Gut hooked fish in tourneys

[airborne_angler]

Wondering about how Gut hooked fish affect the a tournament.

Say your throwing a Senko and the fish gets hooked deep(Gullet). Does the tournament competitor take the time to remove the hook and potentially kill the fish by doing so.

Or does he/she just snip the line,leaving the hook in and go to weigh in?

Is leaving the hook in the fish even a legal option in tourneys or will you get penalized for a foreign object in the fish?

[etommy28]

you cut it and leave it. it is the best way to do it for the fish.

[J Francho]

here we go....grab a cream soda and a bag of popcorn.

[boneil]

you cut it and leave it. it is the best way to do it for the fish.

x2

[NateFollmer]

here we go....grab a cream soda and a bag of popcorn.

Make that diet cream soda and dump that down the fishes mouth. It helps stop the bleeding I'll agree with Etommy on this one, leave that hook in there.

Actually, I think YOU'RE the one that taught me that in another thread J. HA

Oh, btw drop some weights in the fish while you're at it and go all Mark Hart on that tournament... BAZINGA!

[airborne_angler]

Im not trying to make light of any situation. Im not a tourney fisherman and caught a fish that got hooked deep. I messed around with removing the hook but decided it was taking to long and didnt want to stress the fish out anymore,so I just snipped the line and let the fish go.

At that time for some reason,I got to thinking about what if I was in a tourney and brought that fish in,would it be considered illegal because of the "foreign object"

I was just pondering the "what if",not trying to stir up trouble.

[NateFollmer]

I was just pondering the "what if",not trying to stir up trouble.

Ah, that's kind of hard NOT to do around here It's fun to watch the madness.

[UPS VT]

Depending on how deeply hooked the fish is; you can safely go up through the gill plates with a pair of pliers and remove the hook with little harm to the fish.  Have done this multiple times and have not had a fish die from it.  I have only done this with LMB, don't think it would work to well with SMB though.

[airborne_angler]

I know that trick and thats what I was attempting to do with the fish I hooked. It was taking a bit longer than I had anticipated,and the fish already had a deformed upper jaw from earlier in its life,so I just stopped messing with it,it had already had a hard enough life as it was.

[J Francho]

Actually, I think YOU'RE the one that taught me that in another thread J. HA

I would have said remove the hook, if you are catch and release.  For the livewell, leave it until after the weigh in.

[NateFollmer]

Actually, I think YOU'RE the one that taught me that in another thread J. HA

I would have said remove the hook, if you are catch and release. For the livewell, leave it until after the weigh in.

I was talking about the soda trick. I think you mentioned that in a thread awhile ago.

[J Francho]

Yep, not my original idea, but it works.

[R520dvx]

Cut and leave ....

If you are using the right rod and line, you will have fewer of those.

[Glenn]

Here's how you remove the hook:

http://www.bassresource.com/bass_fishing_forums/YaBB.pl?num=1128002349/16#16

It works just as easy on smallmouth as on largemouth. With practice, you can do it pretty quickly - especially if your fishing partner helps by holding the line after you pull it through the gill plate.

As for any penalties for hooks in fish - I've never seen that happen at a tournament.  That said, it's in the fish's best interest to remove that hook as soon as possible.  Learn the technique outlined above.  Once you get it down, there's no reason NOT to do it.

[ww2farmer]

Actually, I think YOU'RE the one that taught me that in another thread J. HA

I would have said remove the hook, if you are catch and release. For the livewell, leave it until after the weigh in.

I was talking about the soda trick. I think you mentioned that in a thread awhile ago.

I have heard you want to use a product with Citric Acid in it, like Sprite or Mt. Dew.

[Coonedawg]

I've always pondered what if you were in a tourny and lost to a guy that had gut hooked a fish or two with a 1/4oz shakeyhead. If he took time to remove the shakeyhead it would kill the fish and suffer the dead fish penalty. Lets also say that he fishes in 1st place and you fish in 2nd place and you end up losing by a 1/4oz or less. Would you not lobby that their was a foreign object in that fish that caused you to lose the tourny. Just food for thought and a question I have always wondered.

[fmoore]

A friend of mine gut hooked a fish in a tourney with a ~70 boat field (aka good money). He left the hook in, thinking that he was doing the right thing. Wrong!

A 1/2 pound was deducted from his total weight due to his leaving the hook in the fishes throat. That moved him from 2nd to 4th. Needless to say, he wasn't very happy.

[senko_77]

Fish barbless hooks.  I've completely switched over to barbless and it's great.  I don't lose and fish and the hook comes out of the gullet real easy.  No dead fish = bigger checks

[figure8racer]

Snip it

[figure8racer]

snip it

[Red Bear]

i have to disagree with cutting the line and leaving the hook in. the through the gill method is money and it works everytime for me. and not to criticize anyone, but i dont get why so many people seem to struggle with it, it was very easy for me from the first time i tried it after learning it on this site...