stiatska

Hi my name is Joe and I am new to this forum . I fish a local , private 7 acre farm pond that is loaded , I've caught over 30 bass there this week , mostly in the 2 pound range with a few closer to 5 or 6 pounds (and a couple that were smaller than the bait) . Anyway , the bass in this pond love plastic crawdads and flukes . the problem is they tend to love 'em a bit too much , they swallow them right down and I get a gut hook . If I try to set the hook right away I usually take it from there mouths but any delay , even slight , results in the gut hook . When I get a gut hook I usually give a brief effort to removal but most of the time I end up cutting as much of the hook out as possible and hope that it rusts and rejects out of the fish ...I'd like to catch the fish again in a few years . My question is if anyone has suggestions on how to avoid gut hooking and what you do when you do get a gut hook ? ??? ???