Gut hooked fish

[FivePoundBluegill]

Been practicing slow fishing at mid day recently. Went out at around noon again today and had a realy good day. I managed to catch 7 bass all on finess robo worms. The biggest was 15.5 inches. I also got one a little over 14 inches and another a little over 12 inches as well as 4 little dinks. Even so im not  happy with myself.

All three of the decent size bass were gut hooked. The biggest one was actually bleeding when landed him. I didnt want to risk causing more damage removeing the hook so I cut my line. I dont know if this was the best thing to do but it was a realy bad gut hook and I think trying to remove it would cause more bleeding. The other two fish I gut hooked I was able to get the hook out with no bleeding and released them fine.

Question is what am I doing wrong? Am I just letting the bass have the bait for too long which gives the big ones a chance to swallow it. I usually dont set the hook when I first feel the fish on my line. I let them take some line, wait for the line to tighten and then set the hook. This seems to work for me. Today with this methode I only missed one fish and all the fish I hooked into I was able to land. With senkos I have almost as good of a hook up ratio as this as well but I dont seem to gut hook my fish. Just wanted to ask if im useing my robo worms wrong and what the reason is that im gut hooking my bigger fish?

[Bryant.]

I'm pretty sure your're letting the fish eat the bait for too long. Gut hooking happens a lot with heavily salted baits such as senkos and robos. What I would recomend to do is that once you feel the bite reel down, pick up the slack line, and then set the hook. That method will almost always let the fish eat the bait long enough to get a good hook in them. Another reason people gut hook fish is that the fish are just very aggresive and swallow the bait as soon as they eat it. This is not the anglers fault. He just had no chance to set the hook without gut hooking the fish.

[32251]

Cutting the line and leaving the hook in is not the best thing.  The old tale about the hook rusting away in several days is not true as per test done and results given on the net.  Do a google search for fish hook removal and you will see some excellent techniques for removing the hook from gut hooks.  You taking a set of needle nose pliers with you I hope?  I keep a set in all my boxes for help in hook removal. Sometimes you get real lucky and sometimes not.  Keep trying.

[FivePoundBluegill]

Cutting the line and leaving the hook in is not the best thing. The old tale about the hook rusting away in several days is not true as per test done and results given on the net. Do a google search for fish hook removal and you will see some excellent techniques for removing the hook from gut hooks. You taking a set of needle nose pliers with you I hope? I keep a set in all my boxes for help in hook removal. Sometimes you get real lucky and sometimes not. Keep trying.

Yes I keep a set of needle nost pliers in my backpack I take fishing. I used them to remove the gut hooks from the 14 and 12 inch bass. I would have tried to get the hook out of the big 15.5 inch bass but when I got him out of the water he was already bleeding quite a lot. It was the worst gut hook I have seen. Next time no matter how bad hes gut hooked il try to get it out with my pliers though. I just thought that in the case of this bass removeing it would cause so much damage id end up killing the fish. The 15.5 inch bass swam away fine though after I cut the line and released him. I just hope hes alright and that I didnt kill him....

[Sam]

I purchased the 9 inch slim-line needle nose pliers and they work great removing hooks.

I got them at Wal-Mart for so muchl ess than Home Depot, Lowes or a local hardware store.

One is on the boat and one is in my tackle box in the car.

I now cut the hook's barb and line and pull the hook through if they threaten the fish's eye to save the eye.

I hate gut hooked fish so I am not bothered by missing them by setting the hook too fast. It all depends on how they are taking the bait; walking away with it slowly or hitting it hard and taking off.

[Jeff C.]

If I gut hook.

I slide the plyers up through the gills and cut the hook in

half.. then pull the hook out point 1st..

Jeff

[slomoe]

good article in this thread.

http://www.bassresource.com/bass_fishing_forums/YaBB.pl?num=1187355723/0

[twors]

If I gut hook.

I slide the plyers up through the gills and cut the hook in

half.. then pull the hook out point 1st..

Jeff

I have D-Barb cutters that work well for cutting hooks but my problem is that about 50% of the time I can't see the point of the hook. I haved tried the reversing of the hook deal and it works on larger fish but I have little luck with it on the smaller guys given their smaller mouths and my big dumb fingers. The bait I'm having the problems with are Baby Paca Craws t-rigged on a 3/0 EWG with a loose 1/8oz bullet weight. Normally the bite is so light that I can't feel anything but when I go to move the bait, they have already swallowed the hook. They just simply swim over to the the bait, inhale it and just sit there without swimming away. Last sunday was very bad....5 gut hooked fish out of 17 caught  :-[

[GeorgiaBassman]

Just solve the problem by piching your barbs down when you fish with plastics.  I do that and if i do gut hook a fish(rarely happens) i can pull the hook out no problem.  

[gefiltefish]

You could try using a circle hook on wacky rigged senkos and plastics. Instead of a regular set you just reel and keep the line tight and the hook usually gets them in the jaw even if they swallowed the bait.

If you gut hook the fish on a regular hook you can reach in behind the gill slot by the white gill rakers (not the red gill part) and pull the hook eye so its facing out of the gill. This will reverse the hook barb in the fish's gut so you can then reach into its mouth and cut it or pull it out.  In fisherman had pictures of the procedure on their website but took it down. They pictured it in one of their magazine issues within the past year or 2  I think.

Here is a good article about gut hooked fish

http://southhoustonbassclub.com/Documents/Gut%20Hooked.htm

[Jeff C.]

If you are having a lot of gut hooks..

then pinching the barb down ( as mentioned above )

mite be a good Idea..

If I can not see the point and can not get the hook out.

then I push the point through so I can see it..

I figure thats better than leaving the hook in..

If you hook your self or your buddy thats what that the doctor

does,, push it through and cut it off..

Jeff

[surfer]

I think I killed one last night.  I gut hooked him at night without a light.  I had the right pliers with me, but no light.

We were fishing kinda fast to avoid mosquitoes.  When we saw structure on the finder we would make a couple of drops of the worm and move on so the skeeters wouldn't get us.  So i gut hook a 1.5lb.  I can't get the hook out in the dark.  So I let him swim while we troll 50 yards away from shore (no skeeters out there).  Then my buddy holds his lighter above the fish and I quickly (45 seconds) get the hook out.  When I drop the bass back in the water he is belly up.  What gives?

I read the article linked up above and it mentions not to force water down a basses throat by moving him to fast into flowing water.  Did the trolling with him swimming likely kill him?

[nboucher]

It happens, unfortunately. Here's the In-Fisherman link. Learn this technique and it should reduce your gut-hooked mortality.

http://www.in-fisherman.com/magazine/articles/if2806_HookRemoval/index.html