| Show SPORTS AFIELD By TED KESTING RESTING Youve You've oCt often en been told that when hooking a fish so deep it t seems difficult to remove the he hook without damaging him lira you should cut the line or leader and let your our catch go jo with the hook Chemicals in n his system are supposed to corrode the hook promptly without causing the fish any noticeable inconvenience THIS TillS IS NOT always the case says Jason Lucas Ang- Ang Angling ling mg Editor Sports Afield Magazine who regularly examines examines ex ex- examines amines dead bloated fish that he lie comes upon floating or washed up on shore in order to see what killed them He has often found that telltale p piece ece of line or leader broken not cut For each fish like this there must be many that nobody no nobody nobody body sees Exactly how many fish that have been released without hooks in them live and thrive TESTS BY various state slate game departments and by the National Park Service have shown that of trout hooked in a lip only only only-as as is almost in invariably invariably invariably variably the case when they are taken on flies even though they might have been handled quite roughly about 98 percent live But when trout are hooked deep with live bait this percentage can drop to 50 or lower Bass of course are much tougher than trout so one can cansay cansay cansay say that practically all aU of those hooked on are none the worse for the adventure ture But if they are hooked hooke d deep with live bait their in innards innards i n nards injured there can b ban be bean bean e an enormous loss of those r re e leased PIKE pickerel and musket musket- lunge tunge are fiercer than either eithe r trout or bass but are arc also fa famore far r more delicate They have a habit of taking even an artificial artificial artificial arti arti- so deeply that it cannot canno t be removed without causin causing g severe injury to them many mans are arc hooked inside in the gills so that they soon bleed t to o death Too one of them will wil 1 thrash far more in your hand making it difficult to unhook k him carefully Where there are legal siz size e limits you'll often have to pu put t back a small one that yo you OU u know will die of oC its injuries Where there arent aren't each cas casis case e is a matter for individual d decision decision de de- e vision on your part ALMOST all other fresh fres freshwater freshwater h water fish ish are roughly similar r to trout and bass in that the they Y w will ll live if hooked on daIs while of oC those taken on live bait well as a doctor would put it the prognosis is highly unfavorable |
