I know some of you have had this happen where the bass swallowed the hook, what do you think is right for the fish? Do you think it is best leave the hook in or try to remove it?
Last summer I had one bass swallow the hook and I just cut the line as close as I could to the hook and let it go. It looked okay as it took off but I felt like I should of done more for the fish. I do not know if it has been studied where the fish has swallowed the hook but it would be interesting to find out what the survival rate is.
I once caught a largie that already had a small drop shot hook in it. There was a piece a line attached to the hook and there was no way that hook was coming out unless I ripped it out. The fish seemed fine but not sure how that effects their insides
Another time I was fishing for smallies on a river and my partner caught one with a small hair jig coming out of its anus. It had passed that jig all the way through and it was hanging 3/4 of the way out. The fish looked healthy and had put up a good fight
I use a pair of long hemostat the kind that lock. A pair of long handled side cutters. Reach down with hemos. Grab hook point and barb. With long handled cutters . Snip the hook close to fish , where the hook entered the fish. Then pull rest of hook out, with the hemos. At least I feel that the fish has a chance. The more careful I am, the better chance for my releases. If the point is not showing. You must force the point through. It's not going out the way it came in. When the fish swallowed the hook. When lodged in the gills. I use my hemos grab the hook through the gills. Cut the line going in. Pulling hook out through the out side of gill plate.
I leave my hooks in the fish. I hate having to do it, because I can't believe its good for the fish. However, if I kill it trying to get the hook out, thats not good either.
If any of you know stackenem, talk to him. The guy is amazing at getting deep hooks out. He showed me how to do it.
I ha e heard people say that it doesn't hurt the fish, and others say it does hurt the fish. I don't ha e an answer with hard facts to back it up. I personally would rather get the hook out. But, I'm not saying that I haven't left hooks in fish. Dan Kimmel probably has a really good answer for this.
The hooks don't rust out or dissolve in any aspect at all. If the fish gets lucky. He will dislodge it from it's throat and swallow it. Where it can't be digested. and the fish useally dies. Soft baits don't dissolve or digest in the fish ether. The digestive system of the fish can't brake down the plastic, and the fish dies. Put your used soft baits in the boat with your used fishing line.
Old advice for bass from some fish biologists was if you had to leave a hook in, leave 6 inches of line from the hook. For some reason it seemed like they were more successful at dislodging the hook. One thought was that the bass kept working at it until the ejected the hook. I doubt it worked all the time but some studies showed it worked significantly more often than close-clipping the line. I haven't seen that advice given lately though.
I haven't looked either because ever since I learned the Jeff Snyder deep hook retrieval method a long, long time ago, I pretty much never leave a deep hook in a bass.
It has been covered on here several times and there are two or three linked videos. If you can't find it by searching 'Jeff Snyder' on the forum I will find it again. Some new member recently shared a video and post about basically the same method. I think cameraguy did a video or images on how to do it a while back too.
Once you get used to it, it is usually pretty fast and easy for most single hooks in particular. You basically leave the line attached and slack, reach in through the nearest gill cover away from the hook point with long nosed pliers next to the bass cheek and grasp the line.
Pull the line carefully out the gill cover against the body and away from the gills. Pull out a nice loop you can easily take hold of with your hand. Then you pull on the line again, this time with your hand if necessary, to carefully pop the lure/hook out through that same gill opening next to the body (and away from the gills).
You can usually do it without hitting the soft part of the gills or with very minimal touching of the soft part. This inverts the hook bend so the outside of the bend now faces the bass mouth opening and the hook point is pointing down towards the stomach instead of back out towards the mouth.
You can usually reach into the mouth now with your pliers and pull the hook straight out without much pressure or pulling on the throat/stomach lining. If you have a big barb and can see it you can try to flatten it a little but I usually don't have to do that.
I try to keep bass from swallowing my bait, but when they do, this method works with very little impact on the bass in the majority of the cases. If you aren't too rusty or cold or haven't forgotten your long-nosed pliers, it can often be done in about the same amount of time you take a picture or two of the BIG ONE!
Once you learn it, you probably stop leaving hooks in bass, unless it has been totally swallowed and can't be seen at all. Though I've had some success gently and steadily pulling on the line until I can see the hook/bait and then use the same above method. They're most often hooked in the throat-stomach entrance, and a few times I've had the lure/hook just pop out of the stomach completely.