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[Blood_Orange]

Went fishing at Albert Dyck for the first time this year and the small bass have woken up from their slumber. I usually just go for a worm under a float and it works fine for the bass. The sunfish have such a light bite though that they often swallow the hook before the float starts dipping under the water. Their mouths are so small that it's near impossible to get the hook out. Any suggestions for gear to make the chance of them swallowing the hook less likely? I tried a bigger hook today (size 2) and they still swallowed it. Are there other styles of hook that work better? Should I go for a bigger hook? Or is there a technique to get the hook out? There's writeups online on how to free a gut hooked bass but the sunfish's gill aren't big enough to make that work. Thanks!

[Rieber]

Might sound bad to some but they are an invasive species so take your knife and cut your hook out. Some will find this disgusting while some will be with me on this one. Sorry - my beliefs.

You have to be quicker on your hooksets. Strike soon as you see the bobber twitch. Don't wait for the bobber to go under - by then the bait has been swallowed.

Try a lighter bobber for earlier detection. Put on more bait onto a bigger hook.

[RalphH]

try circle hooks - they were designed to avoid gut hooking.

[DanL]

Go even bigger on hooks? Bass have huge mouths. There must be some size of hook that a sunfish cannot physically even fit in their mouth that bass would have no problem inhaling.

Or use a more active technique that wont likely be swallowed? topwater, soft plastics, fly fishing etc?

[zap brannigan]

invasives kill them anyhow.

[Damien]

Long shank hook.  Try micro jigs or fly patterns.

Or kill them.

[pwn50m3 f15h3r]

I agree with killing them. They reproduce extremely fast and taste pretty good when pan fried

[Walleye76]

As other have said they are invasive so a few less in the system is a good thing.... however I am curious as to what size hook you are using? Bass (even smallmouth) have much bigger mouths then panfish so switch up to a bigger hook, even a 1/0 will not be too big for your target species

[redtide]

the lake at Albert Dyke Park is a man made self enclosed lake that was stocked with panfish and bass. you dont need to kill anything needlessly from there like others have stated. People of all ages go there to catch fish to take home to eat or just have fun. If your gonna use a bobber setup with worm try changing to the circle hooks it will reduce gut hooked fish. Or you can try other methods i have seen people use with success. Spincasting a wedding band with a piece of worm near weed beds. or on the dock casting out and jigging with green or brown colored jig tails. Seen some kids cast out small panther martin spinners like the yellow body with red dots with a slow retrieve have luck with small bass. good luck.

[Blood_Orange]

I'm not interested in killing the sunfish as a matter of course but I'm also not offended at the suggestions to do so.

I'll try circle hooks and a lighter float. I usually go with 8g but I think I have a 4 or 6g somewhere in the tackle box.

I've fished lots of different setups/lures at Albert Dyck and pretty much everything produces. I've got a soft spot for float fishing though... the feeling of watching the bobber go under never gets old 

[Quin]

A couple of suggestions- a more sensitive float like a Thill "Shy Bite" or using a long shank hook, like an Aberdeen, where the long shank will allow you to grasp the hook to reverse it and "pop" it out. Circle hooks work well at avoiding gut hooking but can be a pain to "rotate" out of the tiny mouths of sunfish, imho.

Thanks for trying to avoid gut hooking and causing unnecessary injury to the fish as that can cause some of the public to start to oppose sport fishing as cruelty to animals. Not that some need a reason.

[Walleye76]

You could even go with a slip indicator that can be found any the fly fishing section of pretty much any tackle store

[Blood_Orange]

I picked up some circle hooks a couple weeks back and went to a small local creek to try them out. Mostly pikeminnow and cutties and still gut hooked 2 out of 8 fish :/

Tried again today in a slightly larger river today and did away with the float entirely; just a circle hook with a bit of worm, and a tiny split shot above the leader. Let it drift with the current and gave it the occasional jig. No gut hooks today out of about 12 fish but 4 of them were hooked through the eye socket. I know that fishing is not a harm-free activity but I'm still feeling like there's got to be a statistically less harmful method.

Is fly fishing any better in this regard? I picked up a fly rod last spring but haven't gotten good with it yet.

[ByteMe]

I use circle hooks exclusively for all species. I picked up some small #10 on line, as they are really hard to find in stores. I use them for cutts in the fall when they start feeding on salmon eggs, works well, most important for me is, if or when I strike, I move the rod low across the river towards shore which will catch them in the corner of the mouth 90% of the time, your mileage may vary

[Blood_Orange]

I use circle hooks exclusively for all species. I picked up some small #10 on line, as they are really hard to find in stores. I use them for cutts in the fall when they start feeding on salmon eggs, works well, most important for me is, if or when I strike, I move the rod low across the river towards shore which will catch them in the corner of the mouth 90% of the time, your mileage may vary

I went with size 6 which was the smallest they stock at Sea-Run. Maybe smaller hooks would help avoid poking the eyes of the smaller fish. Where did you order them? Can't find them on Amazon Canada, Cabelas.ca, or other Google results. Checked eBay as well but the shipping costs are stupid ($3.50 for some hooks, $17 for shipping).