Gill Hooking Fish….

When catching smallmouth bass, there is always a danger of gill hooking the fish and causing enough bleeding to kill the fish. Smallmouth bass are pretty resilient and fishing with artificial baits with constant attention to whether you are getting a strike can reduce the risk to serious injuries to the bass.ﾠ

I’ll never forget fishing on the North Branch of the Susquehanna when my wife gill hooked a smallie with a lipless crankbait. ﾠI did my best to revive it when it was floating sideways after release but it continued to flounder on the water. ﾠAll the sudden, we see a juvenile Bald Eagle circle around, come down and snag it out of the water for a mid day meal. ﾠAt least the bass didn’t just float away and rot somewhere.

This subject is fresh in my mind, as the 1 fish I might have otherwise took photos of, on my last trip, was a beautiful 5 lb’ish Smallmouth, that I gill hooked, and it was bleeding gallons 🙁 It was a tiny hook too, which came right out, quickly, … Click here to visit the original source of this post

This is a nice little discussion on catch and release and the fact it isn’t perfect but we do the best we can. ﾠMost anglers have their hearts in the right place and love the sport.