dehook or not to dehook?

[Brett1907]

Kevs post n the turtles got me to thinking. If a hook is deep in the fishes mouth, and it would be traumatic to remove it, is it ok to leave the hook in? I ask this as I saw a program a coupleof weeks agowhere the guy said it kills the fish. Now, he was talking about grey nurse sharks.

The guy was a diver/filmaker and was diving looking for sharks. They came across this grey nurse with a hook in its mouth. They fed a rope down from the boat which he used to loop it around the shark and they hauled it up to the surface. Once up there they removed it and then let the shark go. The whole process (rope taught over the gills and a long time out of the water) seemed far worse then pulling the shark close to a boat and cutting the line to let it free.

So I ask, do I cut the line and leave the hook... or risk so mach damage to the fish removing the hook that it may not recover? Any opinions, or even factual comments would be greatly appreciated as any fish I release I hope tocatch again someday.

Brett

[aussiefool]

Mate, if i'm not keeping the fish and it has swallowed the hook then I always cut the line as close to the hook as poss. I don't use s/s hooks and they should rust out in a few days, so the so called experts tell me any way.

[choppa]

brett,, this is an easy one,,,,leave the hook,,

ALL hooks rust out in a very quick time,,,staino's do too,, but take a tad longer,,a report was conducted by dpi&f and the results showed that the fish suffered no additional damage from cutting the hook,,, and when you weigh up the costs,,, its bugger all

to clarify the staino comment,,,its got something to do with the grade of steel thats used to make em,,,,stainless steel is not rust proof,,,its as its name implies,,,stainless

i've sen many a fisho go to great lengths removing a hook,,,then release the fish to watch it float away,,,,makes me happy they didn't decide on a different on a proffession early on in there lives,,

ooops some did

choppa

[Noelm]

Hey do not be too sure about how long a hook lasts, regardless of what the "experts" say, when something like this comes up, I always do my own "tests", a cheapo hook will last for ages in salt water! try it, next time you are fishing take home some water, or, if you live on the water just leave one submerged and see how long it takes to "disolve" I have seen TV shows where people get ,say, a Trout in fresh water and say a hook will be gone by tomorrow, not a hope in hell, but in saying that, I feel that a hook left in a fish will do far less harm than "surgery" to remove a 2 cent hook.

[Freeeedom]

I was always amused when Rex Hunt would leave a hook in a fish saying 'It will be gone by tomorrow'. Who does he think he's kidding. Although a hook will slowly corrode under the action of the salt water and secretions from the damaged tissues of the fish, the main method by which the hook is removed is by ulceration of the tissues surrounding the hook due to infection, so that the hook eventually falls out (much as a splinter under the skin will ulcerate out in a few days). I once caught a tailor which had a set of 4 x 4/0 hooks ulcerating out of its arse end. It had obviously swallowed the bait and cut off the line and the rig had passed through its digestive system until it came to the end which was too narrow for it to pass through. The tissue around its arse hole was ulcerating and the rig was half out when I caught it. This rig must have been inside the fish for at least a few days (digestion is much slower in cold blooded animals than in warm blooded ones) yet the hooks were almost as good as new, with hardly any corrosion at that stage, and they weren't stainless hooks.
I also get annoyed when Rex Hunt releases fish by jerking on the line until it breaks - this will cause more damage to the fish reducing its chance of survival. I'm with aussiefool - cut the line as close as possible to the hook and release the fish gently.
Cheers Freeeedom

[bidkev]

Hey do not be too sure about how long a hook lasts, regardless of what the "experts" say, when something like this comes up, I always do my own "tests", a cheapo hook will last for ages in salt water! try it, next time you are fishing take home some water, or, if you live on the water just leave one submerged and see how long it takes to "disolve" I have seen TV shows where people get ,say, a Trout in fresh water and say a hook will be gone by tomorrow, not a hope in hell, but in saying that, I feel that a hook left in a fish will do far less harm than "surgery" to remove a 2 cent hook.

That's true mate, but it isn't just the salt water that dissolves the hook. An article I read some years ago stated that a hook will dissolve a lot quicker the further it is down a fish's throat or gut. I can't remeber the full details but it had something to do with nature endowing animals/fish with "natural chemicals" in order to expel/dissolve foreign bodies in the system.

kev

[blaze]

also think about a splinter or such object in your own body, if not removed there will be a slight infection around the imediate area and the splinter will come out by itself, most come out within a week. Had a lot of timber and steel splinters over the time and find thats the way with most so my thoughts are that is how most fish hooks come out.
cheers
blaze

[Poodroo]

If I knew the hook was going to do serious damage by removing it I would leave it. The chances of survival with a hook rusting away is 100% better than ripping out it's gills by removing it I think.(If it was a grinner then I would remove the hook gills and all if I had to) . For this reason I don't use stainless hooks anymore like I used to.

Poodroo

[tigermullet]

Generally I prefer to lose the hook by cutting the line as close as possible to the hook rather than cause the fish more distress - agree with Poodroo.

During the bream season I always use stainless steel hooks with the barb crushed. Not only does this make de hooking easier for myself and the fish it also increases the catch rate.

If attention is paid most of the fish will be caught in the lip and not in the gills or gut. Maybe only one in a hundred will be badly hooked and if they are to be released I hope that by using a crushed barb it will be a lot easier for the fish to get rid of it.

[Volvo]

>No stainless hooks,!! and think these hooks should be banned far as this little vegymite is concerned..
And regarding the question whether to remove or not remove a hook if its been swollowed too far or pose a threat to Fish's survival if Fish is to be released then #i would prefer even the most expensive hook to be lost rather than think the Fish may die in the process of removing the hook...
Chance to grow fill the plate another day ..
Cheers

[imnotoriginal]

I think it's worth mentioning the benefits of using circle hooks here. I have used them before and every time I've brought a fish in it has been hooked in the corner of the mouth. They certainly aren't viable for all applications (they require some chnages in how you rig baits) but I sure do like using them when fishing heavier baits. There's a lot of info out there about them, definitely worth looking at.
Joel

[Squiggle]

>No stainless hooks,!! and think these hooks should be banned far as this little vegymite is concerned..
And regarding the question whether to remove or not remove a hook if its been swollowed too far or pose a threat to Fish's survival if Fish is to be released then #i would prefer even the most expensive hook to be lost rather than think the Fish may die in the process of removing the hook...
Chance to grow fill the plate another day ..
Cheers

I know of someone that was fined $200 the other day for having SS hooks in his tackle box while fishing...NSW

[DaMaGe]

Cut the line, leave the hook, place him in the water and give him a few words of encouragement to grow bigger after spitting out my hook.
It's just better that we all believe that the hook is removed, or rusted in a few days.

P.S - Man has never been on the moon, ever!!

[S.S.]

An estuary cod a friend had caught swallowed the hook so he cut the line close to the hook and released it into the livewell of his boat.
At the end of the couple of hours fishing, he looked in the live well and found the hook at the bottom of the live well. The fish had already got rid of it in that short amount of time.
He ended up having the cod for dinner but it was interesting to see that the fish got rid of the hook.
(and yes, he was in Queensland so he was allowed to keep the cod )

[gone_fishing]

i personally cut the line as close to the hook if i belive it wont come out easy told the hooks perish in a couple days
hooks are cheap