lipping bass?

[fishfinder]

this old man has ruined my fishing spot yelling about lipping the bass to dehook them i dont touch the fish any where but the lip and i return them quickly to the water this guy is trying to tell me i am killing the bass because i dont wet my hand in the lake water first what is every ones take on this i know about the slime and how it protects them just seeing how ever one feels about this i dont want to be the @$$ hole of the lake. unfortunately i gut hooked one real bad i cut the hook and removed it the fish swam away but belly upped about an hour later it sucks the old man says i killed him by touching his lip.

[RyDogg]

dont worry bout it man. i dont wet my hands or watever that guy said. I just grab em by the lip get the hook out asap, and snap a pic if its a nice one then lower em back it. Every once it a while they take the worm on the drop or watever and swallow it deep and come out of the water bleeding and watnot. Theres not much u can do but try to get the hook out and let em go. Usually when they do belly up they get eated by catfish, or some kinds of hawks and other birds will swoop down and pick em up.

[zooker]

if ya hook them deep cut the hook or the line tight to the hook and release the fish..

i have yet to kill a fish by grabbing it by the jaw..

zooker

[patchino22]

Is that old man a Park Ranger? Is he the authority on fishing in that lake? Does he have any power at all to tell you that you cant fish the lake? If the answer is no.........than tell him politely to mind his business. I might use a different choice of words.

[brushhog]

Never heard of such a thing - time out of the water is probably the biggest factor as far as releasing 'em healthy - That's with a clean hook up of course...

[Patrick Krueger, Jr.]

I've read several articles that say you should wet your hands before handling fish, of all species, that you plan to release. I'm no fisheries biologist, and neither is the guy giving you a hard time.

[RyDogg]

[quote=zooker;158011]if ya hook them deep cut the hook or the line tight to the hook and release the fish..

Ya, just to second that, If it is deep enough you cant see the hook cut the line as close to it as you can and let em go. A couple days ago I caught a nice like 2 lbs bass that had a hook way down in the back of its throat all by its self, and then my hook about 3 inches above it. I guess It didnt bother it because it attacked a fat zoom lizard.

[fishfinder]

thanks for the feed back everyone it helps believe me i want to leave many fish or the future of fisherman and fishergals ( my daughter ) as i can and thanks for the pointers on the gut hooks i have wondered if its better to just cut hook and release on the really deep ones than keeping out of the water longer. once again thanks

[3dkicker]

There is a proper way to release fish that are deep hooked....look it up on this site!!!! And it isn't to cut the line as close to the hook and let them go.

[RyDogg]

Originally Posted by 3dkicker

There is a proper way to release fish that are deep hooked....look it up on this site!!!! And it isn't to cut the line as close to the hook and let them go.

enlighten us all...

[MississippiBoy]

Found it...

http://www.outdoorcanada.ca/fish/offthe_hook.shtml

[brushhog]

Great idea... never heard of that before. Thanks for finding it M-Boy!

[Nitro911]

If you are going to handle the fish by the sides, or grab the fish anywhere but the lip, you do need to wet your hands first. It helps protect the slime coating on the fish. On that point the old man was right. HOWEVER...if you are just touching the lip and the bottom of the jaw, the amount of contact is insignificant and you are fine.

[MississippiBoy]

No problem, brushhog...I just found it in a previous post, actually from 2 years ago, but it keeps cropping up.

http://www.bassfishin.com/bassfishin...ead.php?t=1494

The thought of reaching up past the gills makes me antsy, though. It wouldn't take much to significantly damage them and kill the fish...I guess taking that chance is better than leaving a hook in his gut.

[flfireman]

Don't most people's hand get wet when they reach for the fish anyways?? Sorry big deal over mundane subject.

[RyDogg]

i still think the fish is gonna be less bothered by the hook than you holding it by its back or gill and reaching under its gill to get the hook out which isnt gona be a very quick process

[weaverml34]

I've used that technique quite a few times to get the hook out of a deeply hooked bass and I have not yet had one come floating back up dead because I went through it's gill. I mostly fish a small pond so if the fish would have died shortly after I released it I would have seen it. If you fish from a boat put the fish in your live well with rejuvenade to help the fish recover.

[NJBassDevil]

Cuts thru hooks like butter...

http://www.dbarb.com/

[Rebbasser]

Fear not, ff-lipping the fish is the way to get the hook out.

[fishfinder]

the link about removing the deep hook was a great help thank you it also answered the leave the hook in idea once again thanks.

[MississippiBoy]

My pleasure, fishfinder. 3dkicker said there was a thread on this topic already, so I just searched for it. I take no credit or responsibility for the information contained therein .

[Mac1]

For quite some time, the aquarium at Chattanooga, in their Lake Nickajack display, had several fish sporting a black fungus. One large brim had an obvious hand print in the black growth and a couple of the bass had a small patch of black on the lower jaw. For the viewers who caught on, it was a valuable lesson. Since then, I always wet my fingers before lipping and my hand before removing bream from the hook. I'm not telling you what to do, but just what I do.

Good fishing, Mac

[pbruessow@msn.com]

Nice tips here to save ole Ma Ma bass. When your lipping a bass, try to minimize the time you are holding it out to unhook. This will prevent jaw breakage.