kadava 0 Posted December 27, 2012 Report Share Posted December 27, 2012 Hi guys,Just wondering if anyone has any tips on how to handle fish that have swallowed a hook deep? Is it worth messing about trying to remove it or is it best to sometimes cut it off as much as possible and leave it in? Does anyone know about how this affects the fish later etc? There's nothing worse than releasing a fish to watch it go belly up. Even when I use pliers to crush the barb before rigging up sometimes they're just impossible to get out with injuring the fish... Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Ugly4Life 41 Posted December 27, 2012 Report Share Posted December 27, 2012 Hi guys' date='Just wondering if anyone has any tips on how to handle fish that have swallowed a hook deep? Is it worth messing about trying to remove it or is it best to sometimes cut it off as much as possible and leave it in? Does anyone know about how this affects the fish later etc? There's nothing worse than releasing a fish to watch it go belly up. Even when I use pliers to crush the barb before rigging up sometimes they're just impossible to get out with injuring the fish... [/quote']Cut the line as close to the hook as possible and let the fish go. Depending on the species they will spit the hook out in about a week. Bream, Mulloway, Salmon, Snapper etc all have pretty good survival rates (from the reading I have done). Whiting, Garfish and other slime coated fish generally don't fare too well.Don't try to retrieve the hook if you want to release the fish. No matter how careful you are you'll do more damage than necessary. kadava 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
plankton 725 Posted December 28, 2012 Report Share Posted December 28, 2012 Cut the line as close to the hook as possible and let the fish go. Depending on the species they will spit the hook out in about a week. Bream' date=' Mulloway, Salmon, Snapper etc all have pretty good survival rates (from the reading I have done). Whiting, Garfish and other slime coated fish generally don't fare too well.Don't try to retrieve the hook if you want to release the fish. No matter how careful you are you'll do more damage than necessary.[/quote']I'll second all of that, you may also want to try circle hooks, as long as you're keeping your lines tight to the bait fish will almost always be hooked in the mouth, I even use circles on my metals lures for salmon. kadava 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Kayak Noob 76 Posted December 28, 2012 Report Share Posted December 28, 2012 Good question, I hate seeing my slightly undersize fish go belly up. I think I'll start cutting the hooks in that case. What do you recomend for a undersize garfish thats swallowed the hook? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ashleycraig80 0 Posted December 28, 2012 Report Share Posted December 28, 2012 As the others have said, cut the line, don't waste your time or the health of a fish for a hook. Cut as close to the hook as possible. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Cal 480 Posted December 28, 2012 Report Share Posted December 28, 2012 Normally I cut the line and let the fish swim away, but now i use a Slammo ended hook disgorger swallowed hooks out in 2 seconds. Massfish 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
kadava 0 Posted December 28, 2012 Author Report Share Posted December 28, 2012 Thanks for the tips guys, after removing the entire gizzards of a 28cm KGW due to a little tug to see if I could free the hook (honestly didn't look that bad... well before I got it out) i started cutting them off, including on a Flathead I caught, but I wasn't sure if I was causing just as much damage but as you all have said cutting seems to be the way. I love catch and release fishing and normally haven't had a problem with this, but throwing back a fish you know probably won't survive feels terrible. Glad I know a better way now, I was surprised when I started asking people (outside of this forum) and no one seemed to be able to tell me which was better.I couldn't care about losing hooks, I'm slack and buy pre snelled so only takes a minute to loop a new one on Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Ugly4Life 41 Posted December 28, 2012 Report Share Posted December 28, 2012 There is some really good information here regarding Catch and Release and handling procedures. Even if you're planning on keeping your fish it doesn't hurt to make a habit of good handling practices.http://www.dpi.nsw.gov.au/fisheries/recreational/saltwater/catch-and-release If the fish is hooked deeply, cut the line as close as possible to the fish’s mouth rather than removing the hook. Compared to removing swallowed hooks from bream and mulloway, simply cutting the line increased their short-term survival from 12% to more than 85%. Up to 76% of the released line-cut, gut-hooked bream then shed their hooks within around three weeks kadava 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.