Good gag days (treble dehookulation)

[Fishin' DC's]

My wife, daughter and her boyfriend went out of Cedar Key two weeks ago and boated nine gag grouper, largest to 9 pounds. All caught trolling Stretch 25's. The two favorite colors that day were orange/chartreuse and blueberry muffin (purple over chartreuse). When my wife brought one in, I reached down and grabbed the lip of the lure to remove the trebles when the fish lurched and firmly embedded one of the treble hooks into my palm. The barb came completely through so there was no backing it out (yes, I did try). I was unable to flatten the barb to try and back it out and my flimsy pliers would not cut the hook, so there I sat knowing how a grouper felt on those things. We were on a hot bite so there was no way I wanted to leave, so I wasw going to sit and drive the boat and let the others fish, but my wife had other ideas. She starting stowing gear to make ready for the 30 minute run into the ramp. I look up to see another boat heading in our general direction, so I grab a towel and get his attention to pull over. I recognized the name on his boat and I couldn't believe my luck. He was a doctor in Gainesville that belongs to the local fishing club I belong to (Gainesville Offshore Fishing Club). This guy actually gave a presentation one night on removing hooks. My luck was turning. He had a pair of heavy pliers and was able to cut the hook and back the treble out within a couple of seconds. We were back to fishing within 20 minutes of getting hooked up (literally). He was an answer to prayer believe me. Lesson learned: get a good pair of pliers (I did, with side cutters). A little later my wife's finger gets raked by another stretch treble, but that's another story...

This past weekend my wife and I went back out of Cedar Key to the same spot. The chop was too rough to troll, so we anchored up and caught a few live baits. I was able to get a twofer-one (2 gags on 1 livie). First gag was 23" and left the bait in good shape, so I dropped him back down on the same spot. After a couple of minutes he gets slammed big time. I had my Senator 4/0 113H tightened down and he was still stripping line and bringing me down to the gunnel. I knew this was a nice fish. I get him up and my wife nets him ( I had to lift the net out with my wife on the other end). Result was a very nice 32", 16lb-11ozs. gag grouper.

Both trips were to water depth of 35 feet. If you don't have a good pair of pliers/side cutters, get them. Also, a good first aid kit. Like a lot of other things, you won't need them until you REALLY need them. Good luck fishing.

[Tums]

Sounds like a good time DC. After having a friend get a 10/0 hook in his foot 100 miles offshore, I reccomend to people that are using large tackle to take a pair of Bolt Cutters with them.

[Jan from Humboldt]

I've also been stuck with hooks over the years and what I've done is change out a lot of the treble hooks to large singles.

I haven't noticed a decrease in fish catching ability but have noticed that I loose fewer lures as the single hooks seem to shake loose easier when I get rocked.


The other thing I like to use is the lip gripper http://www.berkley-fishing.com/produ...ts&PassLevel=1 which is a lot safer for you and the fish.