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Posts: 93
Location: Minneapolis, MN | Cutting hooks is great but what do you do about the barbed end that remains in the fish?
I did a quick search and found two opposing views:
"Remember, cutting hooks can be faster than removing them with pliers, but it is critical to remove all the hook pieces. Pieces left in the fish can lead to infection and, potentially, death."
Tools and Traits for Properly Releasing Muskie?by?Tim Allard
"The part of the hook left in the fish will do far less damage then fighting with it
and keeping the fish out of the water to long. Just cut the hook off at the skin."
Lake St Clair Musky Fishing by Captain Steve Kunnath
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Posts: 2089
| Do the best you can with what you've got. Meaning, it's ideal to remove the small barbed piece, but not if it's going to do further damage or require the fish to be out of water any longer than necessary. Judgement call on the anglers part. Steve |
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Hook parts left in a fish are very likely to cause infections.
It isn't any different than leaving a piece of metal in your body.
When you cut hooks, you need to try to leave a big enough piece that you can grab it and pull it out with your hook removing tool.
JS |
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Posts: 313
Location: On your favorite spot | Furthermore, not a bad idea to take look when you catch a fish and see if there's any other hook marks or embedded pieces. Found a good size piece in the gill plate of a fish last year. Obviously when she was first caught the hook was stuck in there pretty good and cut, but by the time I caught her I was able to work the piece out with no problem. |
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Posts: 2687
Location: Hayward, WI | If you can get the piece out without damaging the fish severely I see no reason to leave any hook pieces in a fish. Like others said, a chunk of hook left in place is asking for an infection. Take them out if at all possible.
curleytail |
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Posts: 1348
Location: Pewaukee, WI | One more reason to convert to barbless hooks! I've done that with quite a few baits and have not lost that many fish as a result. |
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Posts: 1295
Location: WI | The ones I cut are usually all the way thru so the barbed end falls outside of the fish. |
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Posts: 2894
Location: Yahara River Chain | JKahler - 3/15/2008 3:15 PM
The ones I cut are usually all the way thru so the barbed end falls outside of the fish.
Yes I agree that many times when I cut the barbed point is on the outside of the fish and after the barb is gone the hook comes out and nothing is left in the fish. Its not like cutting the line and you are leaving the hook inside. |
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Posts: 2427
Location: Ft. Wayne Indiana | CUT CUT CUT, remove pieces if possible. Now it if is going to take you 4 minutes with the fish's head out of the water to get a small piece of hook out....well...leave it in because the amout of time out of the water will kill it. Try to get it all out. Like Steve said, do the best you can to get everything out of the fish. Have several different pair of cutters in the boat. I use my diagonal cable cutters about 50% of the time, use my long handled Knipex about 50%. I also have two pieces of aluminum tube that I put over the handles of the Knipex to get the really deep hooks...this obviously takes two people...one to hold the fish, one to cut as with the alum. handles, it take two hands since the handles are spead so far apart.
Here is a photo of the diagonal cutters, these things ROCK!!!
Attachments
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 cutters.jpg (16KB - 122 downloads)
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Posts: 20248
Location: oswego, il | I have cut lots of hooks. Get the lure out of the net before attempting to get the pieces out. Many times we are cutting hooks that have a fishes mouth clamped shut or tangled so bad in the net you can't even get to the fishe's mouth. I have not encountered a hook piece I could not remove easily after the lure was out of the net. I do suppose it could happen, just not seen it. |
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Posts: 170
Location: Chicagoland | What do you guys use as hook cutters? I am looking into buying a pair, I mean, are there any common tools in a workbench that will do the trick? |
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Posts: 170
Location: Chicagoland | What do you guys use as hook cutters? I am looking into buying a pair, I mean, are there any common tools in a workbench that will do the trick?  |
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Location: Illinois | No, nothing dependable enough on your average workbench, Live2fish. Word of advice: spare no expense with regards to release tools, you will be happy in the long run! What works best and is widely used by true sportsmen are Knipex cutters.
They are available at purchase at the major musky shops online. Find one, buy one- you'll be glad you did!
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Posts: 20248
Location: oswego, il | This is the pari to get. Expensive but if you save one fish, it's pennies compared to the cost of replacing that fish.
http://www.muskyshop.com/modules/cart/products.php/nav_id/28/page/1...
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| Knipex are the way to go, and put some sort of lanyard on them, either tied to a cleat or a float. $80 a set and they save fishes lives. I have never left hooks in a fish, I'm sure there are cases where it has to be done. Probably 80% of the time the cutters are used to get the bait, the net and the fish separated. I have cut lots of hooks that were never even in the fish at all, just wadded up in the netting and wanted to get the bait free faster. Carrying cutters also means carry spare hooks! Nothing worse than writing off a productive bait when you don't have matching hooks to replace cut one with. Same with rings, we cut these a lot too. If you fish pike, bring them too. Cutters also help if you ever wind up hooked yourself, luckily never been there either. |
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Posts: 720
| Like Hulbert says CUT,CUT,CUT. Nothing is more harmful than a fish out of water. I also like what Dacron says about cutting hooks tangled in the net. It will make a release that much quicker. Hooks are nothing to replace and the cost of them is very slight. Certainly, not worth any musky.
Dave
Edited by Hunter4 3/17/2008 10:47 AM
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Posts: 1247
Location: On the Niagara River in Buffalo, NY | Knipex Mini Bolt Cutters at $38.50 http://www.crawfordtools.com/knipex_bolt_cutters.html |
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| It is a simple release with nearly all of my fish when the barbs are pinched; and ALL of my barbs are pinched. The only difficult release is when the brute is hooked with three trebles and they're at odds with one another. Now imagine how tough a release would be in that case when those three hooks are barbed. Pinching is a quick and simple way to make your life -and your Musky's life- easier. With what we know now, I think it is almost inexcusable not to go barbless. |
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Posts: 3907
| I've fished with Mr. Al Warner (EssoxManiac) a bunch and he pinches all his barbs, no matter what. Never once saw him lose a fish. Netted a couple nice mid-40" for him, one of which he jerked from heavy timber. Another he brought in during wind such that I had to fire up the gas motor to keep the rollers from swamping my small but proud alum 14'er. He played the fish while the boat plowed, jumped and pounded against the waves. Wind came come up fast, eh Al?
Best part - in the excitement of just releasing a fat mid 40"s, he sorta sat on the Stan Durst custom painted Lil Earnie that we had just rmoved from the same fish. No barbs, no problem.
*I should mention that Al seems to be unaffected by horrid weather conditions. I've seen him fish in windy low 40*s. I was layered in wool covered with a tight Gortex shell, excellent boots. And after just 4 hours I was cold. He was dressed like he was going to a Jimmy Buffet concert: light rubber rain shell, faded jeans and t-shirt, and soaked canvas tennies with not just no laces, but also no socks. I think he might be a robot.
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Posts: 93
Location: Minneapolis, MN | I thought removing cut hook parts from the fish was a no-brainer. But I've seen videos and shows where seasoned pros are cutting and releasing deeply hooked fish without pulling out the barbed end. I was surprised to see this. |
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| I use a tool called the D-Barb. It is a long narrow hook cutter designed to cut off the barb - it has a magnet that holds the barb for removal. Then you back out the rest of the hook. I got it from D-Barb.com - 20 bucks. They are a bit small for heavier hooks but work great on a lot of smaller hooks on 6" Jakes, Shallow Raiders, etc. and the occasional circle hook that might get gulped if given too much time. |
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Posts: 2754
Location: Mauston, Wisconsin | Ranger- yeah that muskie weather/wind came on fast. But it was perfect crashing into that steep shoreline break. Hee hee, fish the wind! Heck, it's been way too long, we need to get linked up on another muskie expedition. Send me a PM w/ your phone #.
Have fun!
Al |
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Posts: 373
Location: Browerville, Minnesota | Thanks for the link Larry. Just ordered a pair for myself and it was CHEAP!!!
Edited by Manta18 3/24/2008 8:43 AM
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