gut hooked fish

[Clumsy fisherman]

11 hours ago, BassNJake said:

I use my cutters everytime now.

I became pretty good at the thru the gill method.

But now its 10 times faster. I cut the hook as far down the shank as I can.

it pops out with my line, I grab the hook with the barb and it just slides out.

fish is back in the water pretty freaking fast with no metal

Hooks are cheap 

What type/brand and size cutters do you use? I need to get a pair.

[gim]

9 hours ago, J Francho said:

You have less than a minute.

I would say its significantly less than a minute.  Like 30 seconds.

[CrashVector]

If I deep hook or gut hook a fish, I cut the hook off at the barn and remove it.

 

I'd rather tie on another hook than unnecessarily injure an animal I intend to release.

[N Florida Mike]

I use super flukes a lot, and bass always seem to swallow them quicker and deeper than other baits. I am also a little slower to set the hook than many fishermen. For these reasons, I tend to gut hook fish regularly. If I can safely get the hook out, I do. If I can’t, I cut the line.

And I keep fish I’m not sure will live for awhile to see if they make it.

If not, then there’s always the next fish fry to contribute to…

[BassNJake]

15 hours ago, Clumsy fisherman said:

What type/brand and size cutters do you use? I need to get a pair.

 

I use these Knipex cutters and also have a Rapala cutter.

I need 2 of everything because my organizational skills are lacking.

 

[Matt Hoo]

I gut hooked two fish this weekend.  I have typically been successful going in through the gills and getting the hook out.  They were both nice fish in the 3.5-4lb range.  They were both with a wacky and they were both bites I didn't feel.  They were both picked up by the fish off of structure and swam towards me.  The first one didn't make it and it really bothered me.  I hate killing fish.  The second I didn't even both to try to get the hook out.  It was deep and I just cut the line.  I didn't like doing that either, but i felt it was the best option at the time.  I hadn't even considered having a pair of cutters and simply cutting the hook.  I'm actually glad I read this article today.   

[Clumsy fisherman]

On 7/19/2022 at 12:02 PM, BassNJake said:

 

I use these Knipex cutters and also have a Rapala cutter.

I need 2 of everything because my organizational skills are lacking.

 

Do you go through the gills to cut the hook?

[BassNJake]

2 hours ago, Clumsy fisherman said:

Do you go through the gills to cut the hook?

No straight down the mouth.

I've had to cut a couple hooks off of 12 inchers and always had enough space.

My dad was worried the fish would swallow the other half of the hook with the barb

so he clips his hemostats to the barbed end before cutting.

I have cut a dozen hooks now and the barb keeps it from being swallowed in my experience

I had a couple other cutters that were cheaper but they did not cut very easily.

[Team9nine]

Kind of in line with the gut hooking theme. Caught a bass and saw a tiny dark pointy something sticking out of his behind today. A quick investigation revealed it was a hook that the fish had just started to pass. Was quickly and easily able to extract it intact. Imagine it might have been gut hooked/break-off, probably a while ago based off the exterior hook condition. If gut hooked, it was able to largely self extract. Fish was aggressive, and appeared perfectly healthy, then swam off post surgical release with a little less hardware to carry around.   

 

[Bird]

54 minutes ago, Team9nine said:

Kind of in line with the gut hooking theme. Caught a bass and saw a tiny dark pointy something sticking out of his behind today. A quick investigation revealed it was a hook that the fish had just started to pass. Was quickly and easily able to extract it intact. Imagine it might have been gut hooked/break-off, probably a while ago based off the exterior hook condition. If gut hooked, it was able to largely self extract. Fish was aggressive, and appeared perfectly healthy, then swam off post surgical release with a little less hardware to carry around.   

 

This is good to know and something I've often wondered.?

Oh, never did believe the tall tale that fish completely disolve the hook.