How to avoid getting [treble] hooked?

[jimanchower]

A couple of weekends ago the conditions were great when I got on the water at about 4:30p and I was excited to quickly catch a bass on a jerkbait, which is what I was out to do after a successful stint a few days prior. Once I had the fish in the boat (kayak) and I went to release him, he flopped at the wrong time, and I ended up with a barbed hook in my left thumb. After unhooking the fish and pondering my options I took a big swig of my barley soda, put my pliers to the hook, looked away, and popped that baby out. No[t much] blood or tears; back to fishing 2 minutes later.

 

Anyway, my question: What are your dos and don'ts for handling of these baits with a bunch of treble hooks? I'm definitely going to net a fish bigger than a couple of pounds, but once they're in the boat and generally under control are there some best practices for how to not hook yourself?

 

[AlabamaSpothunter]

Good pair of rubber fish handling gloves are great, and as you mentioned a net is important so that you can let them chill out in the net.   This is why I like an oversized deep net so that I can leave the fish in the net while still in the water.    I wait 10-20 seconds until it mellows out, thoughtfully find where I'm going to lip them, and then proceed to do so.   

 

With any treble hook bait, hook removing pliers are a must.    

 

So my three things would be:

 

1. Big net

2. Fish handling gloves

3. hook removing pliers 

[Bankbeater]

Lip gripper and a good set of pliers.  If I don't have the lip grippers I try to immobilize the lure so it won't move around when the bass shakes.

[MN Fisher]

2 minutes ago, Bankbeater said:

Lip gripper and a good set of pliers.  If I don't have the lip grippers I try to immobilize the lure so it won't move around when the bass shakes.

^ This...always.

[Choporoz]

Fish Grips are strapped to the side of my kayak.  Always.

They are also useful for catfish and toothy critters.  Also come in handy when you catch a hog so you can put her back in the water on the grips while you get your camera ready.

[Bird]

Net and lip grippers for sure.

I never thumb a fish with a mouth full of trebles, no

[jimanchower]

3 minutes ago, Choporoz said:

Fish Grips are strapped to the side of my kayak.  Always.

They are also useful for catfish and toothy critters.  Also come in handy when you catch a hog so you can put her back in the water on the grips while you get your camera ready.

They're always on the side of mine, too! And I don't use them, at least not consistently. In this case, I was standing, and the lip grippers won't reach. I'm sure if I think about it hard enough I can figure out a way to address this problem.

 

I appreciate the input - I need to make some rules for myself that will significantly decrease the risk of getting hooked.

[fin]

8 hours ago, jimanchower said:

I'm definitely going to net a fish bigger than a couple of pounds

 

It's the little ones that are the most dangerous, in my experience.

 

I've just started using lip grippers recently, and I love them. I keep them hooked on a belt loop, because if they aren't instantly accessible, they're useless. The one problem I have with them is when the fish won't open their mouth. Sometimes they're like a kid at the dentist.

 

 

[Dwight Hottle]

8 hours ago, Bankbeater said:

Lip gripper and a good set of pliers.  If I don't have the lip grippers I try to immobilize the lure so it won't move around when the bass shakes.

 

8 hours ago, MN Fisher said:

^ This...always.

 X3 I always use a boga grip because it embolizes the fish big or small plus it's a scale that reads to the nearest 1/4 oz.  

[Zcoker]

First thing to do is to be very mindful of the hook situation. I’ve seen so many just reach down and pluck a fish out of the water with trebles dangling everywhere. They do this quite automatically….or, better yet, quite enthusiastically. They don’t even think about the hooks until it’s too late. It’s well and good to have all the safe guards like nets and so forth in place, but being hyper alert and anticipating the possibility of gettin hooked (as a means to avoid getting hooked) has saved me countless times. 

[Functional]

9 hours ago, Bankbeater said:

Lip gripper and a good set of pliers.  If I don't have the lip grippers I try to immobilize the lure so it won't move around when the bass shakes.

 

9 hours ago, MN Fisher said:

^ This...always.

 

49 minutes ago, Dwight Hottle said:

 

 X3 I always use a boga grip because it embolizes the fish big or small plus it's a scale that reads to the nearest 1/4 oz.  

 

X4. If its got teeth, spikes or treble hooks the lip grippers and long pliers come out. Also agree its usually the small ones that cause the issue...brought my father to the ER with a popper hugging his hand because of a 1lb bass. 

[Captain Phil]

Every time I watch someone on TV grab a bass by the bottom lip with a bunch of treble hooks thrashing around, I cringe.   Either they haven't been hooked or they like operating on themselves.  The best way to not get hooked is to assume you will.  I've been hooked so many times that I quit counting.  I've had numerous customers who have been hooked, some worse than others.  The worst was a guy who had a Rapala hanging from his eye brow.   The worst I have been hooked was a triple and I was alone.   A three pound bass had me hooked to itself, my palm and my chest.  If you get hooked, and you will, carry a pair of these in your boat.  Cut the lure off before you try to remove the hook.  The string method of hook removal works 90% of the time as long as the hook is not too deep or near something vital.  If that is the case, you need professional help. 

 

 

[the reel ess]

This reminds me of when I fished with a guide in So FL for peacocks with a walking bait with 3 trebles. I got 4 lbs. of angry peacock to the boat, expecting him to lend a hand. He told me to "control my fish". I said "I'm not paying you $400 a day to catch a hand full o' trebles on the very first peacock."

 

I fish from a kayak and I lip almost every bass caught on a single hook. But I net every decent sized bass on trebles. Once in the net, I can dig the hooks out with pliers if necessary. But if you forget the net, cradling the bass against the boat, holding it upright, hand under the stomach makes it docile enough to then lip it. This is pretty easy in a kayak.

[1984isNOW]

I freed a whopper plopper from a snag once and caught a treble a good ways deep into my palm. I had stopped to fish on the clock in between locations. I was only hoping to throw out for 5-10 minutes, but it turned into a bit of an ordeal. I realized then how unprepared I was and how grateful I was that I reacted quick enough to block my face and eyes. 

 

I ended up pouring a bunch of hand sanitizer on it and using an old relatively dull pocket knife to cut my flesh where the barb was so that I could pull it out. I now carry cutters with me to cut the hook if I have to push it through and cut it at the barb. As for unhooking a trebeled fish, if I can't lip'em safely I'll lay him on his side in the yak and always use pliers, forceps, or the long metal grabber lookin one.

[Bankc]

I grab the lure, not the fish.  Once you have a firm grip on the lure, they can thrash all they want, and you won't get hooked, unless you let go.  I'll usually grab the line and slide my hand down to the lure very quickly.  Sometimes I'll wait for them to thrash, and them move immediately afterwards.  They typically will take a break from thrashing for a second or so after a spurt, so that's a good time to move if you're quick.  If need be, I'll grab the fish by the body.  It's pretty easy to do in a kayak, since you're already sitting level with the water.  Just be weary of their dorsal fins.  If it's a big one, I'll often slide my hand down its head to push the dorsal fin down, and tuck it under my armpit like a football with its belly pointed at the sky.  I'll also lean forward, so if he does start to get loose, he'll slide forward and not poke me with the dorsal fin spines.  

 

And when you grab the body of the lure, grab it hard and fast with confidence.  Often they'll shake about the second they feel it start to move, so moving without conviction is what'll get you hooked.  Always assume the fish is about to thrash.  So move quickly and take control of the situation.  Fear of getting hooked is what will get you hooked.  

 

It's all kind of hard to explain, but of all of the times I've been hooked, it's never been because of a fish.  It almost always comes about because I left the baits on the rods and tried to dig through them or got snagged or missed a hookset and the lure flew back at me.  On the rare occasion, it's been the other guy I'm fishing with not paying attention to his cast.  But from a hooked fish?  Never.  

[Glenn]

Watch this:

 

 

[casts_by_fly]

If I'm fishing trebles, I will net basically every fish.  Rubber bag net.  Fish goes in and I give some slack on the line to put the rod in the rod holder, grab pliers, etc.  The net is held by my foot so nothing is going anywhere.  if its just one or two hook points I'll unhook them in the net with the pliers.  If I have to grab the fish, I'll grab them behind the head like a pike.

[Deleted account]

Grab the hook that is on the fishes lip with needle nose and twist until the point is facing down and shake with a sudden stop. I usually don't even take the fish out of the water. Positive control at all times is the key.

[TnRiver46]

Rule 1: don’t get hooked in the first place

rule 2: emphasis on rule 1 when using trebles 

 

my buddy that I hooked in the back of the head with a treble hook rooster tail would get a kick out of reading this 

[Captain Phil]

It is much more common to be hooked by a flying lure than by a fish. Mono has a ton of stretch.   If you get hung up and attempt to pull it toward you, the lure could be heading straight for you at a rapid pace.   Anglers have been seriously injured by flying sinkers too.  I remember one tournament where a co-angler hooked himself in the thumb.  It was too deep to remove, so he bandaged it up and kept on fishing.  By the end of the day, the poor guy was in shock.  When we got him to the clinic, he was having some difficulty standing. 

[KSanford33]

This happened to me last year. I caught a slime dart on a jerkbait and gripped him around his body. True to his name, I couldn't get a good grip on him and I ended up with a treble in my thumb. Ever since then, I have a three step process with any fish I hook with trebles:

 

1. Net them.

2. Use the fish grippers (the plastic Rapala ones, not the steel ones).

3. Use the pliers to unhook him.

 

Since then -knock wood- I haven't gotten hooked by a treble since. Single hooks however...

[MN Fisher]

3 hours ago, KSanford33 said:

I have a three step process with any fish I hook with trebles:

 

1. Net them.

2. Use the fish grippers (the plastic Rapala ones, not the steel ones).

3. Use the pliers to unhook him.

Exactly how I do it...

[WRB]

We all have lapses in fish landing routine that can create an accident. Big bass have a mouth that makes it easy to grip by hand a habit developed over decades of fishing.

Crank bait treble hooked bass a net is your best choice and 99% of the time that is my practice. It’s that 1 % that can be painful. Really big bass are hard to net and panic seeing it in the water. Plus the net needs to ready to use. 

Fishing with good friend visiting from MO and using a jig and John Was using a crank bait rod with a DD22. John managed to hook a big bass and was very excited. The net was still stowed and not available so I decided to hand land this bass.

successfully grabbed the mouth by opposite side of the lure and lifted it out of the water. John yelled wait he wanted to get a photo landing the bass. So I held the while John got his camera and replayed the the lift out of the water...big mistake! The bass weighed 14.2 lbs and managed to shake my grip slipping out of my hand the DD size 1 treble hook went through my hand between the thumb and index finger hanging by the hook and shaking. We did land and weigh the bass, cut the treble hook off using my side cutters. Released the bass. Needed surgery to repair my thumb.

Knowing better only works when you don’t make dumb mistakes.

Tom

 

[Darth-Baiter]

Lip grippers mare the correct answer here I think. 

[Spankey]

Lip gripper is the most sensible. I have one and use it. But there are time when you get all hung up in the moment and crap happens.