Just read on another thread of a guy saying he cuts the hook on gut hooked fish (wanting to save there life instead of just ripping the hook out). I applaud him for that, I also used to do that, UNTIL I learned this a while back, saved hundreds of fish now.


Deep gut hooked fish. Some just pull hard, ripping the hook out and eventually killing the bass, even if it swims off. Cutting the line and leaving the hook in is bad for two reasons, you lose money, and the fish is not better off with it still stuck in his stomach.



Take the line out the side gill, lower opening, and pull down, it will pull the hook out and turn it around while doing so. Hooks that look too deep come up and out, believe it or not, so don't let that stop you from this technique.



See how the hooks starts to turn around?



Now reach down and grab the bend of the hook, and pull straight out.



Fish can now be released unharmed to be caught by you again in another year, being an even harder fighter and a pound to so heavier! How cool is that?

Good stuff.

Good job, thanks!

Thats an awesome post right there! Thanks for the info.

great illustration of how to do it.

cool info, glad you put it on here

Awesome post! Very good to know.

I've used this method many times and it almost always works. I've saved hundreds of fish

wont always work on little fish

True dat. Those little gills, on about 8" or smaller, are hard to turn it down and out with without tearing them out doing it. They probably make a tasty meal for the one pounders and up afterwards.

Good post thanks for the tip!

Great information. I'll be using it from now on.

I'll give it a shot. So basically pull the line through the lower gill, turn the hook and pull DOWN on the hook??

A guide showed me that trick a couple of years ago.

I've heard that Mountian Dew works good to stop gill bleeding. I have never tried it because i never remember to bring the mountian dew. Does that work?