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Remove Hooks from Deep-Hooked Fish With Minimal Harm



It’s an unfortunate occurrence for all anglers – sometimes fish swallow the bait resulting in your hook point being buried deep in the gullet with little chance of safe removal through conventional means. We owe the fish and resource our best effort at clean extraction.

The safest and most expedient method for a clean removal is rolling the hook backward via needle nose entry through the gills. Wired2Fish’s Mitch Anderson demonstrates the procedure that easily removes the deepest hooks with little tear or damage to the fish beyond the initial hookset and fight. Let ’em go to grow and fight another day with a high probability of survival!

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29 Comments

  1. Nice technique! My dad (and his) always carried a "disgorger", a red plastic stick with two slotted, bulbous ends (one large, one small) for removing deep hooks. It worked well for them, but I've never been able to master the thing.

  2. I’ve used a similar method for many years. The main difference is that I use my fingers to go up through the gills and grab the hook. I am able to turn the hook, aiming the top of the hook back through the gills. I can then grab the curve of the hook and pull towards the mouth, and the hook comes out very easily. I feel that I have more control using my fingers instead of pliers. JMHO.

  3. If the hook goes through the esophagus you can cut the line and pull the hook out backwards so the eye of the hook passes through the esophagus rather than the barb. This works great as well and leaves the fish with minimal damage as long as the eye of the hook isn’t abnormally large

  4. Great fishing tip that everyone should learn whether you're catch and release or putting them on a plate. Eventually you'll get one like this and it might but be within legal keep limits, so the best option is to do as little harm as possible. Even for the ones you want to keep, we're still trying to be humane

  5. This is so nice to see. Once I gut hooked a beautiful turtle. I tried for a very long time to save it, but couldn't. It kinda ruined the sport for me for quite a while.

  6. Im gonna be honest here when i was young dumb and full of cum i left alot of bass gutted. Now i have caught bass with a hook in there gut and i help them its a great feeling

  7. This comment is posted on behalf of fish everywhere: Imagine the pain and terror a fish experiences when a needle-sharp hook rips into its flesh; then the agonizing struggle for its life as it frantically swims to get free. Next, imagine a fisherman eating a juicy cheeseburger when suddenly a treble hook (hidden in the burger) rips into his cheek and he's yanked out of his chair, then lifted to the ceiling with his entire body weight supported by the hook in his jaw. Now, that's a video worth watching! Happy Fishing, everyone!

  8. A pair of slim forceps like nurses use is super helpful in getting hooks out of smaller gut hooked fish and larger ones too! It can really help save them and I always carry them.

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