Had my first accidental bass kill. How do i prevent this from happening again?

[billmac]

If the fish is hooked deep, one trick I've used in certain hookups is to gently reach in with pliers and pull the lure out through the gills and cut the line.  Obviously this only works with certain kinds of baits and you have to be very careful.

[Dash Riprock]

Just so I'm understanding the OP's question correctly, he hooked a fish in the gills? Or the hook passed through the gills and hooked into the fish's body? Not quite sure I'm understanding.

 

I've caught gullet hooked fish and have always been able to work the hook out but I don't think this was what the OP is talking about, correct? I've never had one hooked in or through the gills, I don't think. 

[Konajon]

Sounds like it was your fault for not having pliers? The logical solution to what you can do to prevent this from happening again is making sure you have what you need to release a fish before you make a cast. 

[Bartableman7]

Soft plastics...always squeeze the barb down.  This decreases the size of the hole, saves a ton of fish damage and keeps you out of the emergency room.  I don't have a barb on a single lure or hook.  If a fish shakes off...so what (super rare).  Karma brings you a bigger one that stays on.

[Ravox]

I always remove the barbs on all my hooks its easier for you to remove and less damage to the fish, I also have the same mentality, if a cause any harm to a fish I start to question if what I'm doing is right and a dead fish can ruin my day, I try to avoid that  getting sensible lines like fluro , setting the hook fast (no waiting too long) etc... I completely understand and relate to your feeling 

[gim]

On 4/18/2021 at 11:19 AM, Andy95 said:

A family member had grabbed my long nosed pliers from my backpack so I didn't have the pliers with me and it took me a good probably 5 minutes to get the hook out. I kept the fish in the water but it probably died from loosing a lot of blood, it was bleeding a lot or me stressing it out trying to dislodge the hook.

5 minutes is way too long. If you can’t do it in under 30 seconds, it’s not gonna happen. You can either cut the hook or cut the line above the hook.

 

As others have stated, get your tools at the ready. In some cases, even if you can remove the hook quickly and properly, they might still die but at least you can say you did everything you could.

 

Tom’s rule of thumb for how long a fish should be out of the water is accurate. It should not be out any longer than as long as you can hold your breath. I’m guessing most of us on average can’t hold our breath longer than 20-30 seconds.

[RDB]

58 minutes ago, gimruis said:

I’m guessing most of us on average can’t hold our breath longer than 20-30 seconds.

I don’t disagree with your overall point but I sure hope this part isn’t true.

[ATA]

sorry to hear that, Thankfully it never happened to me, Only once I rip the lip of a largemouth, I still feel bad about it but I am glad didn't kill yet. Knock on the wood

[gim]

23 minutes ago, RDB said:

I don’t disagree with your overall point but I sure hope this part isn’t true.

I may have exaggerated a little bit but I’ll bet it’s under a minute for sure.

[Rangerboat94]

If it was hooked in the tongue, there is no chance. From my experience tongue piercings always kill fish.

[Glenn]

2 hours ago, Rangerboat94 said:

If it was hooked in the tongue, there is no chance. From my experience tongue piercings always kill fish.

There's a main artery in the tongue. If that is pierced, then yes, it's almost always fatal.  However if you miss it, then the fish will recover just fine.

[Andy95]

To clarify what happened. My hook point turned down. It turned down and hooked the fish between a gill in his lower body. My hook wasn't swallowed. The hook didn't pierce a gill. It pierced between the gills at the bass's body. The hook point pointed down and hook the bass between the gills in his lower body. 

I actually just came back from fishing and it happened again with a ned rig. The hook point turned down fell between his gills and the hook punctured the bass's lower body where the gills connect again. I hope you guys get what I mean. It started to bleed. This time I had my pliers and got the hook out and put it back in the water. I let it rest a bit and it swam away. I stared at that cove for 15 mins to make sure i didn't see a bass float up and I didn't. So hopefully it didn't die. It was the biggest one i caught for the day probably 2 - 2.5lbs. But I didn't want it to die so I didn't take a photo or weigh it. 

 

I'm not sure if there is any way for me to prevent my hook from pointing down and hooking something below. Most of my hook sets penetrate the upper lip of the mouth. I hooked a fish today with a texas rig and it penetrated the lower lip. So my hook point turned down again. except this time i got lucky and I did a clean hook set on the lower lip instead of the gill. 

 

But to clarify the problem I have is  my hook sometimes turns down and slides between the bass's gills and punctures the lower part of the basses body where the gills connect. This has happened two times. This is the only time i cause a bass to bleed. I have never had a bass swallow a hook.

[Andy95]

This picture hopefully shows what i mean. The hook turns down and slides between the gills and hooks the fish there. No idea what i am supposed to do to prevent that from happening but yeah..it's happened 2 times now. Thanks.

[MN Fisher]

Nothing you really can do to prevent hook-turn when setting it.

[Andy95]

18 minutes ago, MN Fisher said:

Nothing you really can do to prevent hook-turn when setting it.

Yeah i figured. I spent time trying to tie my rigs so that they naturally stay facing up lol. But yeah that doesn't work, hook still turns. Thanks for the reply man.