Fish swallowed my hook, now what?

[pulleye16]

I've been fishing more and more lakes now days that have a restricted slot limit on walleyes. My prefered way of fishing for eyes has always been lingy riggin, which of course allows the fish to "take" the bait, sometimes swallowing my hook. What do you do when a fish swallows your hook....and you have to release it?

1)Take a second or two to try and free the hook, and if not, just cut the line.

2) If swallowed, just immediately cut the line.

3) Take time to get the hook out

4)????????

With more and more lakes going to restricted slot limits, has the DNR or independant groups done any studies on this? Is a hook left in the fish better then cutting away at it to free it out?

[LegattoAD]

I've always been told that cutting the line at the hook eye, or as close as you can get to it, is the best way to deal with a gut hooked fish that you don't plan on keeping as the acids and what-not would eat away at the hook and over time it would no longer be an issue. I guess in that regard it's not any different from having your line break.

I'm still not sure how much that improves survival rates, but it beats (IMHO) the alternative of surely killing the fish, getting blood all over you and your boat, and maybe wrecking the bait that you were trying to save to begin with.

[hydro]

For an interesting read on this subject, check out the Northern Pike forum. There is reference to a study in Wisconsin that actually tracked fish that had been gut hooked and subsequently released with the hook left in. Nearly all died shortly afterwards. Based on that information, you can do whatever feels right for you, since the fish is a goner anyway.

[Ed Carlson]

I've been fishing more and more lakes now days that have a restricted slot limit on walleyes. My prefered way of fishing for eyes has always been lingy riggin, which of course allows the fish to "take" the bait, sometimes swallowing my hook. What do you do when a fish swallows your hook....and you have to release it?

1)Take a second or two to try and free the hook, and if not, just cut the line.

2) If swallowed, just immediately cut the line.

3) Take time to get the hook out

4)????????

With more and more lakes going to restricted slot limits, has the DNR or independant groups done any studies on this? Is a hook left in the fish better then cutting away at it to free it out?

Or....just switch to a circle hook on your Lindy rigs..(Size up 1 size from the hook your now using)..it works extremely well.

They have a high percentage hook up rate for walleye in particular....and "0"-Gut hooked fish.

[mainbutter]

Ed's got a great suggestion there I've never tried circle hooks for walleyes, but then again I've never really lindy rigged much for them either.

[matthothand]

If you can see the eye of the hook and the fish is big enough you can use hemostats through the gills to retrieve the hook in most instances.

[Acemac]

barbless if you have this issue.

[Brad B]

I agree with Ed. Switch to circle hooks. the one thing you will need to do is relearn the hook set. with circle hooks you don't set the hook like you normally do with J-style hooks. you just start to reel in and the hook will set it self in the corner of the fishes mouth. I have switched to circles for bluegills and out of 100 fish caught I only had maybe 4 or 5 that swallowed the hook and got gut hooked. had I used regular j hooks that number would be higher. I am switching my walleye hooks to circles but I haven't went walleye fishing yet this year been to busy chasing catfish(with circle hooks of course). the one thing with circles you catch rate may go down alittle bit but you shouldn't have a issue with gut hooking.