Ned and other finesse baits causing deep hooking?

[Champ188]

Magicwormman and Macsimus are all over it. Barbless hooks are the way to go for fun fishing. Just take a pair of needlenose pliers and mash the barb down.

Donna learned the Please Release Me (Rejuvenade, etc.) trick several years ago while fishing as a co-angler in the Beaver Lake FLW tournament. Her pro, Jacob Powroznik, deep-hooked a fish and after removing the hook, he poured the granular medicine down its throat. In a few minutes, the fish had stopped bleeding and was as lively and well as his other fish at the 3 p.m. weigh-in.

This is a great thread and I appreciate Jim Elam for starting it. These fish belong to all of us, so we should all be concerned with their welfare. If anyone is not, I hope you will soon tire of this pursuit and find something else to occupy your time.

[Terrierman]

Nothing to add other than good thread.

[fishingaddiction]

Great topic and some good information. The fish we catch are a resource that we enjoy while we are able to fish, let's take care of this resource for other generations to enjoy.

Good point and thanks for posting this Jim.

[jolicious]

Anything with citric acid seems to help with bleeding, also (my experience).

I had stomach surgery a couple years ago, so I can't have sugar OR carbonation. I no longer have sodas in the boat (used to have ample supplies of Mt. Dew for me as well as any fish that were in need)...

But, I've come to find that the Vitamin Water Zero drinks I keep in the boat also help with bleeding.

On the rare occasion I have a deep hook situation:

1. Take extra care to pull fish from the water by my hand under the belly (instead of swinging)

2. Hold my breath (I thought I was the only guy who did that?) to steady my hand (as well as help keep in mind that my aquatic friend is holding his breath too) while I turn / remove the hook.

3. Pour some Vitamin Water in his mouth (heck, I pour some on his side if he has any sores).

4. Let him rest in live well (Rejuvenade - if water is over 80°, there will also be some ice packs in there).

5. Check on him in an hour or two (usually he's good to go within an hour); and release.

Even if it's a short fish, I'll still put in the live well. I haven't ever been visited by an officer while I was recuperating a fish, but I'd rather explain / show what I'm doing to the officer than just cut a hook and hope for the best.

[Ham]

Deep hooiking is going to happen with any soft plastic lure and smallies. I hate it, but they are so quick to swallow some times. The Ned should be a lot worse than actually is. Small and slender and catching a really high rate of fish, I'm surprized I have not seen it more.

By using Nanofil and paying attention even when dead sticking it, I had one (1) deep hooked fish out of a whole bunch (way > 100) at 10K.

Tubes are worse, way worse. Heck, even grubs are worse and that was with a steady retrieve.

[Flippin]

Jim thanks for posting.

There is a lot of hook removal tools out there. What hook removal tools have you found to work the best?

[Champ188]

I think the shorter hook shank and narrower gap contribute to less problems with the Ned. Regardless, Donna and I don't seem to deep-hook many on it.

[Browning Guy]

Not sure if anyone ever does this, but if I gill hook a fish (not often), I keep 4 oz cans (kid size) of 7-up in the boat. If the fish is bleeding, simply pour the 7 Up over the wound and it immediately stops the bleeding. Not sure it has to be 7 Up, but that's what I had heard about over the years. Probably not a pleasant experience for the fish, but better than bleeding. As a test, after gill hooking a keeper with a stickbait, it was bleeding pretty good. I opened the can of 7 up and treated the wound then placed the fish in the live well in case it died (not wanting to go to waste). The end result with the post 7 up treatment....... released the fish after an hour or so and it swam away like nothing was wrong and the water in the live well was blood free. Has anyone used this or have information on the 7 Up treatment? I agree with bending the barb down when fun fishing. BEND THEM DOWN AND PROTECT OUR FISHERY so what if they get off every once in awhile. If played correctly, you don't loose as many fish as you might think. Great job bringing up deep hooking fish Jim. A powerful reminder that we need to take good care of the fish.

[Guest]

I havent had any better luck with hook disgorgers.

If somebody has a better method or tool, please post it up. (I would like to be 100% on CR rate.)

Wrench, where do I turn in my jersey?

[holleybob]

Saturday 3 of the 5 K's I caught swallowed the barb. If those percentages hold up I cannot afford to fish anymore. Cutting the line and releasing the fish with my $1.25 jig head in his gullet is going to get expensive quick but that's what I did. As mentioned above the mortality rate cannot be good for a fish in this situation either.

I thought to cut the line and place in the livewell until I could figure a way to retrieve the hook and spare the fish but the fish were less than legal size so that was not an option.

What are you guys doing with guthooked fish that are less than legal size ?

Also I was told by someone with much more experience than me yesterday that on windy days the K's are more likely to swallow a bait since they cannot see it as well. Anyone experience this ? It certainly was winday Saturday.

For now I'm going to pich the barbs. Sounds like the easiest solution of all.