What Happens To Swallowed Baits?

[Kawabuggy]

I was wondering about this recently. Since we all generally love the sport of fishing, and want only what is best for the fish-those that we catch & release anyway. How does a bass' stomach digest, process, or pass items like soft plastics?

Has there been any research done on this subject? It would occur to me that a bass CAN'T digest it. If this is truly the case, how does he pass it? I have seen fish poo before, and it does not look like they are capable of passing anything very big in size.

Won't the plastics block their intestines? I ask these questions because I know a bass will pick up a discarded worm, or a worm that is lost due to line breakage and they will eat it. My mother is a dead stick fisher person. She casts out plastic worms and leaves them where they lay until a bass comes a long and picks it up. I know that if she is catching fish this way, that bass will eat plastics that-for whatever reason-are found on the bottom with no one there to remove them from the fish' mouth.

I would hate to think that lost soft plastic lures are painfully killing the animal that ingests them. This is why I thought I would post this. Does anyone know what happens to a bass that ingests plastic...?