If you catch and release when they swallow the hook...do you leave it in?

[MolBasser]

Leave the hook in and it's a mystery weather or not it will die.

Pull the hook out and it's a certainty that the fish will die.

This.

MolBasser

[Eager Beaver]

Hey Chris, that would be a sure fired way to get a ticket. They don't care if it will die. If it is to small you have to put them back. They always say the turtles have to eat too. The fish won't go to waste in nature. EB

[ChrisCarter]

never really done it, but i always wondered. Good info for later, haha.

[zrdc28]

When I am in the catch and release mode Just take a pair of needle nose pliers and flatten the barb on the hook, you can always get the hook out with the same pliers. If you know how to keep a constant pressure on the fish when you reel in you will loose very few. There are times that I have to take side cutters and cut the hook and then pull it out by the point or go in through the side gill to remove it.

[buckhavoc]

But i've always wondered what would law enforcement do if they caught you taking a fish home that swallowed a hook and died but was under the size limit? Would they shy away from it and let it go? Or fine you for not letting it float in the water?

I would imagine that it would depend on the law enforcer. I would say most of the time they would fine you! I could be wrong but some wouldn't understand. the senseable thing to do would beto let you go if you could prove that the fish suck down the hook.

[hookum]

I normally wait and see. If i can take the hook out safely i let it go. If its too far stuck in there, i put him back in the water and see what it does. If it swims away, i know he will be alright, if not, i put him in the cooler to go home.

But i've always wondered what would law enforcement do if they caught you taking a fish home that swallowed a hook and died but was under the size limit? Would they shy away from it and let it go? Or fine you for not letting it float in the water?

I've released plenty of fish that bleed and swam away fine. I actually hooked a good size bluegill 2 weeks ago through the eye, bleed a lot, and when i put him back in the water he seemed to cough more blood through his gills before he darted away. Stayed at the same spot for 5 more hours and never saw him surface to die. So i guess he made it.

My guess they would fine you since there money hungry....LOL

you also mention hooking the bluegill in the eye......I caught a crappie last year that had 1 eye,his bad eye was just black and like a skin or scale or something over it, weird looking , some mutation maybe Beats me.....yea we did let that one go.

[SoldierE7]

I asked the game warden the same question and he told me that he understood but the law is the law so I guess I would just say a quick word for the fish and keep at it...Thats if its going to die if not I cut my line and let it go...

[ronetone]

leave the hook and cut the line, fish have high acid content in them that will dissolve the hook over time. have seen big fish with hook outline in their stomach lining when cleaning but hook dissolved and just outline of were the hook was. the bigger the fish the higher chance of survival i'd assume

[Legato]

No size limit here, so no worries for me :D Plus, I practice the catch and keep policy. lol

[DENNIS WILLIS]

Cut the line as close to the hook as you can and he will be fine. I also hate to see fish go to waste, when deepsea fishing I could not count the Redsnapper we had to throw back and most would float or get ate by Dolphens, what a waste, I think they should change the way they do things like let you keep the fish till you reach your limit. The limit is so low now that it does not pay to charter a boat you can catch what you can keep on a party boat, sorry to get off the subject, but fishing in Fla. was a lots more fun in the old days.