So i was fishing in a tourney today and caught a fish with a 1/8oz spot removal shakey head. The fish swallowed the hook and my partner told me to cut the line and leave it in there instead of trying to take it out. I was going to bring it up at the weight in and see if anyone was comfortable in removing the hook. Well i totally forgot and released the fish. Did i just doom the fish to death? It only swallowed the point of the hook and the rest was in his mouth, is there some way the fish will be able to dislodge it himself?

Thanks

Joe

Not necessarily a death sentence, I have caught plenty of fish with hooks in their gullet. Or even "expelling" it out the other end.

Not necessarily a death sentence, I have caught plenty of fish with hooks in their gullet. Or even "expelling" it out the other end.

LMAO..

what the crankbait.

whats this line hanging out there start pulling it in and i dont think this trout had a good week but wow .

be careful gutting out trout, aaaaaaaaaaaaa sweet a J7,

The fish certainly has a much better chance of surviving with the hook removed. Here's how to remove a hook from a gut-hooked fish:

It very well may die, might live too though, but every fish you caught that day has a chance of dying and a chance of living, it's part of the game.

Not necessarily a death sentence, I have caught plenty of fish with hooks in their gullet. Or even "expelling" it out the other end.

i'm glad you brought up the "expelling" end of this! iv'e caught 2 bass in the past..one with a corroded hook eye stickin out, and another with the plastic worm/wide gap hook

trying to exit! Its amazing that a hook would pass through the entire digestive system with no harm to the bass.

Well....now, I wouldn't jump to that conclusion. How many dead bass have you caught with hooks that have torn up their innards?

Its only one fish I wouldn't worry about it too much. The only thing that would bother me is I would rather put it out of its misery and onto the kitchen table instead of letting it die slowly getting it guts torn apart.

Well....now, I wouldn't jump to that conclusion. How many dead bass have you caught with hooks that have torn up their innards?

cant say that i have, id remember if i caught a dead bass... if i did catch a dead bass i might not go fishing there anymore and i wouldn't tell to many people about it either....

get what you mean though, next time i get a trout with something hanging out its... ill make sure to gut it open nicer and see if it did create much for inner damage... kinda surprising how some of that stuff makes it threw to begin with... i guess if it did do damage it wouldn't be much different from gut shooting a deer, its going to take a while but its going to die.

Thank you Glenn for posting that link.

A couple of years ago, I was fishing from bank and snagged some line that was out in the water. I started pulling the line in (about 150') when I discovered that there was a bass on the other end. It was about 10" or 11" and so skinny you could feel your fingers through his belly. I looked down his mouth and he had a hook in his gullet that was all rusted around the entry. I took the hook out and tossed him back in the water. He floated around for about 20 minutes and then slowly swam off.

The lesson here is that bass are hardy creatures and can take more abuse than we sometimes think.

I have caught them with rusty lures hanging in their mouths, and found nasty old jigs inside their stomachs. There was even a pike up on the Little Mo. River who we saw for two years swimming around with a spinnerbait hanging from his mouth. They can take a lot. I would give your fish a 50/50 shot at dying as a result of ingesting your hook. He could very well have been caught and kept by the next boat to come along. I wouldn't lose sleep over it, there are worse things you can do in life than killing a fish; like overseasoning filets or frying them in grease that isn't up to proper temperature. If you fish long enough, you will make plenty of mistakes, many worse than this one.

I sentenced one to death last week. Had a decent mess of crappies in the livewell when a 1.75 lb bass decided to bite the minnie, except he swallowed the small jig waaaay down. I decided that he was getting fried up right along with the crappies, rather than risk him dying later.

I have never kept or ate a bass, but I must say, it was rather tasty and neither me nor my wife could tell the difference between the bass and crappie filets. I hate to say it but there may be a few more that make our table.

I hooked one over the weekend and got him in the eye. I pulled the hook out and his eye was still in place and attached, but clouded over. I threw him back. I did that instead of keeping it to eat, because I've caught a bass before that only had one eye. The other socket was empty. It was creepy.....