1st post here, wish it was on a happier note

[Keithscatch]

I disagre with not leaving a hook in a fish. Not that anyone is suggesting making a habit out of this. I agree that it is worse to leave a hook in a fish then if the fish never had a hook but it is far worse to rip a hook out of a fish's stomach then to cut it off and leave it in there. Of course this is only a concern for those of us who release bass.

I personally have caught numerous fish that had fish hooks with fishing line sticking out of their mouth. When I tugged on the line it was still embedded in there with a hook. The fish looked healthy and was fiesty and apparently was able to eat as it wasn't starving to death. So I cut the line off as close as I could and returned the fish.

It is sort of like some people who have been shot and doctors left the bullet in the person rather then try to remove it figuring it would be worse to remove it. Some times it is best to leave the hook other times not. If it can be removed by all means remove it. If it is in too deep and can't be safely removed leave it in there. The fish will recover more often then not.

[captgene]

A bullet has few if any bacteria because of the heat , and doctors can give drugs to stop infection . More bad common sense.

[timmyswetarded]

personaly i dont think your doing anything wrong....your catchin fish...but its just the removal....check out the site listed on the first page.....it works everytime ;D

[Poor Richard]

:-/      I am a great fan of mashing down the barbs.  It's saved a lot of fish and reduced the damage on at least two incidents of self-hooking, one of mine and one of a nephew's.  You will lose a few more fish, but if you c&r, so what?  Not recommended for competition, of course.

By the way, the true quotation about teaching someone to fish is:  "If you give a man a fish, he will feed his family if you have already cleaned it; if you teach him to fish, they will never see him again."

And don't forget, the 10% of the anglers who catch 90% of the fish do 90% of the fishing.

So says Poor Richard.  

[bocabasser]

you have to set the hook sooner. watch the line. sounds like everybody has given great advice, but if you are not comfortable with trying to remove the hook from a bass' gut, just cut the line as close to the hook as possible. the fish will still live with the hook in its gut and eventually the hook will erode and fall out.

[Windknot51]

Great Post!

Circle hooks sound like the ticket and I will be shure to get some soon.

I will also continue to crush the barbs as I have done for years without a problem...... yes it does make release alot easier and i'm shure reduces the mortality rate.

[Guest ouachitabassangler]

I clean a large number of bass I catch, my family and guests consuming at least 200-300 a year. I always examine the stomach contents mostly to keep up with forage sizes and colors, but also extract re-usable plastic lure bodies, lead sinkers, plastic beads, anything that can fit down the throat of a bass. I've extracted many brands of lure over the decades (even a Pointer), each originally bearing all types of hooks that are almost always dissolved from pitted and unusable to gone including split rings. I'm pretty sure by now that once the hardware is sufficiently dissolved a bass is capable of disgorging a plastic lure no matter how large. I've had them vomit up an undamaged plastic worms with hook in perfect shape. Most hooks are highly pitted and very brittle, but more commonly no hooks are present, plastic worms crumbled from grinding against rocks in there, and formerly artistic plastic bodies polished down to bone ABS plastic. It's just false that hooks pose a general serious problem for bass. The acid in their stomachs is powerful and capable of amazing things. Don't bother leaving line hanging out. The first meal the bass takes is likely to catch it and take it down.

Jim