Leaving hooks in fish?

[Jetspray]

Some times it is tough to know what test line rig your going to need in some of the lakes.

Lake Poway was one of them. Plus a lot of people have one set up for all of their fishing.

Del Valle is another one up here in the San Francisco Bay Area. I have my little trout rig and I'm going by people at the cleaning station with monster Strippers.

I think the people like ncreys, posting the barbless hook thing have something. If you can keep the proper tension on the line after you've hooked a fish it shouldn't be able to get off of the hook. At least off at a rate that might make you switch back. For a new kid barbs are probably the way to go.

Richard (Captian Compassion) calls my garage "The Wizzard's Cave" because I have so many setups for so many styles of fishing. I always have plenty of gear. Works better if you have backups for things that can go wrong. We had trouble with a reel at Pyramid last year while trolling, without a beat I handed Okie another setup so he could continue fishing and just fixed the problem when we got back to camp..........Jetspray

[StokeyBob]

Fish getting off the hook is why I try to stay somewhat close to the strength of the casting line set-up. It does need to break away for snags into obstructions, but not so low that your gear won't have the chance to preform for you without snapping off.......Jetspray

Some times it is tough to know what test line rig your going to need in some of the lakes.

Lake Poway was one of them. Plus a lot of people have one set up for all of their fishing.

Del Valle is another one up here in the San Francisco Bay Area. I have my little trout rig and I'm going by people at the cleaning station with monster Strippers.

I think the people like ncreys, posting the barbless hook thing have something. If you can keep the proper tension on the line after you've hooked a fish it shouldn't be able to get off of the hook. At least off at a rate that might make you switch back. For a new kid barbs are probably the way to go.

[Jetspray]

Fish getting off the hook is why I try to stay somewhat close to the strength of the casting line set-up. It does need to break away for snags into obstructions, but not so low that your gear won't have the chance to preform for you without snapping off.......Jetspray

[StokeyBob]

That period I was talking about in my previous post was mostly at Lake Poway.

It is a lake in San Diego county that was kind of a jewel. As you climbed up the hill and went over the ridge to get to it, it was kind of in a deep bowl. It could get crowded at times but was a good place for families and kids. There is a picnic area up near the entrance that gives you a pretty good view of where your kids and friends are at.

They would put some huge fish in there too.

City of Poway - Fishing

Good video of the lake at the link.

[StokeyBob]

I was cutting open a lot of fish for a while there to see what they had been eating. I came across a lot of hooks and fish with more that one leader hanging out of its mouth.

The hooks I'd find were in all stages of rusting away. I can't imaging they were doing them any good, but taking them out would have probably killed them.

Stomach acid must have been what made it appear to be happening sort of fast.

The thing I was finding for a while there was if I picked them up under their stomach, it wouldn't be long after their release I'd see them dieing.

Not touching the fish at all and clipping the leader seemed to leave them in good shape and on their way happy.

I suppose at this point in my research I should apply for some sort of funding and look into it further...

you know. On a full time basis.


P.S. I don't think people were much into catch and release back then. I think most of the hooks came from fish getting away.

[ncreys]

barbless,barbless,barbless IMO if there is any possibility you are going to be releasing a trout. Also I agree about upping your hook size. Also don't be afraid to experiment with different styles of hooks. .try a circle hook...it works. I've done it. Good luck out there.

[auraleedal]

I used to cut the hooks too when it became clear that I couldn't easily release the fish. Midway through this past summer I went barbless and I am almost certain I didn't lose any more fish than with the barbed hooks and I was able to release them so easily I am sold on barbless from now on. Even hooked 3-5 pounders on very small hook and were able to bring to shore and release. I always have to laugh when I pick up junk on the side of the river--some of the hooks I find are HUGE.

[Treebeard]

My normal mode is bait-fishing, from shore, with a hand-held line. I don't get "trophy" fish that way, which is ok by me... not that I would mind getting something over 14-16 inches... Anyway my intent is to eat what I catch, so it usually doesn't much matter to me where it's hooked - except, of course, if the fish is really small then I'd rather not have to count it toward my limit for the day.

I've seen some pretty small fish that swallowed a pretty large object, with hook or not... but for me it seems that the bigger the hook and wad of bait, the fewer small fish I gut-snag. So I use a #4 hook with a whole nightcrawler (or two!) and don't get so many 6-7" fish that way.

Butt to get to the point of this topic, I've seen hooks of all sizes up to about #6 hanging out of the back of fish that were less than 6" long. So they must have some way of passing them, as long as the fish isn't otherwise injured. If I gut-hook a fish my decision depends on my guess of how much injury it suffered: if it's bleeding or if I had to jerk hard on the gut-hooked line, it goes on my stringer; if it's just a case of my not being able to get the hook out but the fish is otherwise happy, I'll cut the leader and watch him swim away... and it's not really uncommon for my fishing partner or me to catch that same fish a little while later!

TB

[TroutGhost]

Thing is to use the smallest hook for what you are trying to achieve.

I agree 100%. The smallest possible without increasing the gut hook possibility.

Seems like size 14 and smaller have the highest likelihood to be a gut hook. I don't use anything smaller than a size 12 when fishing for planters, just in case I want to release them. I've caught many fish with hooks in various parts of their body so I am confident they can survive a little hook. There are people on Haight Street walking around with bigger pieces of metal stuck in their bodies and they're doing fine.

[Captain Compassion]

or the one's where they've dragged across the sand and are being held with one hand across the body for the picture. That one drives me nuts!

Aren't you a "Super Moderator"? You should poof those threads where you deem the pictures offencive. Wouldn't want to see any of your Sniffer members offended.

CC