So I was fishing today in a river with a small rooster tail and this little maybe 10 inch pike took it, but unfortunately it took it really really deep. It was hooked under the deep lower tendon and part of the gill. I struggled for 15 minutes trying to get the hook out to save the pike. Of course dipping him in for a breather as much as possible, but despite my best efforts, he was hooked to bad, his gills were to snagged up, he ended up dying unfortunately. Now to make things even sadder, the river I was in was a no eat area due to high PFAS levels. So I couldn’t use the little guy. Is there something I should’ve done better? He was very small for a pike which made things quite difficult, I did have Pliers, ones I’ve used to get hooks safely out of likes mouths on many occasions, but despite all my efforts, there was nothing I could do.

Sometimes, despite the best you can do even with specialized tools - the fish isn't going to make it. You just have to do the best you can and carry on.

 

I can relate to your disappointment.

Size aside, pickerel and pike are very fragile out of water, not nearly as hardy as the bass family.

I've spent 5 to 10 min reviving pike, and though they'd ultimately ramble off, I generally doubt that they're going to make it.

We'll just keep giving it our best shot, and after that it's up to Big Mama. 

 

Roger

10 inch pike?! Holy cow that’s incredibly small. I run into a lot of small pike when I’m fishing but that’s significantly smaller than I’ve ever seen.

2 minutes ago, gimruis said:

10 inch pike?! Holy cow that’s incredibly small. I run into a lot of small pike when I’m fishing but that’s significantly smaller than I’ve ever seen.

10-13” yeah he was a dink

Sometimes there really is nothing you can do to save a fish. I'm pretty sure all of us have experienced this at one point in time, it's unfortunately a part of the sport that we all wish we could prevent but we accept as inevitable if we fish long enough. 

 

You did the best you could and made a genuine effort to save the fish beyond what many others would have likely done. You should take pride in that and rest easy. 

 

One thing I do is when I know that I am strictly fishing catch and release that day I forgo treble hooks and use single hooks only and depending on the species I'll cut the barbs off the single hook as well.