Black Lake, NY Forum

Here is a tip that works most of the time, it will save a lot of fish. click on this link: http://www.walleyesunlimitedusa.org/doc ... hnique.pdf

It was written by Doug Strange from infisherman.

There is some serious gut hooking at Black Lake, must be senko related? Last year I had to stop belly lifting large SMB due to being hooked myself by a hook exiting the digestive tract. During that week I noted quite a few hooks just about to fall out the poop shoot. I'll have to remember to try this technique.

Hook removal is difficult at best, Doug has a creative way for their removal. I've used a few different methods, if the hook is deep and only the eyelet of the shank is showing I will cut the line and let Mother Nature take its course. Other times I'll cut the shank near the eyelet and try to rotate the hook then grab hold of the point and remove it if possible, lastly a lot of my hooks have the barb flattened, makes hook removal so much easier but then I have also lost my fare share of fish. If the hook is anywhere near the gill area I’ll cut the line or shank and try to get it back into the water as soon as possible.

Disgorging hooks from fish sometimes is difficult. Then there are those times that you get hung up on rocks. Easy trick is to lower your pole - draw line tight - let line snap back - lures will come free most times. Catch & Release

The method above does work. It really is quite simple, and many gut hooked fish can be saved by taking the time to see how it is done. Another method is to carry a D-Barb tool. http://www.d-barb.com/
If the point and barb are exposed, it can easily be snipped away, and the hook backed out. It's also great when a fish is hooked trough the eye. You simply cut the barb, and the hook is removed without any further damage.

I use a tee handle hook removal tool inserted thru the gill and grab the hook and rotate it out. Works great once you get the hand of it. They cost about 10 bucks and I have saved many fish with it.