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Posts: 1996
Location: Pelican Lake/Three Lakes Chain | I was on Pelican last night and had a fish inhale a TopRaider. None of the bait was visible in the fishes mouth, perfect I thought. When I got the fish in the net I found that the fish was too aggressive and had managed to get the rear treble through its gills. The trebles were interwoven through its gills while the front hook was in its mouth. I ended up cutting every hook on the bait, and working the hook back out of the gills, but it seemed like it took forever because of the precision work needed in the gill area. Whenever I felt the fish had been out of the water too long I would drop it back in the net bag for a couple minutes to "catch its breath." The fish never bled and seemed to release fairly strong (after about five minutes boatside).
This is the second fish that I have hooked like this out of the last twenty in the boat (both on topwater). Do any of you have any experience on fish hooked like this--what is your technique for getting the hooks out quickly without injuring the fish? I get a sick feeling every time I see one hooked like that, and really fear that the fish are seriously injured. |
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| Norm, I leave the fish in the net over the side of the boat, or put it in the live well and use that as an operating room. Then I put a glove on, and very delicately cut the hooks.
I have had 2 in my boat this year that had hooks in the gills, neither of them bled and both released strong. I always work on the hooks in the gills first because if the fish thrashes you don't want the hooks causing more damage.
Bottom line is there is not easy way to deal with it. You just have to have a good cutters and be very careful.
Congrats on the fish. God bless.
John Stellflue
Oneida Esox Guide Service
www.oneidaesox.com |
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Posts: 2691
Location: Pewaukee, Wisconsin | Norm, first thing I do it cut every hook off through the gills, then work through the mouth. I too do this in the water/net. We caught a 48.5 last night that was hooked with all three hooks on the back treble. I had to cut two of the three parts of the treble just to get the mouth open. Then removed the hooks from her. What a slob she was. We also boated a 38 inch fish. We have seen this fish before, now I got to hold her, very nice fish. |
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Posts: 57
Location: Winneconne, WI | I caught a 41" in Madison on opening day. It inhaled my Crane. We cut all the hooks and put it into the live well. After about 10 minutes, the fish relaxed it's mouth and the hooks were either all ready out or much easier to get at. Once back in the water, the fish swam away and gave us a fins up.
Brad |
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Posts: 4266
| CUT-CUT-CUT!!!
I do it to hooks that aren't even in the fish. That way there's less chance of me getting hooked.
I too like to use my livewell as an operating area. When you're alone, it can really be a bitch.
Usually if there is a hook in the gill area, I'll use jaw spreaders just to give me a better look, but I'll do the extraction from rear of the gillplate. With the mouth held open, you can spread the gill plate out and get a real good look at the area you want to work on. Hell, I would have cut the Top Raider in half if it would have made it easier. I use my mini bolt cutters to cut the hooks, but then I do the extraction with some long, fine, needlenose pliers that I got in a kit at Sears. It has six small needlenose and cutters and pliers with real long handles and it comes in handy for just such predicaments. Access through the back of the gill and spread them out as much as you can without tearing anything.
Usually after such an operation, I'll leave the fish in the livewell with the aerator running for 15 min-a half hour until she looks stable and I'm sure there is no bleeding.
But sometimes no matter how hard we try, we are going to lose one. It's the nature of the beast. Large aggressive fish and lures with multiple trebles.....it's bound to happen sooner or later. Just be prepared as best as you can.
Beav |
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Posts: 1996
Location: Pelican Lake/Three Lakes Chain | Well guys your making me feel a little better about the fish, the only difference between your advice and what I did, is I worked on the fish with its head out of the water (and like I said, dropped it back in to reoxygenate every half minute or so) I just couldn't get at the hooks when the fish was in the water, every time I tried, it thrashed more and I was fearful of the fish doing more damage to itself. I did let the fish recupe in my livewell for about ten minutes before release. All I have to say is thank God for Knipex cutters- they make multiple cuttings with one hand very easy.
Beav--I never thought about cutting the bait in half, not a bad idea. That would have been awfully hard for me to do on this one though. That TopRaider has put over 30 fish in the boat for me including 7 (three over 40) this year. |
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Posts: 2691
Location: Pewaukee, Wisconsin | Knipex cutters rule !!! |
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Posts: 3518
Location: north central wisconsin | I've noticed that with topraiders as well, as I have had some of the most difficult unhooking sessions with these lures. On a recent outing, I had to cut the back hook off three times. It seems like there are ceretain nights that the fish simply inhale the bait every time. I've also noticed that I cut alot more hooks on the lake we fish in Canada for some reason, and my partners the same. One thing I do is try to reach in and cut the main shaft of the hook if I possibly can(knipex will do it) and pull the whole thing out the bottom of the gill(had a 42" jackpot fish two days ago the had the middle hook engulfed). Otherwise, just what you did, is the only thing you can do really. By getting ther middle hook undone first sometimes loosens up the rear gillhooked one so you can back it up a bit. Also when you replace the hook on the back of the tr, make sure you split ring it(I upsize it to the size of the supertr hook) you have two trebles facing down and one up. Better to have two hooks able to hook the bottom jaw, than two on the upper. |
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Posts: 1936
Location: Eau Claire, WI | Norm,
Sounds like you did a great job... We all get these from time to time and each one is a little bit different. I guess the key points that others can learn from.
1. Take your time and be careful.
2. Put the fishes head in the water every minute or so and give it a chance to breath before resuming the work that needs to be done.
Good post and good experiences and ideas being shared. |
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Posts: 2061
Location: Belgium | I had one last weekend. My buddy hooked a pike on a supershadrap and played it back to the boat. It was calm, lay on its side and I grabbed it behind the neck. It has hooked on the tail hook in the tip of the lower jaw. I grabbed it and all of a sudden it thrashes its hed. Needless to say I let go instantly but the front treble was swinging freely and it snagged in my hand with the pike still attached. It let go after a while and I cut the hook. I started to push the hook point through my skin (the distance between point of entry and point of exit was 1" so it was deep in my hand) but the hook was too blunt and I somehow lost consciousness for 30 seconds. Because I fell in the boat my spectacles fell overboard (I need them to see properly and definetely to drive a car). Well, when I regained consciousness we motored the boat back to the landing and someone brought me to a doctor and then to the hospital. By now I had the hook in my hand for 1.5 hours. It didn't take long to remove it, I never felt any pain (not even when I tried to push the hook through my skin). So I went fishing for the next two days. The problem was that I never use those thick galvanised hooks that are standard on the SSR and that they were blunt. It's kind of a funny sight to see a hook in your hand!  Well, I didn't see it coming nor did my fishing buddy. These things happen but it was not my favourite release but at least the pike was ok!
Edited by divani 6/27/2003 4:42 AM
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