This morning I caught a gorgeous largemouth on a spinnerbait.  The good news is he crushed it.  The bad news is that he engulfed it so much that the trailerhook got into his gills.  I didn't even touch the hook and the fish was bleeding.  I cut the spinnerbait off and released the fish with the spinnerbait in his mouth.  I knew if I touched the trailerhook the fish would bleed to death.  Minutes after releasing the fish I could see him breaking water trying to shake the spinnerbait loose.  Will this fish live?  Did I do the right thing?  I remember reading that bass have an acid in their bodies that will dissovle hooks.  It was a beautiful fish and the last thing I wanted to do was kill it.

Leaving that spinner bait in his gill will probably kill him. Next time cut the barb on the trailer hook off and slide the hook out.

Thanks for the input!  What type off tool would you use to clip the barb off?

all you need to do is just take pliers and smash the barb down and then it will slide right out.

my guess is you probably shouldn't have left an entire spinnerbait in its mouth  :-/

The chances of survival are probably slim, but this has happened to

most all of us at some point in time.

As others have suggested, crimping or cutting the barb is the best

thing to do. I use a device called the HookEater that cuts the barb.

The magnet removes the metal barb. Hooks do not rust out, so it

is best to remove the hook. There have been various articles written

about this based upon scientific studies. Noted biologist Ralph Manns

wrote a very good article on hook removal and why it should be done.

Even when we are fun fishing, we always have a livewell ready for

emergency situations. If you have a bleeder, place the fish in a cooled

livewell with either Catch And Release or Please Release Me. Both of these formulas can be put directly on the area that is bleeding as well. The ice and the chemicals will work together to stop the bleeding. After the bleeding stops, let fish recover for at least 30 minutes before releasing.

I like devices that can quickly cut the barb so that the fish does not

have to endure the stress of prolonged handling. The HookEater is

not a cheap tool, but IMO well worth the cost.

Here a link for more information on the HookEater.

http://www.hookeater.com

I keep pair of wire cutters to cut hooks, and a pair of needle nose pliers to remove hooks in my boat.  These are cheap and very available.

Dr T

Another reason not to use trailer hooks