FoldCatOne, that sounds right. i guess the intent for the tag is to keep the fish that is just over the size limit and still good to eat or to bring one in for a tournament.

catch, photo, and release for me only unless its like a state record then i want to tag it and mount it on the wall.

Release, to much blood.

how bout if a red fish swallows a circle dont ask me how it just did should i release it the or kept it

Tags were issued once the recovery occured so people could keep record fish and trophy mounts. Now that fiberglass replicas are the way to go and the state record is close to 60lbs, there is little reason to keep a big red. They are terrible to eat, and I like kingfish and amberjacks!

Release it.

would it die?

It's legal to keep a bull red by using your tag. If you want to, by all means do it. As for me, I release all oversize because they are just to much trouble to clean. My freezer has a few packages of 20 to 24" red fillets that taste great and aren't hard to clean. For those of you that keep the bulls, how do you cook them? Blackened, baked, grilled, etc.?

By the way, in my younger days, when I targeted bulls, I've had them swallow circle hooks also. I just cut the leader and sent them on their way. I don't know if they made it or not.

I think the bulls are hard to clean. I caught a 42" red and it was hard to fillet. I won't do it again. Not worth the trouble. I'd rather put it back and let them continue to breed.

The hook will rust out and they can pass the line no problem. You WILL kill them if you keep them. If you dont handle them to much before getting them back in the water they will be just fine. Cut the line/leader at the mouth and let them swim away.

I have never had a fish get gut hooked when using a circle hook. You may have been using an offset octopus hook.

Well,, I didn't catch any octopus! They were 14/0 circles bought mostly from Cut Rate (now FTU) and a few from WallyWorld. Honestly, my gut hooked ratio was the same with circles or straight shank. Don't know why because I had always heard circles didn't gut hook. I've always thought it was perhaps the fact that I was using heavy spider weights to hold bottom and a tight drag on my Penn reels. Maybe there was more of a hook set than there should have been with the rod in a rod holder?

this leader was given to me down at the pier. i pretty sure it a circle hook that my 46' red bull sallow

Everyone needs to try one, just to experience cleaning it....chuckle. I've cleaned a few and they were fine, but it is WORK ! Not as much edible meat there as one would think. Dont EVEN try using an electric knife, either. It will be useless.

Once you get rid of the red meat, it's not bad, cooked on the grill. (There's a recipe on my site, below that works well for them.) Never saw had any worms in the few I've cleaned.

But I do prefer them to be about 22 inches for grilling.

I use a #12 circle hook for bull reds and every one has been hooked on the side of mouth. Just dont wait too long to set it, and it'll be fine.