Georgia fly fishing guides are taking into consideration the recommendations recently published by the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife (IF&W)  that live bait may not be the worst food for trout.

The IF&W are strongly encouraging anglers to stop using soft plastic lures because trout and salmon can and do swallow the indigestible frogs, salamanders and worms.  Biologists are reporting increasing numbers of harvested trout and landlocked salmon with these soft plastic baits in their stomachs.  There are almost commonly used by bass fishermen, but on waters where trout and bass mix, plastic lures are a threat, and they are also becoming more popular with trout anglers.

Several Unity College professors put together a research study that showed brook trout eagerly consume plastic lures and suffer serious health risks as a result.  The study found that the fish retain the lures in their stomach for 13 weeks without regurgitating them; they also begin to act anorexic and lost weight within 90 days of eating a soft plastic lure.

There is a staggering amount of plastic lures available on the market today.  Soft plastic lures come in every size, shape and color and resemble every swimming, crawling and flying creature a fish could imagine.  Large fish searching the waters are bound to come upon a brightly colored soft plastic lure that has been lost or discarded by anglers and they will consume these imitators of natural foods.

The Unity College study and the recommendations of Maine’s IF&W, L.L. Bean – based in Freeport, Maine, stopped selling non-biodegradable soft plastic lures as of August 2009. According to the IF&W press release, as much as 20 million pounds of soft plastic lures are being lost in freshwater streams and lakes annually in the United States.  The average plastic lure’s life expectancy is more than 200 years.

When people sign up for a Georgia fly fishing guide tour, they are taught casting as well as the basics of baiting, this includes talking about the dangers of using soft plastic lures.

One solution to the plastic lures problem is to learn how to tie and create your own flies to use as little lures, which can be a fun and a therapeutic outlet for stress in addition to helping save thousands of fish.