What do you do? I do alot of bass fishing with live bait(shinners and small bream) and some of the fish swallow the hook so its stuck in their throat, I dont like eating bass that much I mainly fish for the fun of it. But when the fish gets a hook stuck in its throat alot of times I cant get it to just pop out so I cut the line and let him go, I figure this increases the chances of him dieing some and I hate to know that fish may die for nothing but I think ripping the hook out does way more damage so my question...what should I do?

iv herd and belive that after a while the hook like dissolves they say its best to cut all the line off and keep the hook in there

There was a post on here a while back about lots of fish dying in tournaments. I was so convicted in my heart that I was going to stop worm fishing. I use to let the bass run for a long time . Not good, they will swallow the hook and it's just not nice. So I decided to do this. When my fish picks up the worm and the line is straight , I count 1 thousand 2 thousand SET. None of my hooks have been swallowed yet.
I thank God for that.
Chuck

I am with you Chuck. It is really disturbing when you look down the throat and see that it is beyond the throat. When it occurs, I usually just cut the line. I have caught plenty of fish with other hooks still in the mouth and deeper. The circle hooks work better when you are fishing with live bait. When you detect the take you simply straighten the line and start reeling without a dramatic hook set. The curved circle hook will come out of the throat and usually hook up on the side of the mouth.

Chuck your intentions are honorable but in reality you can't wait or give em enough time in all situations. A fish and take a bait in and exhale it back out so quickly that you wont even feel it in some cases. Ever seen the videos of crankbaits that were chuggin along and a nice fish inhales them and just as quickly exhales them. The person reeling the bait didn't even know it. They have LIGHTNING quick reflexes.

Also, and I've heard Bill Dance tell this too many crowds, "They aint got hands"!!! That meaning what do you think they are playing with the bait with? Whenever you feel a fish SLAM HOME THE STEEL. No sense in playing with him, more than likely you will only tip him off that something is up and he will drop the bait and be gone!

There's new evidence that suggest leaving the hooks in do as much harm as cutting them out! Makes sense, in saltwater sure it would rust away quickly but todays super hooks will not rust out in freshwater anytime soon. All you are likely to do is kill the fish by starvation. The best way is to take a true pair of cable cutters, the kind that cut right on the end so you can cut exactly where you need to. Cut the hook in as many pieces as you need to get it out. Typically all you have to do is remove the barb and either push the hook all the way through or pull it back through.

Good luck,
RA

I agree with ya. The only thing is I used to let mine runfor 10 seconds. That is bad.I tried your way lots of times and never caught one. My 2 second wait isno guarantee but I do catch fish and have had no swallows yet.
There he is......1........2.......Nice Fish!

if u want to risk losing alot of fish u can take a plier and bend down the barb and most of the time no matter how far it goes in u can get it out because it is the barb that is what tears everyting up when unhooking them, if theres no barb u can almost always get it out

Not until this tournament is over.

Good idea! I haddent thought of that but im sure it`ll help me out some. Thanks.

My understanding of the "leave it in" theory has been
it is not the water that dissolves or degrades the hook
(though salt water could be an exception) but the fish
itself, it's acids. That said, I prefer cutting the hook and
removing with as little damage as possible. Removing
or using hooks w/o barbs is probably good too but I've
never done it. Until it's in my hand I have'nt caught it.

PKnTX