mastertangler wrote on Jun 3^rd, 2013 at 5:37pm:


With Lakers in August, the water is warm and therefore they are coming up from a greater depth, usually 60 feet or more.  I suspect they suffer from a form of the bends.  When I'm fishing for Lakers in August I stop fishing after I've caught what I can eat because once you get them to the surface, my experience is, they mostly don't survive.

Jim makes a good point.........although with the depth finder running I am less apt to remove the front hook gang since I typically hang up fairly infrequently. If you troll without a depth finder I am a big proponent of removing the front hooks ( less hangups). I do beef up the rear trebles by one size larger though.

During my August Basswood trip I was a little rough on the fish losing 2 walleyes over 6lbs. One  unexpectedly just up and died for no apparent reason and another had engulfed a muskie inline spinner and had the hooks lodged in her gills.......blood city. Bum deal. I also lost a dandy laker after taking great lengths to try and revive it. Another major bummer. The warm water of August can be hard on the fish or so I am surmising.

TomT wrote on Jun 2^nd, 2013 at 3:10pm:


It's also that second/third set of treble hooks that do a lot of damage. Removing all but the back set is another safety step for both you and the fish.

I've become a big fan of pinching down all the barbs when I go on a trip. Just don't need to take that chance and also I figure it makes it more of a challenge to land a real fighter. The concentration has to be sharp to boat those high flying smallies.

Personally I think all hooks should be barbless in both parks. I think a lot of fish are killed each year by spending too much force and time getting barbed hooks out.

Of course hook removal is easy in the Q.  Since barbs are removed or pinched, the hook will slide out as easy as it went in. 

Pascanell wrote on May 22^nd, 2013 at 11:19pm:


Ha! Good one.

I like when folk ask me where I caught a fish.........the answer is always the same, I point to the corner of my mouth and say "Oh, it was right about there" 

Good story...If you ever get a hook in your upper or lower lip, let me know.  I've removed thousands of those 

I have wore a few in my day........

One particular story comes to mind.......my friend and i were drifting a small river, creek actually (Hell creek in Michigan), and catching smallies and rock bass. Our mode of transportation was tubes which I have always enjoyed fishing out of. My pal was always lagging behind fishing various brush piles. Before I knew it he was right behind me and I deposited a white feathered Mepps spinner perfectly in his lower ear lobe. It was a quite an adornment and looked for all the world like an earring. We could not get it out and we continued the day with his new fashion statement.

Here is a vid on hook removal. All I can say is I would need some "compensation" to do what this guy is doing.
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Perhaps there is a difference between removing the octopus style hooks and straight "J" style hooks. I ended up with a 7/0 J in my palm thanks to some idiot who left them hanging from a light fixture on an offshore boat. The boat rocked, I reached out to steady myself and ended up with it in my palm. When I inquired as to "what idiot" hung the hooks no one would fess up (coward)........long story short one of the guys used the line trick and it worked like a charm. It was definitely NOT a hook we were going to be able to push through.