Corpusfishing.com

[Mark]

You fight a good redfish for a while and finally get her in. You know you have to let her go as she is obviously over 28 inches and you have already used the tag but she has completely swallowed a mirrolure.

There is no way you are going get the lure out without killing her.

Do you through a dead fish back? If you kept her would it be illegal?

-Mark

[Jestnomen]

Yep throw it back in and let the crabs eat dinner.

[snakecan2]

take a pic and release.. other fishes need to eat as well..
otherwise you might have your pic taken and that gets pretty expensive..

cut the line and let her go.. they have a way of festering the hooks out real quick
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Fish and Hunt Baby.... so tight lines and clear scopes.

[cheeseburger]

You know, if you fill out your tag properly, you can go get another one at any place you buy your fishing license. It costs $6. Just turn in the one you used and get a second one. You don't have to mail them in anymore. Also applies to people that don't need a license (kids). If you have a child that is young enough to not need a license, you can go and purchase them a redfish tag for $6. Since my kids fish all the time, it comes in handy. This way you could have legally kept that old girl and had a nice fish fry for all your Corpusfishing.com buddies .

Cheeseburger
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You only live once. Do it right!

[ironmanstan]

Toss it back that would be the correct way for sure..............or....you could just look over your shoulder and for a minute live the life of an owtlaw fisherman . The thrill of the chase kinda thing, save it or toss it. Its dead you'll only have 1 of 3 stories to tell. I tossed it back, or I threw it in the cooler made it home an ate it, or I got caught by the man and paid a fine $$$$. hoo-ya
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I LIKE MINE FRIED.

[texmike]

Had the same question, asked game warden he said throw it back, or tag it. Do not keep it without a tag. That's from the man.
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Diplomacy is the art of saying "Nice doggie" until you can find a rock.
Will Rogers

[Lat22]

It sucks, but I'd throw it back every time.

[landlocked beachbum]

I have extracted deeply swallowed lures and hooks embedded in the throat with success by going in through the gill cover with needle nose pliers. If you are careful to not damage the gills themselves you can get the offering removed and you just may save the fish. All the talk about how fast hooks corrode away in saltwater leaves me shaking my head. It takes longer than days OR weeks, especially with zinc plated hooks. The long term survival of the fish is in serious doubt with a lure stuck in it's throat, so you might as well get the thing out of there and leave the fish to live or die, but AT LEAST it will be able to eat IF it lives through the ordeal.
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Dave


"The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has it's limits". Albert Einstein

[2salty4U]

If I had to release it anyway, I'd be tempted to cut the line and leave the lure in the fish's throat. What would the game warden (and the rest of you) say about that?

[robul]

throw it back.. I sent atleast 3 redfish on there way sunday with hooks very deep.. Cut the line close dont use stainless hooks they have a good chance of living..

[topdog15]

[landlocked beachbum]

My point exactly! A single hook in the throat is a whole different kettle of fish than a freeking hard lure with 2 trebles!!! Even IF the fish lives for a while it can't eat and will just starve.

I found this on the subject, which gets rid of the BS and speculation.


Hooks In or Out?
by Ralph Manns
Getting the word out on hook removal. Those of us who try to share the findings of scientific study with non-scientists are often frustrated. It seems very difficult to get the word out. We write about some important discovery, but find anglers, particularly the influential professional bass anglers, either don't read the new information or dismiss the new scientific insights because they conflict with beliefs the anglers already hold.
Professional and TV anglers aren't the only ones to be slow in learning and applying the latest "word" from scientists. Biologists, particularly state fisheries workers are too busy with their own assigned tasks to read all of the literature produced by other scientists. They continue to advise anglers to handle fish using outmoded procedures.

The recommendation that anglers cut the leader close to the hook when bass are "deep-hooked" is a good example. It is hard to find a publication on catch-and-release (C&R) techniques that doesn't pass on this poor advice. Yet, recent research on release techniques strongly suggests there is a better way.

Some years ago, Doug Hannon noted that most magazine articles and state publications recommend leaving hooks in bass and other fish to "rust" out. He claimed that hooks don't rust fast enough, even in salt water; and suggested that the shank of a hook pointing up the throat of a bass acts like a lever or trap door that prevents swallowing. Bass can die of starvation while waiting for normal body processes to eject the hook. Food coming down a bass' throat will bypass a hook-shank, IF the shank lies tightly against the side of the throat where the barb is lodged. However, if the shank protrudes into the throat, food coming down can push the shank across the esophagus, blocking it. Deep-hooked bass may even feel pain as the food rotates the barb and regurgitate the food. Recently, Hannon's observations have been scientifically verified. John Foster, Recreational Fisheries Coordinator for the Maryland Department of Natural Resources, studied striped bass at Chesapeake Bay. His researchers held throat-hooked stripers between 16- and 28-inches long for observation in half-strength seawater so that hooks had ample opportunity to rust away. Size 1/0 and 2/0 stainless steel, bronzed, nickel, tin and tin-cadmium hooks were hooked in the top of each fish's esophagus, with an 18-inch length of line connected to the hook.

After four months, 78 percent of the hooks were still imbedded. Cadmium coated hooks poisoned 20 percent of the fish, and production of these hooks has been stopped. Bronzed hooks were less likely (70%) to be retained than tin-cadmium (80%), nickel (83%), or stainless steel (100%) hooks.

In a second test, the line was clipped at the eye of the hook, as advised by most existing C&R guides. One-hundred percent of the stainless hooks were again retained, while 56 percent of tin, 76 percent of bronze, 84 percent of tin-cadmium, and 88 percent of nickel hooks remained. Fish mortality was greater when all line was trimmed. Foster theorized that the lengths of line hanging from a fish's mouth kept the hook-shank flat against the side of the esophagus and allowed food to pass. Without the line, food could move the hook and close the throat.

Hooks rusted slowly in stages, and the bend and barb became smaller very gradually. Stripers formed scar tissue around imbedded hook points, a typical reaction of body tissue to foreign matter. Foster noted, however, that once the tough scar tissue formed, hooks became more, not less, difficult to remove. Months after fish were hooked, infections sometimes developed around points, causing some deaths.

Based on his research, Foster recommended anglers carefully remove even deeply imbedded hooks. If the hook can not be removed, then it seems better to leave about 18 inches of line attached. Perhaps, someday, these findings will reach C&R anglers, the biologists who are researching C&R and publish C&R guidelines, and TV anglers who teach by their example.

Another good idea is to carry strong wire-cutting pliers. Cur off protruding barbs in the throat and the hook shank falls free easily.

Texas researchers recently compared the mortality of largemouth bass hooked with live bait and artificial lures. Their main finding: "there is no biological justification to regulate use of live bait to catch bass" has been widely publicized. Other findings may help anglers make appropriate adjustments in technique.

In two separate tests, largemouth bass in a private water were landed by TPWD anglers using Carolina-rigged scented plastic worms, crankbaits with multiple treble hooks, and live carp fished with either a Carolina rig or a float. To simulate normal fishing conditions, anglers with different levels of expertise were used.

While fishing with floats, anglers were instructed to delay hooksets until floats went completely under, simulating the way typical amateur anglers fish with unattended rods. Under all other conditions, anglers were to strike immediately upon feeling a hit. Captured bass were immediately examined to identify hook-related injuries. When bass were hooked deep in the throat, the line was cut and hook left in place. (TPWD did not identify whether the cut was made in the traditional way near the hook, or with line remaining outside the fish's mouth.) Bass were then kept in a large holding net over a 72-hour observation period to determine short-term mortality rates. Sixty bass were taken using each method. Tests were made in August, when water was warm and stress and mortality are normally high.

The average mortality under these worst-case conditions was 22 percent. Carolina rigs with scented worms caused the highest mortality, followed by live carp used under floats, crankbaits, and Carolina-rigged carp minnows.

TPWD biologists concluded that the timing of the hookset appeared more critical than the type of bait used in the determination of short-term death rates. The data show bass hooked in the throat had poor survival odds. Evidently, largemouth bass took both lures and live bait fully into their mouths almost immediately. The bass pros' advice to strike without delay is important to reduce fish mortality. Angling techniques that delay hooksets should be avoided.

Carolina-rig and worm combos likely killed more fish because the loose-floating leader prevented immediate detection of some strikes and flavored worms are easily swallowed or held in the back of a bass' mouth. Eighteen percent of bass taken on rigs with worms were throat-hooked.

In contrast, Carolina rigs with live bait and live baits under floats caused less mortality, likely because live preyfish are often held in a bass' mouth for a few seconds, killed, and turned to be swallowed headfirst. This gives anglers a few seconds more to detect hits before baits are ingested. The decision to delay hits when live baits were used with floats and to strike immediately with Carolina-rigged baits likely caused the different mortality rates of these two techniques. Nevertheless, 10 percent of bass hooked on Carolina-rigged live baits were hooked in the esophagus.

It is no surprise that crankbaits are less likely to be swallowed, as their artificial nature is immediately detectable to fish. When fisheries are managed primarily for C&R or trophy bass production, it may be appropriate to ban use of multiple rods to reduce delayed hooksets, or to limit lures to items unlikely to be swallowed. In any case, C&R sportsmen will want to avoid techniques that delay hooksets, like fishing with unattended rods.

The TPWD study showed that bass hooked in the tongue and esophagus had about a 50 percent chance of dying, while bass hooked in the lips mouth, jaw, roof of mouth had 25 percent or less mortality. Interestingly, only 12.5 percent of gill hooked fish died. This finding suggests anglers who kill and eat or mount gill-damaged bass because "they are unlikely to live" are in error.

TPWD also compared the survival of bass when they were bleeding and when leaders were cut and hooks left in the fish. Removing hooks improved bass survival when bass were not bleeding. But there was little difference in mortality when bass were bleeding or hooks were left in the fish.

Anglers practicing C&R rather than to eat bass might note these findings. Fish caught with only superficial wounds are likely to survive release. Small, deeply-hooked and bleeding bass likely should be eaten, rather than released to die later. But lunker bass are so valuable that they should be immediately released, even if they are bleeding or deeply-hooked. Remove the hook if posible. Leave an 18-inch leader if you can not remove the hook.
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Dave


"The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has it's limits". Albert Einstein

[topdog15]

a researcher/professor at TAMUCC conducted a study on deep hooked speckled trout and their survival rates when released. The study showed that trout are tougher than we think and most survived. redfish probably have similar, if not higher, survival rates. even if the fish doesn't survive, the law says throw the fish back. nothing in nature goes to waste. crabs gotta eat too.
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"Ya'll must eat a lot of fish"

[outdooraggie]

interesting information that every angler needs to keep up-to-date on. Thanks for the post. I myself held the belief that hooks need to be left in the fish, and that a deeply hooked fish will die anyway. This changes things, at least in my mind.
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Hunt. Fish. Gig 'em!

[landlocked beachbum]

My main point was to cast some light on the crap about hooks "dissolving" or rusting away in days.

Baloney!!!!

That really cool thread about the "Nicaragua" should tell everyone what they need to know on the subject. It's made from steel and has been sitting in saltwater for almost 100 years and it's still there......................................

It was an informative read though.
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Dave


"The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has it's limits". Albert Einstein