While fishing with live bait there is considerably more risk of bass actually swallowing your bait however with today’s salt and scent impregnated soft plastics odds are still from time to time you will gut hook a bass, especially if you find yourself asleep at the reel. What’s a catch and release angler to do to better the odds of the bass surviving?
I have to admit that from time to time I have found myself distracted thinking about something else, yes, Asleep at the Reel and ended up gut hooking bass but I’m always prepared and very rarely have killed any bass. While I do waste hooks with my process the bass usually survives.
What I do is carry a pair of side cutters and strong needle nose pliers my boat, which are readily available. In the event that I do deep hook a bass I just reach down to the hook, either through the mouth or the gills with the side cutters and cut the hook below the barb and then just slide out the hook. I then put them on detention in the livewell, aka, “The Box” for several hours, then add some “Please Release Me” and continue to fish.
After several hours I check on him and they are almost always screaming and kicking to get out so I reach in, grab him and toss him back in the lake. The only drawback I can think of is when I release him, which can be quite a distance from where I caught him is he might be thinking “Where in the heck am I”
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Until Next Time, Good Luck and Tight Lines To Ya!
