Hook Removal

[icefool]

I have been told that leaving a hook in a fish is deadly for them.Can someone give me the info I need to know whether it is true or not.
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[TubeDude]

[cool]Hey, CoolFool, howya doin'? There is a lot of argument both ways on leaving hooks in fish. The simple answer is that a fish has a better chance of surviving if you snip off the leader as far down as possible...leaving the hook...than if you rip a hole in its innards or tear out its gills. After that, it depends on how big the hook is, how deeply it penetrates into other internal organs and how stressed the fish is when you release it.

Some people say that a hook is dissolved by a fish's digestive juices within a few days...or that they are able to work them out by themselves. While that may happen, with cheaper grades of steel hooks, stainless or anodized hooks can stay in place almost forever.

Most of us have caught fish that had other hooks either in their mouths or deep down inside. I have filleted cats that have had two or three hooks embedded in their stomach walls, and apparently none the worse for wear. I have also seen fish hooked lightly in the lip that turned belly up shortly after being released. Again, a lot of it depends on how much the fish was stressed during the battle and the basic condition of the fish to begin with.

Probably the biggest sissies of the fish world are hatchery pet rainbows. They just do not have a strong constitution. Other species can often survive some pretty rough handling, and being out of water for a couple of minutes before being released. But not rainbows. They are wimpy.

Just as important as clipping off the deep hooks, is not handling the fish with your hands...especially if they are dry. Using nets or sliding the fish up on the bank can also remove scales and the protective slime layer. Better to play them in quickly, scoop them from the water with wetted hands...or not at all...and then just clip the line or remove easy to reach hooks with forceps or needlenose pliers.

That being said, I once witnessed a large trout being cleaned that had probably created a lot of fish stories. It looked like a monofilament beard on that old trout, because he had so many broken leaders coming out of his mouth. He probably gained several ounces at weigh in because of all the hooks in him.
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[icefool]

Hey Tubedude thanks for the info. I was up for the weekend fishing Payson Lakes There are pretty much all planters in there, we use eagle claw hooks and we had a good release rate. I was told that if you leave a hook in they will die anyway.I am glad to know that may not be true. I almost always catch and release.I try not to use treble hook to me they are to viscious.
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[BEARCLAW]

Hey There IF,

Great Question. I've often wondered this myself. A vast majority of the fish I catch are lip hooked. Because of that, I usually remove the hook. However, while baitfishing, deeper hooking happens a lot more frequently. When this is the case, I snip the leader as close to the hook as possible. If they don't immediately swim off, they usually become the one or two fish that I do harvest. TD made a good point about the material the hook is made of. Stainless and coated hooks may stay with the fish for its entire life. You should post this question on the "special guest forum". Maybe someone like [size 1]Tom Pettengill[/size] from the dwr has the best answer.[]
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[Matador]

Over the years I've caught several trout that have had line(up to 18 inches) coming out of their rear ends. Obviously there was a hook inside of them and over time the line even worked through the system. So, I know that at least a few fish survive being hooked. I think TubeDude is right. There are a lot of factors that play into it. But you can usually tell when a fish is hooked badly and you should either clip the line or better yet keep it(if legal) so that it doesn't go to waste because no matter what a deep-hooked fish has a good chance of dying anyway.
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[Hellsangler69]

Icefool , have you ever thought about using circle hooks ? They claim to hook in mouth more often then the gut with regular hooks . I don't bait fish much anymore but when I did I had more lip hook ups by holding my rod and setting hook before they got the chance to swallow it . The fish fought a lot harder when hooked in the lip then in the gut . I caught lots of fish with hooks in them and line coming out the rear so a lot of them do fine with hook in them .
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