Sustainable catch-and-release fisheries are based on the assumption that most fish survive an angling event. The adoption of best practices has become important to help mitigate post-release injury, behavioral impairment and mortality. However, in any catch-and-release fishery, a proportion of fish will become inadvertently deeply hooked (e.g., in the gullet) and numerous studies have shown this to be a major driver of mortality. Although available science suggests that cutting the line tends to yield better outcomes than removing hooks in the gullet, there has been interest within the angling community with removing hooks using the “through-the-gill” method where the hook shaft is turned outwards into the gill region and then the hook is removed by pulling anteriorly by gripping the outside bend of the hook. Here, we tested the efficacy of removing barbed and barbless hooks though the gill opening from experimentally deep-hooked Smallmouth Bass (Micropterus dolomieu) relative to leaving the hooks in place. Using a control group and four experimental treatment groups (barbed and removed through the gills; barbless and removed through gills; barbed and left in; barbless and left in), we evaluated handling time, presence of bleeding, incidence of gill or esophageal injury, reflex impairment, incidence of hook shedding (for the left in treatment groups), and survival across a 24-hour monitoring period. Collectively, our results suggested that when hooks were barbed and removed through the gills, fish condition and survival were lower. In addition, barbed hooks were more likely to cause bleeding, gill damage, esophageal tearing, and impair reflexes. When hook removal was done through the gills, the chances of all sublethal outcomes across all categories were more likely to occur. While short-term mortality was not statistically linked with any treatment group, the greatest percentage of mortality (24%) occurred for fish that had barbed hooks removed using the through-the-gill method. These data suggest that when anglers use barbed hooks and encounter a deeply hooked fish, cutting the line poses the least risk to the fish.

可持续捕捞和放流渔业是基于大多数鱼在钓鱼事件中幸存下来的假设。采用最佳实践对于帮助减轻释放后的伤害、行为障碍和死亡率变得非常重要。然而，在任何捕捞和放流渔业中，一部分鱼会在不经意间被深深钩住（例如，在食道中），许多研究表明这是死亡率的主要驱动因素。尽管现有的科学表明，与去除食道中的鱼钩相比，切割鱼线往往会产生更好的结果，但钓鱼界一直对使用“穿过鳃”方法去除鱼钩产生兴趣，其中鱼钩轴向外转入鱼钩。鳃区域，然后通过抓住钩的外侧弯曲向前拉来移除钩。这里，小翅鱼) 相对于将挂钩留在原位。使用对照组和四个实验治疗组（带刺并通过鳃去除；无倒刺并通过鳃去除；带刺并留在内部；无倒刺并留在内部），我们评估了处理时间、出血的存在、鳃或食道损伤的发生率，反射障碍、钩子脱落率（治疗组左侧）和 24 小时监测期间的存活率。总的来说，我们的研究结果表明，当鱼钩被带刺并通过鳃去除时，鱼的状况和存活率较低。此外，带刺的鱼钩更容易引起出血、鳃损伤、食道撕裂和反射障碍。当通过鳃去除钩子时，所有类别的所有亚致死结果的可能性都更有可能发生。虽然短期死亡率与任何治疗组均无统计学关联，但死亡率最高 (24%) 的鱼发生在使用通过鳃方法去除带刺鱼钩的鱼身上。这些数据表明，当垂钓者使用带刺的鱼钩遇到深钩鱼时，切断鱼线对鱼的风险最小。