Evaluating different hook removal gear for in-water dehooking of jaw-hooked fish captured with barbed or barbless hooks

Abstract

Dehooking tools are often touted as a means to remove hooks from fish caught in recreational fisheries, especially for fish intended for release. We used Bluegill as a model species to test the efficacy of five dehooking tools as well as bare hands, for both barbed and barbless hooks. Bare hands took the longest to dehook fish, and there was little difference in dehooking times among the dehooking tools used. Tissue tearing, however, tended to be more extensive for fish dehooked with tools compared to bare hands. For all dehooking tools and bare hands, barbed hooks took significantly longer to remove than barbless hooks, and there was a 65% increase in tissue tear size for fish caught on barbed hooks. Those fish scored as difficult for hook removal were caught on barbed hooks. Overall, larger fish took longer to dehook than smaller fish, but tearing was not size-dependent. Incidence of bleeding was low and not significantly different among treatments. The only fish that experienced reflex impairment were those caught on barbed hooks that also had the longest dehooking times. Overall, for Bluegill hooked in the upper jaw, our study showed that using barbless hooks is a more important than which purpose-built dehooking tool is used. Given the diversity of species caught in recreational fisheries across a wide range of locations and scenarios, we recommend more studies of this kind be conducted, as well as for tackle manufactures to work closely with fisheries scientists to design dehooking tools that minimize physical injury.