Digest a plastic worm? I catch bass on ocassion that have soft plastics in their throat/stomach. The baits  are sometimes rough on the outside I guess where the digestive juices try to dissolve them .

Does it hurt a bass to swallow plastics? It seems they would mess up their digestive system and possibly kill them . How do bass deal with something like that in their belly?

they will probobly regurgitate(spelling) it somtime after you release him/her

I guess they can regurgitate them but some bass seem to have had the plastics in their belly for a while . I noticed that the color changes in the plastic on the section that is deepest in their belly. And a few have been in there so long they dont have hooks , or maybe they ate plastics  that were flosting and came off peoples hooks or ones that were  discarded in the water.

I dont think it will kill the fish, but I always keep and throw my worms away later. Even though I dont think it will kill the fish it cant be good for them.

In most cases the plastic will pass. Obviously they cannot digest it.

In most cases the plastic will pass. Obviously they cannot digest it.

Just like the George Harrison song, "All Things Must Pass" 8-)

No, they can't digest it and it may or may not pass. I see several photos of the contents of a large bass's stomach which had bits and pieces of several different types of plastics.

I pulled a 7in worm out of a bass' vent hole (not sure if that's what it's called, but I'm talking about its bum) recently.  The worm was about 3/4 out and looked like hell.  I gently pulled on it and it came right out.  The bass was in great shape, about 2 lbs, and I released it without incident.  The certainly cannot digest a typical plastic worm and this guy was lucky that he could pass it.  I suspect that most just regurg them later.

-J