Feb 21 2010
How To Remove A Fishing Hook From A Turtle?
Yesterday, my dad caught a turtle while fishing. We were trolling, so he was using a treble hook. It was about a 15, almost 20 pound turtle and he had hooked it in the foot (poor thing!). I didn’t watch how my father took the hook out because I knew it was painful. Because there are a LOT of turtles in that lake, how can we, if this happens again, remove a hook from a turtle with the least amount of stress and pain possible for the poor creature? Anything I could do to calm it down?
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here is an idea, and its not for everyone. if you are a descent fisherman you can snip the barbs off your hooks and make it safer for you and the fish. just cut them off with wire cutters and when you hook into a fish keep pressure on and a bend in your pole and they will come in just like if you were using a barb. then when you hook into something you dont like its a very easy removal, on everything from pesky turtles to submerged snags. its not for everyone but with a treble hook your likely to not lose a fish if you fight it right. hope this helps and i promise you it will make unhooking turles a quick little pull in the direction of the curve of the hook seem like a simple and effective method.
You know honestly, just cut the line. Don’t bother trying to rip the hook out because you could kill it. This goes with fish, frogs, turtles, everything. I have had so many sunfish and bass swallow the hook and attempt to pull it out and they start bleeding from the gills and die. Just cut the line and throw it back in the water. They have a better chance of survival.
Well, be careful and there’s gonna be some pain anyway you go. Just take them out with pliers and try not to rip the hook, just manouver it out carefully. And YOU be careful too. Snappers and Alligator snappers can hurt ya bad if you aren’t careful.
If the barbs go all the way into the flesh, all you can do is push the barbs through and cut them with a pair of wire cutters. This allows you to remove the hooks with minimal tissue damage. Very difficult to calm a turtle down.
Give it something to bight onto while you free the hook, and not your finger
long needle nosed pliers turtles bite