Swallow proof bluegill hook

[Jim]

My fishin' buddy and I are strictly 'catch & release' fishermen. I've always enjoyed catchin' Bluegills on a 10 ft. super ultra light crappie rod with small hook and a piece of worm, that's all. Nothin' but me an' the fish. Problem is, about half the time they swallow the hook and don't survive the removal.

The light came on last night. I got out a snelled number 6 bait holder hook, cut a short section of 60 lb. mono that I use for cat fish rigs, tied an overhand knot in one end and stuck the mono through the eye of the hook. The fit was so tight, I had to point the mono by cutting it on an angle with scissors.

It worked perfectly. I fished for several hours today, caught a bunch of big, fat redbreast and bluegills and not the first one swallowed the hook. The mono extension kept the hook from going any farther in than the length of the hook. No more injured fish. All survived for another day.

http://floydpics.files.wordpress.com/2012/06/dscn0843-e1339710871982.jpg

[GREENCOUNTYPETE]

have you ever tried removing the barb also ?
it makes it easier to remove the hook

[chuckbuster]

You catch and release Bluegills! That ain't right.....

[Trey45]

That's what we used to do in catch and release lakes in Pa., we filed off the barb.
That heavy test mono is a stroke of genius Jim, how'd you do that???

[smilie=1: [smilie=l:

[Uncle Jimbo]

I like it. Nothing like necessity to lead to an easy fix.

[Jim]

.....That heavy test mono is a stroke of genius Jim, how'd you do that???
[smilie=1: [smilie=l:

Dang screen door.

[firefly1957]

Thanks Jim that is a great idea bet it would work on flies too.

You might think of seeing if that is worth a patent.

[Jim]

I tried that patent thing one time. $800 and more paperwork than a class III FFL. I don't care if somebody finds out about it. That's why I posted it.

[Olevern]

Cool idea, will have to try that when my grandson comes up for some fishing. Last year we caught over one hundred panfish on one day in my favorite lake (three fishermen; well, one fisherman and two fisherboys). I know a number of them did not survive, but ya can't eat but so many.
Thanks, Jim

[1845greyhounds]

Clever idea. You might also want to try a small circle hook. Circle hooks are designed to avoid gut hooking. The hook shape causes it to only penetrate when it rolls around a corner (like the fish's lips/jaw). Do a google search for "small circle hooks" and you'll get lots of good info.

[Ernest]

brilliant! Why didn't I think of that?

[richhodg66]

That's a good idea. Could you tell if it caused you to miss any strikes? Seems the little fish would have a harder time getting hokked.

Not that it would really matter, the beuty of bluegills is that they are everywhere in such abundance that even if you missed most of them you'd still catch plenty.

[429421Cowboy]

Brilliant! I'm going to try that for small brook trout as they tend to get badly hooked on snells and aren't nearly as hearty as things like perch and bass when it comes to surviving hook removal. I made a few very tiny "spoons" of sorts with a no 10 spinner blade and a size 10 egg hook on a splitring through a hole i drilled so it looks just like a mini daredevil for fishing with the cousins and nephews/nieces at the local kiddie pond that is overstocked with perch in the 3 inch range that will devour anything that moves but swallow the hook. Bait like a regular hook and fish under a float, but the "spoon" can't be swallowed and doesn't affect hooking like we found happend with light jigheads.
Thanks for sharing!

[WILCO]

This type of info makes you an invaluable member of the group Jim! Thanks for sharing.

[geargnasher]

Good fix there, Jim! My first thought, like several others after reading the responses, was the paradox of "catch and release" and a picture of a barbed hook. I usually eat what I can catch, but often certain species caught aren't the minium legal length, so I started pinching barbs "shut" with pliers and I'm sure there are lots of undersized largemouth bass that appreciated it (as much as a fish can "appreciate" anything!).

Gear

[292]

Jim, you are smart as bird dog.

[mold maker]

Truly a remarkable solution, and just about free.
Thanks for sharing.

[fishnbob]

Necessity is the mother of invention! Way to go there Jim. I catch bluegills on my crappie jigs from time to time and some of them out of my pond are so big I can't get my hand around them to hold 'em still and get the hook out. When they hit, they hit so viciously I think they swallow immediately. That is and some of the others had some good ideas.

[lcclower]

Jim, great solution.

Bluegills so big you can't get my hand around them to hold 'em still and get the hook out? The answer ends in hot peanut oil.

[41 mag fan]

Dang screen door.


Could I borrow that screen door??? I'm in need of some good ideas. :bigsmyl2:

[higgins]

A few years ago I was bluegill fishing with crickets, gut-hooking a lot of them as usual even with a relatively large hook, bluegillwise. I knew of circle hooks for larger fish, so I just bent the hook I was using into a circle hook configuration. It worked! Caught several more bluegill baiting with crickets and not a single one hooked anywhere other than the mouth.

I couldn't tell I was missing any fish, and another benefit of circle hooks is that you don't have to yank the rod to set the hook - the fish hook themselves when the hook slides over their lip. Since I'm too stingy to buy ready-made circle hooks I'm still using my home-made ones. The same principle works for crappie too.

[MT Gianni]

I like circle hooks for the retention. I bank a lot more that I hook with one and they make it easy to release those you don't want.

[Blacksmith]

Jim
Just keep your hook under water and you won't catch any Swallows at all because they can't fly except in the air.

:kidding::groner::kidding:

[dale2242]

Great idea, Jim.
BUT....When it comes to good sized pan fish I am a fillet and release guy, myself.....dale

[Jim]

Just got home from goin' again this mornin'. I caught redbreast and bluegills on a 4" rubber firetail worm and caught bass on the firetail, spinners and surface plugs.

[Just Duke]

My fishin' buddy and I are strictly 'catch & release' fishermen. I've always enjoyed catchin' Bluegills on a 10 ft. super ultra light crappie rod with small hook and a piece of worm, that's all. Nothin' but me an' the fish. Problem is, about half the time they swallow the hook and don't survive the removal.

The light came on last night. I got out a snelled number 6 bait holder hook, cut a short section of 60 lb. mono that I use for cat fish rigs, tied an overhand knot in one end and stuck the mono through the eye of the hook. The fit was so tight, I had to point the mono by cutting it on an angle with scissors.

It worked perfectly. I fished for several hours today, caught a bunch of big, fat redbreast and bluegills and not the first one swallowed the hook. The mono extension kept the hook from going any farther in than the length of the hook. No more injured fish. All survived for another day.

http://floydpics.files.wordpress.com/2012/06/dscn0843-e1339710871982.jpg

That's some real tight joints on that quarter sawn.

[10 ga]

Circle hooks! I've used tham from 7/0 to #10. Pretty much do away with anything but lip hooking. But throw back bluegills? Coon bait man, coon bait.