Avoiding Hooking Through Fish's Eye?

[KingMidas]

So today when I was out at a local pond I got a hit on my t-rigged havoc craw fatty that I wasn't expecting. My 2/0 hook ended up coming out of the fishes eye. I HATE it when that happens. It always makes me feel bad for blinding a fish and I subsequently called it a day and headed home. Does anyone have any tips on how to stop that from happening? ATM I can't think of anything to avoid that but hopefully someone out there has a tip to at least make it less likely to send a hook through a fish's eye.

[SirSnookalot]

I think it's unavoidable.

[BassHunter_Hunt]

it's just one of those thjngs that happens. maybe it happens when there is too much of a delay betwwen bite and hook set

[00 mod]

Sometimes it happens. Can't control that always! Only thing I could think of is use a cricle/octopus hook. But the only styles it lends towards are wacky and drop shot.

Jeff

[georgeyew]

Only thing I could think of is use a cricle/octopus hook. But the only styles it lends towards are wacky and drop shot.

I use 3/0 circle hooks 90% of the time and I have never hooked one in the eye. On some smaller bass, the hook has come close to the eye socket, but they were all hooked around the corner of the mouth.

[Brandon Dozier]

Although not always possible, a sweeping sideways hookset is a good way of avoiding hooking a fish in the eye. But don't feel too bad if you do wind up hooking them in the eye. They still eat!

[Hyrule Bass]

quit fishing altogether is really the only 100% way to never hook a fish through the eye again

[MarkH024]

I would like to add that at least KingMidas shows that he cares about the fish and its survival which I assume 99.9% of the Bass Resource users do as well. I have witnessed some pretty foul things with people handling fish before and those people don't deserve to have fishing privileges. So props to you KingMidas for at least attempting to find a preventative method to this. It is going to happen, so just do you your best to remove the hook the best you can. If you feel really bad, you can always snip the barb off and try to ease the hook out but the fish will be blind most likely anyway. Best of luck

[nycgrip]

i use this

http://www.cabelas.c...80;cat104505480

cut the hook and avoid further trauma to the fish, it sucks doing it on tungsten weighted hooks but oh well. and use this for gut hooked fish

http://www.cabelas.c...80;cat104505480

it flips the hook 180 and makes it easy to get out.

[Bluebasser86]

No way to avoid it. Don't feel too bad, I've caught lots of bass that were partially or completely blind and having no problem feeding. If a bass loses it's vision it have other ways of finding food that still make it a completely capable predator. A fish living in super muddy water can't see it's food right? Pretty similar situation, they can't see their food so their other senses take over.

[Jj0816]

Hate that when it happens! Just gotta move on

[tstone]

I've caught some good sized one eye bass, they'll live.

[BassHunter_Hunt]

Wouldn't they die of infection....unless they are too BadASS (BASS) for germs to mess with.

[clayton86]

My Nephew hooked a nice 5lber threw the eye some years ago in a private 20acre pond we fish. We have caught one eye joe as he maybe she has gotten the nick name at least once every year always in the same area hes well over 7lbs now and pushing 8. They just adapt and live on.

[200racing]

i have friends with a pond that is mainly smaller bass. i use a 1/0 hook it seems to hook up more in the front of the mouth around the lips more. when i first started i was used 2/0 and 3/0 like on the lake and it seem there was more trauma to the face region.

ewg hooks seem to come through the face more might try the O'Shaugnessy Worm Hook

[RobertBG]

There was a bass that was legendary in a lake i used to fish,called the one eyed bass.................he/she eventually ended up as a mount after passing #10 10.6 to be exact and that was only because it was gut hooked

As for how to prevent it,I stopped using ewg hooks,I've learned to catch more fish yet still have yet to hit one in the eye with a normal hook

[LunkerLust]

I actually have thought about this before and thought I was the only one.

Two things, Owner hooks that have the same wide gap as Gammies are a little shorter in length. Not quite as far into the mouth = just missing the eye.

I also always hook the bait as far to the fat end as possible, sometimes just a 1/4'' makes a big difference.

Usually when I hook the eye, it's a small bass that bites a bigger bait with a bigger hook.

[LunkerLust]

Too add something to my post above, I put an Owner 4/0 next to a Gammie 5/0 wide gap and the gap is the same, but the Owner is about 1/2' shorter.

I think the shorter hooks will better catch the jaw and not further in.

[John F.]

I am glad to hear I'm not the only one who feels this way. Caught a Jr. in the canal behind my house. Crushed the barb and was able to get him back in the water safely. Missed his eye by this >< much. Only after I was done did I realize I had been talking to him the whole time. Neighbors were looking at me funny. "hang in there buddy we'll get this out in a sec.... quit wigglin, it only hurts for a sec..." and so on. 

 

Oh well. They eat the turtles in the canal so I end up lookin at them weird too. 

[Grizzn N Bassin]

it mainly happen to me on smaller fish while im using a big hook.. but even sometimes they get it in the eye with a 3/0..... unavoidable

[5 Dollar Fishing Game]

Grizzn has a point I agree with. Usually a dink will get one of my larger hooks in the eye or just below it. It's weird taking the hook out and the eye moves around. My friend was with me last summer on an eye hook bass and he said the left eye was looking at him and the other was making circles while I took out the hook. Strangeness. :-/

In any event the bigger fish usually keep it in their mouth safely. However as mentioned before, sometimes it happens. A smaller one may want that lure not knowing the hook size. I eye hooked a small crappie this year in the eye. :-(

[CountBassula]

yea i don't think there's much you can do, but if it makes you feel any better...

 

...I once caught a bass that only had one eye and clearly he was still able to hunt!

 

I once watched LgMouthGambler hook a small snakehead on a top water frog with a dual hook, both hook ends went through both eyes, the fish went back in the water blind. i felt bad, but that's just the way it is...

[Jucas97]

I absolutely hate it when people dont respect the bass, I'm a softy at heart so seeing a poor fish getting sucked out of its natural habitat by an unknown source and then to make it more stressful for the bass, The handler finds enjoyment out of hurting the fish. Makes me sick to my stomach... 

[pbizzle]

Do they really go blind unless you hook them through the pupil? I only ask after seeing an eyeball tattoo.

http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/channel/videos/taboo-to-you-eyeball-tattoo-vs-horns/

[SirSnookalot]

People that C & R do not want to harm a fish regardless of species, I try and treat them all well but I do not put any of them on a pedestal.  Fish are going to get hooked in places other than the lip, we can't always control that. Fishing is a blood sport, I don't get emotional over fish that doesn't survive, if I did I wouldn't be fishing at all. Even a cleanly hooked and released fish there is no guarantee on what happens once it disappears from sight.