Fishing - Saving a Gut Hooked Fish

Hi, I am Captain Steve Chaconas with National Bass Guide Service. We have been teaching you how to cast, how to use a rod or reel, use different types of baits for all different types conditions whether you are fishing on top, you want to go a little bit deeper all the way to the bottom with soft plastics. But what do you do when your fish swallows a lure a little bit deep and you got that fish in the fishs gullet and you cant get it out. Well, let me show you how. What you have when you have the fish thats got hooked -- the bait is in their mouth and now the first thing you want to do is get the weight out of way, we either slide it up the line or remove it, get the bait out of the way, slide it up the line and remove it. So, now we have just the hook. What I am going to do is imagine that I am looking into the fishs mouth his eyes are on the top. The hook is this way, what I am going to do is rotate the hook so that I move the eye of the hook towards its tail. I am going to either put my finger in behind his gill and push or I going to reach into his mouth, if his mouth is big enough and push. Take make other finger put it underneath the bend of the hook and as I push this way, I am going to pull this way that hook will just pop right out. Now, if the hook is in the other way just the same thing. The eyes are up here we are looking into the fishs mouth, we want to rotate the hook point this way the eye of the hook towards its tail, push on it with this finger, take this finger put it underneath the bend of the hook, push and pull, it will pop right out. It will save those fish every time so we can catch them another day.

But remember this fishing lures do not catch fish; fishermen catch fish, fishing lures catch fishermen. So, make sure you are using the right lure for the right conditions get out there, get confidence in those lures, use them understand their range and you will catch more fish.