Deep hooked perch

[DavyR]

I don't often use maggots as hookbait, but have now given up entirely, after deep-hooking several tiny perch - on 4 maggots on a No. 12! What do AN'ers do when faced with a small, deep-hooked fish:

 

a)Attempt to remove the hook

b)Cut the line and return

c)Kill the fish humanely

d)Something else I haven't thought of

 

Striking before the float has gone under is one way to avoid deep-hooking, or course, but on my local commercial this usually results in a missed bite, whatever the hookbait.

[edd]

i cut the line. not sure if its the right thing to do though

[dave n]

small fish can easily die if u attempt to disgorge them...I agree with Edd, cut the line.

Alternatively use larger hook baits that the smaller ones cannot get down their throats ie 2 or 3 maggots

[Alan Stubbs]

I'd like to hear Steve Burke's opinion on this.

IMO - and that of many others, he is THE perch man.

[J.K]

when you say deep hooking do you mean you cant see the hook ?

 

If I can see the hook out comes the discourger and 9 times out of 10 I will get the hook back and there is no harm done to the fish.

 

A barbless hook always helps getting the hook back though.

 

Joel

[ricey]

bigger baits and hooks dont always work. i've had small perch deep hooked on a fat lob on a size 6!

[RossMc]

barbless hooks, and then a stick discourger will do the job most the time. otherwise humanely kill the fish as i would have thought that leaving a big hook in the digestive system of a small fish will cause it to die a slow and much more painful death. cruel to be kind unfortunatly.

[Steve Burke]

However experienced you are you'll occasionally get a deeply-hooked perch. By deeply-hooked I mean out of sight. In this case I'd always recommend that you cut the line. This will give the perch the maximum chance of survival. If you try to remove the hook, even a barbless one, the perch will probably die.

 

BTW, long-standing members will know that, except in the smaller sizes, I never recommend barbless hooks for perch. In fact on my Coarse lake at Wingham I ban them above size 10. This is because I find that they can kill perch. I'm not entirely certain as to the reason, but barbless hooks seem to penetrate more deeply and move around. Whatever the reason, I avoid them in the larger sizes when perch fishing.

[ayjay]

I think the hook removal has been well covered. I don't think there is a bait that's too big for a small perch, I once had one that would have weighed a maximum of four ounces, it took four lobworms that had been cut in half and mounted as eight half worms in one bunch on a size 2 hook, greedy little beggars.

[Anthony78]

you could try buying one of the slammo disgorgers, I have found that they work very well with deeply hooked fish.

Ant