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Skill School – Handling & Unhooking
Handling And Unhooking - your guide to getting your fish back in the water safe and sound.
Besides catching fish there is another side to our sport, and that’s caring for those fish once you have them on the bank. It’s important that we look after a fish out of water, making sure it goes back fit and healthy for another angler to enjoy, and keeping the fish stocks of our country in good nick. Here we show you how to handle fish on the bank.
Do's & Dont's - Always handle fish with wet hands and always wet your unhooking mat before placing a fish on it. - Get your fish back in the water as quickly as possible. - Try to use barbless or micro-barbed hooks. - Go fishing with an experienced angler or ask for help if you get in trouble. - Hold the fish up and let it recover in the side; it will power off when it regains its energy. - If you’re using a keepnet make sure it is extended fully and the water in front of you is deep enough.
- Don’t chuck fish back in from a height or handle them high off the ground; if you drop them you can damage them - Don’t pull hooks out, push the hook back the way it went in - Don’t put a fish on a dry surface or, even worse, gravel or tarmac
Unhooking A Fish Wet your hands, this protects the fish’s delicate scales. Next you need to have a look where the fish has been hooked to determine your next course of action. If the fish is hooked in the top or bottom lip then you can usually remove it with your fingers; by using barbless hooks this becomes a lot easier. For bigger hooks and trebles a pair of forceps may help you remove the hook more easily.
To remove the hook from a lip-hooked fish with your fingers hold the fish with your left hand (if you’re right-handed) then grasp the shank of the hook and pull it firmly in the opposite direction from which it enters. Give it a wiggle if it won’t come straight out.
If the hook has taken hold deeper in the fish’s mouth then you’ll need a disgorger for small fish, and you can get those forceps out again if you’re targeting larger fish.
View Our Fish Care Range Online
Using A Disgorger To use a disgorger you need to keep tension on your main line. First fit the slot of the disgorger onto the line then twist in once to keep the disgorger in place, then slide it down the line into the fish’s mouth until it comes into connect with the bend of the hook. Apply downwards pressure to free the hook, now you can remove the hook from the fish’s mouth, being careful not to hook it again as you pull out. Buy a variety of different-sized disgorgers to suit the size of hook you are using.
