i'm not a complete idiot when it comes to getting fish off but i'm always looking for tips from more experienced anglers.

mainly gut hooks but another example earlier this year i nailed one of my biggest fish 5lb 130z with a really solid hookset burying the hook in the top of her mouth all through that fleshy part and out the top.  this thing just wouldn't come out.  i forgot to bring my pliers but i'm not sure they would have made much difference.  i was just ripping away trying to get it out until my hand was bleeding.  naturally during this my fishing partner is trash talking calling me a pansy and what not.  same thing i'd do to him.  so after about a minute with no success i dumped the fish back into the water then let him have a shot at it.  after a minute or two he finally managed to get the hook free doing the same thing i was.

unless i'm lucky enough to catch an 8-10lber which would have a good chance of being the yearly state record, i'd like to get the fish back into the water as quickly as possible and give someone else a chance at catching it again  

When I land a bigger fish like the one you mentioned and its hooked as good as the one you caught , I'll cut the barb from the hook and slide it on out. Less trauma for the fish.

When I land a bigger fish like the one you mentioned and its hooked as good as the one you caught , I'll cut the barb from the hook and slide it on out. Less trauma for the fish.

I do that alot with treble hooks. One time i had both hooks with all 3 barbs in the fishes mouth and it was locked shut because of that.I had to cut the hooks with a wire cuter, bend the barbs and remove that. That was a 3 doller crankbait so I did not care much. Anyways it gave me an excuse to go buy more tackle

But its pretty simple. Just twist the hook it came out and just play with it. If worse comes to worse close the barbs with pliers and put a new hook on.