# Mortality of Gut-Hooked Pike



## kdogger (Jan 10, 2005)

The article mentioned above was pretty informative: it looks like fish left with a gut hook will slowly waste away and die.


On the bright side, maybe gut hooked pike can survive to spawn in the spring, which will help to maintain the fishery. Some of the fish in the article took months to die.


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## walleyechaser (Jan 12, 2001)

No sarcasim intended but it a fish is hooked in the gut, the bait/hook must
have passed through the mouth!
Somebody's got too much time on their hands to out think themselves!


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## jb10 (May 14, 2001)

WalleyeChaser,
Now that walleye is closed on inland lakes, you have too much time on your hands.

-Eric


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## fish eater (Jan 4, 2005)

I have a subscription to In-fisherman. I think the article's in either Jan. or Feb. issue a while back. New research has found that fish with a hook in their gullet, or in their belly will die. All of them have died while being studied. Their cause of death was always determined as starvation. They just won't eat anymore. The old saying about the hook rotting, or rusting out is not true. The old idea about cutting the line, and letting the fish swim away, is actually more like an old wives tale. It doesn't work, and the hook won't rot away. Either harvesting the fish for food, or using it for garden fertilizer sounds more useful to me. It's a goner at that point anway, why not try to put it to some sort of good use? My 2 cents.


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## MiketheElder (Jun 23, 2003)

Old-fashioned steel hooks might have rusted out back in the day, but these new hooks probably don't. Get off your butts and get to that flag! That includes you Mike Jr. and Kevin.

Big Mike


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## pikeslime (Jan 2, 2001)

I always try and get to flags ASAP. I never wait to set the hook. This is my thinking:
- If you are waiting for the fish to turn the bait around, you are more likely to gut hook it and kill the fish, which may turn out to be undersized (especially when you are fishing on Lake St. Hammer-handle).

- Letting the fish run can create slack in the line. If the line gets slack and falls to the bottom, chances are it will hang-up or drag on weeds or debris. A big fish may feel that resistance and drop the bait (I figured this after missing fish and instead pulling-up 50 feet of line with weeds on it). 

I used to sucker fish for Pike a lot and never let them run long because big fish would always feel resistance and drop the bait. Hammer-handles will probably swallow it even with the reistance of the bobber or tip-up reel. I set the hook early and usually feel confident that the fish will have that little treble in it's mouth. Just my 2 cents.


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## Santiago (Aug 10, 2004)

In Wisconsin and Minnesota, where muskie fishing is hugely popular, these theories have been tested. Pete Maina and Jack Burns' staff have covered this topic extensively in their magazine, _Esox Angler_. Of the reports I've seen, mortality of a gut-hooked fish is enfuriatingly high. They've done studies where fish are intentionally gut hooked and fitted with transmitters that allows them to be found when dead or recaptured at a later date. A swallowed hook is a death sentence, especially if left in the body cavity.

Not sure how those quick-strike tipups work, but they must be better for the fish than a "let-em-run-and-yank-it-home" philosophy.


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## Arin (Jun 2, 2004)

Why does anyone even use one hook setups? This is the first year I was using a tipup and I put two hooks on a steel leader and put a hook at each end of a 4" bluegill. Only caught a 19in bass, but it was hooked right in the side of the lip.


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