Northwest Fishing Reports

So i'm curious as to get some input about deep hooked fish. I catch and release all of my bass but I would be interested to know from anyone who might have better knowledge on the subject what the survival rate of deep hooked fish is roughly.

I have a tool from Rapala that has allowed me to recover every single hook from the fish that I have deep hooked and I would have to believe that fish get their bladders or gullet pierced by baitfish or crawdads from time to time, so I would have to think that me placing a fish back in the water with a hook hole in it's gullet wouldn't be a life ender in most cases right????

I'm sure the size and health of the fish come in to play, but I have never seen a fish limp away or float to the surface after removal, they're always pretty feisty, yet the amount of blood is always a concern to me.

Also, I never use treble hooks.

Thoughts?

if the hook is too deep to be safely removed cut the line and let the fish go. Ud be surprised how many times ive caught big bass that have line with a bait coming out their butt. Bass like you said eat some prey that isn't so smooth such as other spiney rays, craws among other things. ive seen plenty of bass puke up sharp craw claws. Always try to remove the hook but if its not safe or harms the fish too much just cut the line. It really does work.

Agreed with above. The only time you really must get the hook out is if it pins the throat together. I have seen this on occasion on crank baits with treble hooks.

Bass survive a little blood just fine, but if you want to stop it, put a tiny drop of super glue on it..... seals it like a surgeon would a cut.

People think the gills are too soft to touch, but that is not true. You can reach through the gill plate and gills to get a better angle with long nose pliers to remove hooks, but better yet, get one of the new long nose diagonal cutters and snip the legs from the treble hook. At that time, taking the points out is easy. Now don't get me wrong, try to be nice to the gills, but given a choice of leaving a throat pinned or working through the gills, I will go with the latter.

Last, bass can die from things they eat. I have seen a large bass with a small bass stuck in its throat head first. I saw a bass that got a sculpin tail first that died early this last summer (had 4 large ones in the throat, but that one must have lodged the spines and killed it).

I think that if you are doing your best, then you are doing great. Some fish die, rather we catch them or not.

I agree with the others. If it is too deeply hooked just cut the line and let it go. The fish will be fine most of the time. The amount of blood you see can be misleading. Just like a head wound on a person, it looks really bad but is usually not. When I get deeply hooked fish and I am using a lure I don't want to loose, then I remove it and put the fish in the live well. I always keep a few for the dinner plate.

True enough. Taking a couple of smaller fish, or a hurt fish, for the dinner plate would probably help not only the Bass Fisher's reputation but the overall population in many warm water fisheries in the Pacific Northwest.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3RGTL9RBG2s" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Yup, I've had to do that a couple times the past couple weeks.

I just turn the hook around, i normally cut the line and destroy the soft plastic, and then pull it out. The amount of blood can be a good indicator if it is going to live. I would say less than 25 percent are a loss, of those i hook deep which is not many. Keeping the fish in the water and being efficient is very important. I have herd but do not know factually that the water helps them clot faster to. Maybe just a rumor.

Usually, bass deeply hooked happens when fishing plastics. And many of those incidences occur when the either the angler doesn't realize a fish has taken his offering, or the angler is one of those who play the feely-feely game with the fish rather than setting the hook when the bite is first noticed. Always remember, bass have no hands. They feel with their mouth. Always set the hook on the first bite. With that said, even on a deeply hooked fish, a portion of the hook usually can be seen. So always first attempt to get all of the plastic bait off the hook, and then cut the line right at the hook's eye rather than leaving line on the hook. This is why I carry side cutters in my boat. The cutters on needle nosed pliers usually can't get to the eye. Anyway, bass have very strong stomach acids to dissolve the hook in a surprisingly short period of time, but not fishing line or plastic baits, which can clog up their system and kill them hours and even days later.

Here is a good read with information from Biologists and Doug Hannon. Hopefully a little education will go a long ways on this subject. Proper fish care should be high on our radar and we should all be proficient in that care. These fish are our resource and it's up to us to manage them effectively and not take the easy or lazy way out.

link - http://www.bassdozer.com/articles/manns ... _out.shtml" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The link that arniejl posted is a great guide for hook removal.

skeeter bassin wrote:Here is a good read with information from Biologists and Doug Hannon. Hopefully a little education will go a long ways on this subject. Proper fish care should be high on our radar and we should all be proficient in that care. These fish are our resource and it's up to us to manage them effectively and not take the easy or lazy way out.

link - http://www.bassdozer.com/articles/manns ... _out.shtml" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The link that arniejl posted is a great guide for hook removal.

Thank you so much for that information. It sure changed some of my ideas. First, I did not realize it took that long for the hook to dissolve. Second I didn't realize a length of line left on the hook was a help rather than a hindrance. But from now on I will try much harder to remove those deep hooks. And I will use the method of cutting off the barb first. Anyway, thanks again for downloading that site. It sure opened my eyes.