now you are going to tell us that there's no Santa either?

If trout died from eating corn there would be next to no fish in all the put and takes. They may not be able to digest it well but like people they can get rid of it.

[Rumtan]

The outside of a kernel of corn is indigestable and blocks the internal passage of a fish....hence the fish dont grow as well as non-blocked fish. They simply cant pass a whole kernel so it remains lodged inside.

[Wood1]

Mudslide, don't be silly, of course there is a Santa. Rumtan, the lower growth rate is due to the fact that pellets are 30% protein and corn is.....corn. Anyway, I won't argue the point.

To FishorDie, I re-read my response to you and I must say that it came across as kind of snarky. You were only asking a question based on what you heard, sorry for that. I hear a lot of folklore, myths and wivestales regarding animals and fish and sometimes it gets old, not your fault.

Merry X-mas to all.

"The outside of a kernel of corn is indigestable and blocks the internal passage of a fish....hence the fish dont grow as well as non-blocked fish."

I can't find a study that has ever demonstrated that, the hatchery work only went as far as saying just corn is not as good of a diet as trout pellets, i think anyone would assume that. If you have info that actually backs that up would you add a link? It would be interesting but i just can't see it. Fish ingest rocks while feeding in the substrate and i've never seen that mentioned anywhere as causing mortality, i'd say rocks are tougher to pass than corn husks. Never tried though so i can't say for sure ..................

[kostianych]

back home, on the fish farms, owners feed CARPS with corn....whole tracks of it, and no problems....huge fish and helthy....

[The Ice Man]

I have personally pulled fish fron Chain lakes and Beaver mones that have old
brown and green corn nibblets in their guts. We often check the gut when flyfishing to see what the trout are feeding on.

I don't know how long that corn would have to stay in the fish's digestive tract to turn green but I ave seen it.

[FishorDie]

Maybe i'll avoid the whole corn thing and start fishing with cheese or power bate...but then again what doesnt kill you makes you stronger right? haha

[chad66]

Originally Posted by Wood1

Another myth. Corn is hard for trout to digest, hard for humans to digest also. Hatcheries have studied this, and no mortalities were observed. Growth rates were shown to be about 50% lower vs trout fed pellets. It is not harmful to the fish. For those that will call B.S, look it up on the net or I can post the studies and results. I have also "heard" that porcupines throw their quills and wolves regularly chase people down and eat them.

I concur. I attended the Fresh Water Fisheries Conference in Saskatoon, I believe it was 1988. One of the scientific papers presented at the conference tested the theory that corn was harmful to Rainbow Trout. (Salmo gairdeneri now classified as Oncorhynchus mykiss ). The study took place in a hatchery and it was found that corn did not adversely affect the health of the trout.

If memory serves me correctly, the control group was fed pellets only, and the test group was fed corn only. There was no significant difference in mortality rates, though corn fed fish were slightly smaller. One would expect this as the pellets provided a more nutritionally balanced food source compared to corn.

[billycap]

Used to live beside a ufish brookie place in ont. They feed their stock nothing but corn... and they grew big and juicey... It might look solid the day after, but its not! CORN IS FINE FOR FISH!

[AK47]

Corn is extremely popular bait and is used a LOT for chumming in Europe ( it is legal there) for carp, brass and other local fish. In fact they throw buckets of corn in the lakes during professional carp fishing derbies. Nobody ever complained or found any proof that it does any damage to the fish.

[Ken07AOVette]

A buddy of mine, when cleaning trout noticed that the trout had 8 kernels in it's stomach. When the corn is 3/8" and the exit hole is 1/8", the problem is easy to see.

I will stick to shrimp and maggots

[AK47]

Originally Posted by Ken07AOVette

When the corn is 3/8" and the exit hole is 1/8", the problem is easy to see.

And exit hole can't stretch right?

[Ken07AOVette]

Originally Posted by AK47

And exit hole can't stretch right?

eat a pool ball and let us know if it stretches.

Ever hear the joke about the monkey eating peanuts?

[catnthehat]

I've seen some HUGE stone fly and other larvae casings in small trout stomachs that I have cut open, much bigger than a corn kernel.
I asked a biologist about corn once, and he said it was not a concern at all.

Cat

[AK47]

Originally Posted by Ken07AOVette

eat a pool ball and let us know if it stretches.

Ever hear the joke about the monkey eating peanuts?

Now that is funny....you comparing soft piece of plant like corn to hard material of pool ball. Poor example my friend. Point is - no fish ever died from eating corn. Peace.

[hl649]

Originally Posted by chad66

I concur. I attended the Fresh Water Fisheries Conference in Saskatoon, I believe it was 1988. One of the scientific papers presented at the conference tested the theory that corn was harmful to Rainbow Trout. (Salmo gairdeneri now classified as Oncorhynchus mykiss ). The study took place in a hatchery and it was found that corn did not adversely affect the health of the trout.

If memory serves me correctly, the control group was fed pellets only, and the test group was fed corn only. There was no significant difference in mortality rates, though corn fed fish were slightly smaller. One would expect this as the pellets provided a more nutritionally balanced food source compared to corn.

If memory serves me correct the growth rates were about 20% less for corn than they were for the pellet fed fish. There were no other adverse effects found in the corn fed fish. All fish were dissected after the study and there were no blockages as suggested from the corn husks. The pulp of the corn kernel was completely digested and the corn kernel husks were expelled. The closest we came to mortality was that one of the fish swam around for 2 days with a kernel stuck in his mouth. He eventually spit it out and went on with life. We used small fingerlings for the study.

Prior to this study we could not find any other studies that completely addressed the issue of corn and fish. There were hatcheries that had fed corn haphazardly to see if anything happened. There even quite a few that fed corn on a long term basis but they didn't dissect them after to determine internal effects. We felt that there is quite a bit of corn in use and it meritted a study that would stand up to scientific scrutiny. This was a very controlled experiment withn identical water quality parameters. It was our conclusion that the difference in growth rates was likely due to corn not having the nutritional reuirements for fish (mostly amino acids and fish oils found in fish food).

[dmckay]

I was wondering about this. Last summer, we were camping and fishing up at Twin Lakes and a guy told me a story about some friends of his. The story went that his buddies were using corn and Fish & Wildlife checked them and confiscated the truck and gear because it was illegal. I never could find anything in the regs about it. Me thinks there was a little more to the story.

[Ken07AOVette]

Originally Posted by AK47

Now that is funny....you comparing soft piece of plant like corn to hard material of pool ball. Poor example my friend. Point is - no fish ever died from eating corn. Peace.

I was attempting a funny. Here is the joke....

A man is at a zoo with his family, and they walk up to the monkey enclosure. Next to the wall at the front, there is a little vending machine, where for 25c, you can get a handfull of peanuts to feed the monkeys.

Of course he sees everyone dolling out quarters and gets his peanuts, At the far side wall, he notices a little monkey sitting quietly alone from the rest of the group. As the rest of the little apes are engorging on the peanuts, he figures the little one must be shy, so he save what he has left, and goes over to the far wall.

With a well placed shot, he places a peanut right at the monkeys feet. The monkey immediately jumps up, grabs the peanut, swings his butt in the air, shoves it in, then eats it!

WHOA! goes the man, did you see that!!!

He does the same thing, and time after time, the monkey repeats his performance. Head down, butt up, insert peanut, then eat it.

By then the crowd is in hysterics, rolling on the ground, tears rolling down their faces, at this poor little monkey. When one of the zoo attendees walks up, he is able to compose himself, and asks if the monkey had fallen out of a tree, been dropped at birth, what ever could make the little guy do such a crazy thing. It must be the stupidest animal on the planet

The lady attendee gives a little smile, and says "No, that is the smartest animal in the entire zoo. Last month, someone threw him a peach pit, and he was unable to pass it. Now, before he eats anything....

HE MEASURES IT FIRST!


(hence the pool ball.)

[nicemustang]

Originally Posted by dmckay

I was wondering about this. Last summer, we were camping and fishing up at Twin Lakes and a guy told me a story about some friends of his. The story went that his buddies were using corn and Fish & Wildlife checked them and confiscated the truck and gear because it was illegal. I never could find anything in the regs about it. Me thinks there was a little more to the story.

Using corn isn't illegal. So yeah there is more to the story. It can be understandable that it's hard to digest, but I don't think it hurts the fish. They likely just pass it through. But think of this...fish can digest a hook as well in a few weeks to month.