cut the hook off and let the bass swallow it. Depending what lake you are on it will rust out and pass naturally.

Sawyer.. I think that the rod you were using was the problem. Over time, you develop a feel for baits with a specific rod and reel that really help to prevent that. I had that problem when I first started fishing a Senko. I just couldn't feel the fish with the rod I was using. With better equipment and more being more familiar with the feel of a rod you will get a lot better at feeling the fish and setting the hook before the bait gets down into the crushers. Good luck
BD

Since I started working on them through the side, it is a rare occasion that I can not roll the hook out of a fishes gullet. It happens, they swallow it some times, that is what corn meal and peanut oil is for!

If you dontt feel comfortable trying to get it out with pliers get a good pair of snips and cut hook below the eye as much as u csn then pull it out gently as u can.

I learned my hooksets from FatCat Newton.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OtZDwI34cOw&ab_channel=FatCatNewton

in case you havent watched fatcat being interviewed by a local reporter during the classic

My wife throat hooks a lot of fish so I finally “came up” with a tool that will remove a hook in just a couple of seconds. I just modified a regular $6 hook “grabber” from Academy. I have used it for years and it has worked every time except once. It even works on ones where you just see the shank of the hook. I have included some photos. The first thing you have to do is push out the pin in the handle, circled in red. I just used a nail punch. It comes out very easily. Once you do that, everything will slide out the end. There is a spring in there too. There are 2 small notches at the end of the grabber that are the same size. You now have to “cut a V notch” in one of the small notches. I used a small cutting wheel on a Harborfreight rotary tool that looks like a Dremel. Do not cut the notch longer than 5/8” long. You also have to “lengthen” the 2 holes by the handle. I used a grinding bit that looks similar to a drill bit. A drill bit may actually work. Make the holes longer towards the handle. It is circled in the photo. Now you just have to reinstall the spring, the “long hook piece” and the handle. Reinstall the pin and you are ready to use the hook remover. I had to go through 2 different “prototypes” before I got the correct measurements to use. It took me about 10 minutes to modify everything.
To use the “tool”, grab the hook with the small notch towards the shaft of the hook, squeeze the handle slightly so the hook cannot slip off, push the tool down as far as you can towards the bend of the hook, then push down while quickly squeezing the handle. The hook will automatically “flip” upside down with the point of the hook pointing downward. The fish should just pop off the hook. You can practice with a hook stuck in a piece of cardboard. I made one for my nephew and he said it works every time. I’m sorry the photos are so large, I didn’t know how to make them smaller.

Leave the hook in em and let em go especially if it is a good one. Folks kill way too many fish trying to perform surgery on the stupid fish. I have caught countless fish with hooks still in their gullets. They are much tougher than you think as long as you don't tear their gills trying to get a hook out.