Have you ever caught a fish without hooking it in the mouth? 2024
Sittin there reelin em in reply :
Don't know if there is a thread for this or not but post here your pics of how you caught your bass.
mllrtm79 reply :
I should have taken a picture, but my hands were cold... caught one last night on a Livingston something or another that I got from one of the boxes. Hooked him just behind the lip on top of the skull. I thought when I pulled him up that the tail hook was in his eye socket, so I went to work on freeing him instead of taking a photo.
mrmacwvu1 reply :
caught a small catfish one time when it wrapped itself around my line
the hook never went into any part of him
Darren. reply :
I foul hooked a 6+ pound bass (don't recall specific weight,
but was over 6) on her side about 4" above her ?anal fin? I
believe it is called.
Took me for a nice ride in my kayak before I landed her.
Got a pic somewhere, but after the hook was out...
mixel reply :
Foul hook bellies and sides sometimes. Small fish can feel like a big one when reeling it in sideways.
Brayberry reply :
I caught about a 13" Rainbow Trout, while jigging a small spoon. The line had wrapped around the fish, and kinda lasso'd it. The hook was about 15 inches below the fish in a huge knot. Luckily my girlfriend was with me or even she wouldn't have believed it
gimruis reply :
Anglers that target paddlefish (where its legal) try to snag them. They are filter feeders so there's no other way to get them to bite or eat bait/lures.
I've caught lots of smallmouth bass (smaller ones especially) by hooking them in the top of the head, around the eye area, or even up near the dorsal fin using crank baits. They often miss the lure and then a hook gets them somehow after they've missed.
reb67 reply :
The Bassman reply :
I hook bass on top of the head with treble hook baits pretty often. It's not unusual to have one knock a topwater in the air. Whats a real rush is to have one "porpoise" by jumping and striking a bait as he lands!
scaleface reply :
I caught a crappie when the line wrapped around it and the jig hook caught the line and pulled tight like a noose .
geo g reply :
Over the years I have caught many on trebles and single hooks that were not in the mouth or throat. I have caught them from the head, to mid body and in the tail. If you fish long enough, many strange things will happen!!!!
lectricbassman reply :
wish i had a pic, but i once set a 4/0 worm hook on a fish that tore a gash from the fishes belly to about midway up its side. It was a dink so i couldn't legally keep it, had to throw it back but I felt bad, pretty sure it didn't make it...
Scott F reply :
Don't most states have a law that says it's not legal to keep any fish not hooked in the mouth? It makes it illegal to intentionally snag fish
Bluebasser86 reply :
I caught a bass once on a plastic worm where the bend of the hook was behind it's teeth on the lower jaw and when I set the hook, the eye of the hook wedged against the roof of it's mouth, propping it's mouth open. The hook point never touched the fish but the hook was wedged so hard that I landed the fish.
I caught a paddlefish while catfishing. It's bill had been splintered by something, and my line slid into one of the gaps until it hit my sinker, which got stuck and I managed to fight the fish to the bank with the sinker wedged in it's bill while my hook trailed under it's belly.
I caught 2 flathead catfish in 2 days that inhaled my bait with so much force that the bait went in their mouths, came out their gills, and the hook buried in their sides near their pectoral fins and stayed there for the entire fights. The big one ate a finesse jig, the smaller one was caught on a Ned rig. 
everythingthatswims reply :
Not sure how I did that with a jig.
Sam reply :
Yes. On Lake Anna. Snagged a bass jus like photo above but mine was much, much, much larger.
HookRz reply :
I've caught them on a Chug Bug, wedged between the top and bottom jaws, no hooks, a few times. Then again if fish the old style CB a LOT! The new ones just don't have it for some reason. Don't catch a lot on them. Even on the hooks. Lol.
Seems like 15"-16" LMB are about the right size to make this happen.
Turkey sandwich reply :
Trolling with really light tackle for walleye years back I hooked a musky in the 36" range with a crankbait (it may have been a spoon, memory has its limits) in the tail. A tail hooked musky on 8lb line and a super slow action rod made for one weird fight. Everyone near us thought I hooked the Loch Ness monster. When I finally got it to the boat it was madness - teeth and hooks fying everywhere. Good times.
JDNKC reply :
When I was a teenager, my buddy was rowing a small Jon boat around a pond and somehow flipped a bass into the boat with the oar inadvertently. It was a nice one.
crypt reply :
was fishing a night tourney on East Lake Toho and had 2 bass jump the boat when we got around a bunch of schoolies. both were keepers but had to throw em back cause we never hooked em. that was the weirdest thing I saw. caught plenty by the tail, dorsal etc. but never had em just jump in the boat !!!!!!
Catt reply :
When Gene Larew first came out with the Hoodaddy I was showing my brother how effective they were by reeling a 3# bass all the way to the boat without setting hook...ain't caught nothing em since!
Dwight Hottle reply :
I caught a 6lb bass that broke off my buddies texas rigged creature bait in the morning. I was slow rolling a spinner bait in the afternoon when his broken braid got caught around the blades clevis making me think I had legitimately hooked this bass. I realized what had happened after grabbing the bass at the bank of a pond we were fishing for the weekend.
RMax reply :
On 2/4/2017 at 2:35 PM, Bluebasser86 said:I caught a bass once on a plastic worm where the bend of the hook was behind it's teeth on the lower jaw and when I set the hook, the eye of the hook wedged against the roof of it's mouth, propping it's mouth open. The hook point never touched the fish but the hook was wedged so hard that I landed the fish.
I caught a paddlefish while catfishing. It's bill had been splintered by something, and my line slid into one of the gaps until it hit my sinker, which got stuck and I managed to fight the fish to the bank with the sinker wedged in it's bill while my hook trailed under it's belly.
I caught 2 flathead catfish in 2 days that inhaled my bait with so much force that the bait went in their mouths, came out their gills, and the hook buried in their sides near their pectoral fins and stayed there for the entire fights. The big one ate a finesse jig, the smaller one was caught on a Ned rig.
Jeez! That first one is a freaking tank! It could eat my pb catfish in one bite.
Edit: I mean the first catfish.
Bluebasser86 reply :
On 2/5/2017 at 1:34 AM, RMax said:Jeez! That first one is a freaking tank! It could eat my pb catfish in one bite.
Edit: I mean the first catfish.
The little one was 23 pounds for size reference, one of the few things we grow big in Kansas lakes.
Fisher-O-men reply :
On 2/4/2017 at 10:22 PM, JDNKC said:When I was a teenager, my buddy was rowing a small Jon boat around a pond and somehow flipped a bass into the boat with the oar inadvertently. It was a nice one.
Where I fish I don't use hooks. The fish are so mean they just hang onto the lure until you land them!
(first liar doesn't stand a chance) just kidding!
Mumbly reply :
I don't have a picture but 2 years ago I had probably my worst bass catching experience, where I caught a smallmouth on a spook and had a treble in each eye. I even clipped the trebles off just past the barb to try to minimize damage while removing it, but I can't help but think that I blinded that fish.
Spankey reply :
Doesn't happen to often when I'm out but certainly not uncommon. This was from August of 2015 and pretty sure I've had foul hooks since. "Ouch" is all I can say. He want back and took off like no problem.
"hamma" reply :
Many times, I dont photo op alot anyways as my attention is on the bite, and setting a possible pattern.
I once felt a "hit" and got a good hookset, the fish fought hard and as I finally got a look at it I noticed its a fouled hook fish, and near the tail,...I brought it aboard, and found that the hook had inserted itself in the fish's anus,....Talk about a pain in the ,...
Jar11591 reply :
Hooked a walleye in the base of the tail. No idea how.
SMcLamb reply :
A good bit of my fish on a vision 110 are hooked outside the mouth. They swipe at it or go to hit it and don't get it in their mouths but the hooks are sharp and stick in their sides. More impressive that I wouldn't believe if I hadn't seen was a 4 pounder that choked a one knocker so hard it had the whole body of the lure past its gullet with both trebles sticking out not touching anything, he just wouldn't let it go.
jimf reply :
One of my "bizarro" fishing stories had something to do with this. Boy scout camping trip - we were fishing a small spring fed pond with gin clear water and when the kids would hook up a bluegill the bass would emerge from the depths and investigate. Kids figured out pretty quick that what that bluegill on the end of their line really was was bait. One kid had a bass on shore but didn't lip him - the fish was not hooked by a hook, but rather the splayed dorsal fins of the bluegill that lodged in it's throat. The fish broke off as the kid was trying to lift him.
Fast forward a few hours, nighttime, kids around the campfire, I finally get a chance to do a little fishing myself. I take a fly rod out with a big deer hair popper. BOOM. Something hits it hard, I end up landing the fish, it's probably 5 pounds. As you probably can guess, it was the same fish with the bluegill still lodged in it's gullet.
That was a hungry fish that day.
Spankey reply :
I my opinion or findings is that this happens more with juvenile fish. A few smaller fish will run right along with the bait and bump at it. Any nice bass I've ever caught in my lifetime has never been foul hooked. A foul hooked always feels bigger than it really is. I would say this situation is just very rare but not totally unlikely considering how aggressively they hit and feed at times
Dwight Hottle reply :
I once netted three walleyes with one dip of the net. While netting one hooked walleye two others swimming with the hooked walleye ended up in the net. It was during spring spawn when the males are always a little crazy. True story.
WDE reply :
On 2/4/2017 at 8:48 AM, reb67 said:
iiTzChunky reply :
I've had problems with hooking bass nearly right between the eyes on the top of their heads, almost like they just bump the lure and I set the hook thinking they've taken it. Luckily never hooked into an eye blinding them.
Dwight Hottle reply :
On 2/6/2017 at 2:13 AM, iiTzChunky said:I've had problems with hooking bass nearly right between the eyes on the top of their heads, almost like they just bump the lure and I set the hook thinking they've taken it. Luckily never hooked into an eye blinding them.
It's not your imagination. Fish will bump a bait to stun it before eating it especially if they have been following it. This happens frequently with lake trout.
iiTzChunky reply :
On 2/6/2017 at 2:46 AM, Dwight Hottle said:
It's not your imagination. Fish will bump a bait to stun it before eating it especially if they have been following it. This happens frequently with lake trout.
It's only happened to me at a high pressured lake, has happened 3 times probably but I kept thinking I was doing somthing wrong, with being new to fishing and all, till I learned the bass will bump them like that.
sage reply :
On 2/4/2017 at 5:13 AM, mllrtm79 said:I should have taken a picture, but my hands were cold... caught one last night on a Livingston something or another that I got from one of the boxes. Hooked him just behind the lip on top of the skull. I thought when I pulled him up that the tail hook was in his eye socket, so I went to work on freeing him instead of taking a photo.
This past season I caught I was fishing the river using a drop shot. I caught about a 6" rock bass as I was reeling it in a 40" musky swallowed it up. After about a 15 minute fight I brought him to the boat. The musky was never hooked just to stubborn to let go. ?
VAHunter reply :
I caught a 3+ lb. bass on a t-rig. When I got it in the boat I noticed the line somehow wrapped around the fish's head and was pulled under the gill plate when I set the hook. The worm and hook were both hanging about an inch below the fish. The hook never even penetrated all the way through the worm.
WTnPuddleJumper reply :
hung a 45lb grass carp in the tail once throwing a 6xd. for the first couple of minutes thought I hung a state record. Also once set the hook on a 3 lb largemouth pitching a brush hog, fought him, and flipped him in the boat. He came off as soon as he landed in the boat, so I released him, then went to re set my brushawg on the hook and realized the bass was never hooked. the hook had never broke the skin of the bait.
Choporoz reply :
On 2/7/2017 at 12:51 AM, WTnPuddleJumper said:hung a 45lb grass carp in the tail once throwing a 6xd.
Last year I tail hooked a large carp from my kayak. Took me for quite a ride. Not a lot of leverage available. No clue as to the weight. I was barely able to get the tail alongside and retrieve my crank; let alone land it.
scaleface reply :
On 2/6/2017 at 4:20 AM, iiTzChunky said:It's only happened to me at a high pressured lake, has happened 3 times probably but I kept thinking I was doing somthing wrong, with being new to fishing and all, till I learned the bass will bump them like that.
Several times while fishing in an aluminium boat I heard bass bumping into a lip-less crankbait while hopping it off the bottom . Sometimes they will smack it repeatedly all the way to the surface .
blckshirt98 reply :
I've landed a few foul hooked bass but the worst one that I still think about to this day, was one I had hooked right through the eyeball. It was a big one too, 5+ easy but I didn't weigh it, I just wanted to get the hook out and let the fish get back in the water. It fought hard and I was pulling hard on it too, no idea how the eyeball didn't just rip right out the socket.
scaleface reply :
On 2/6/2017 at 1:13 AM, Dwight Hottle said:I once netted three walleyes with one dip of the net. While netting one hooked walleye two others swimming with the hooked walleye ended up in the net. It was during spring spawn when the males are always a little crazy. True story.
I have never heard that one before .
Scarborough817 reply :
a smallmouth turned on my popper so quick it hooked itself in the side i thought i was like a 6 pounder bringing it in but it was just foul hooked
Spankey reply :
On 2/7/2017 at 2:29 AM, Scarborough817 said:a smallmouth turned on my popper so quick it hooked itself in the side i thought i was like a 6 pounder bringing it in but it was just foul hooked
Thought I caught a few state record smallies only to be a foul hooked runts.
soflabasser reply :
Interesting subject with good timing. A couple weeks ago I caught a bass with my bare hands since the bass beached itself like a Orca while attacking some baitfish on the shore.
Bucky205 reply :
Yes, Fly fishing for salmon in Alaska during the spawn. They are so thick it looks like you could walk on them. They have to be released when not hooked in the mouth. It literally seems you catch 4 to 1 not hooked in the mouth.
Dwight Hottle reply :
On 2/7/2017 at 6:38 AM, Spankey said:Thought I caught a few state record smallies only to be a foul hooked runts.
I say this all the time " this is a big smallmouth unless it's foul hooked"
RoLo reply :
"Ever caught a fish without hooking the mouth?"
Oh yeah, and a few times I believe I hooked the fish next to him 
Sittin there reelin em in reply :
Some very unusual caught fish here! I hope all of them made it back to the water same. #Basslivesmatter
UPSmallie reply :
Not as impressive as everyone else's, but I once noodled a 12 lb Atlantic Salmon by grabbing onto its tail and hanging on for dear life. Granted it was in a 20 foot by 5 foot hatchery tub. The water was probably 4 feet though, and everyone else was taking them out with big dip nets 
Mosster47 reply :
I caught a decent little bass a couple summers ago on a 10XD that I would think was swimming away from it and got hooked. The hook went all the way through it right above the tail. I was reeling one way and it was facing the other.
jboutfishn reply :
I have foul hooked many fish. The largest was a 13 lb Squaw fish on a jig while working structure of a long submerged bridge for spots on Shasta Lake. The hook snagged him in the lower jaw. The most surprising was a small mouth hooked on top of the head with a Shaky head 7" worm. 60 years ago (yea, I am an old guy) I snagged a 10 lb carp in the East Walker river between Bridgeport and Nevada border using a night crawler. I guess the wildest was a 9 lb Steelhead snagged in the dorsal fin fly fishing with a # 14 Copper John. Took forever to land that one.
I release everything I catch in fresh water. 
Sittin there reelin em in reply :
That's amazing guys i saw this video that was in Alabama. This dude took a shiner in his hand and got out on a dock and would take that shiner and run it across the water. It only took a few times until this, I think 16 or 15 pound bass comes up and hammers the shiner and he grabs the fish. It was awesome!!
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