Spent 5 minutes with my S S Needle nose pliers Crushing down the barbs.

My finger and palm  skin & the fishes insides appreciate how fast I can release the deep throat & gill hooking's.

 

Late edit

I do have a old excellent way to find out if a unhooked badly bleeding fish will positively survive or die. Simple way.

 

I put him on the metal stringer. I push the METAL point thru the skin right at the lower tip of the lower jaw. Back into the water quickly. No handling or wiggling of him. Some are in shock and just gills moving.  15 or so minutes & they are revived and antsy to be released. Some were terrible gill bleeders. Their blood will coagulate in seconds. So the quick into the water works. In 40 ? years I have only had 3 ? become dinner. Some were bad gill wounds.

Do that here & you just might attract a gator.

The pike will sometimes checkout a stringer fish. Or a stringer of fish.