Lindy Rigs with small snell hooks.

[JCR]

I'm going to throw this out fully expecting to get hosed. However what the H. I think there are too many Eye's being gut hooked and killed with small snell hooks on rigs. I won't use them, or let anyone in my party. I would propose a minimum size for any hook on a rig leader. OK let me have it.

[CaptJohnWI]

I'm not so sure a bigger hook would solve the problem. On rare occasions when I use smaller live bait, I use a circle hook. Very little problem gut hooking em with those. I use quick strike rigs with big suckers or dead bait.

And cutting the leader rarely saves the fish - just a lingering death. They will NOT disolve in stomach acid. I have caught several fish with hooks in them and every hook was still in good shape, some even after they had passed all the way through the fish. In-Fisherman has run stories about this and techniques for removing deep hooks.

[Fish&Fowl]

Can't say we get many fish swallowing small hooks. There's always an occasional one, as with any presentation, that get hooked bad or is bleeding pretty good, but that's part of fishing. Just gotta know what's going on and if they're hitting hard, don't feed them as much or throw on a bigger crawler/leech/minnow.

[JCR]

I aggree an experienced Eye fisherman can usually avoid gut hooking with a small hook Lindy Rig. However there are a lot of people fishing that are not very experienced, and those are the ones that gravitate toward the Lindy Rigs as they have trouble hooking up on a jig.

[Hookmaster]

If you guthook a fish, give the next one less time. Keep doing this until you are not guthooking them. Or use a circle hook. I have been using them on rigs and slip bobbers for several years with very few guthooked. If you use a circle hook, don't use an off-set hook like Gamakatsus. You want the hook point in line with the rest of the hook. And remember with a circle hook, don't set the hook, just reel.