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This is something I should have shared a long time ago. Hopefully most of you will already know how to do this, but for those of you that don't please read and put into practice as it will save a lot of fish that are otherwise destined to die from blood loss due to physical damage. I've only used this on bass, but feel sure it would apply to other species as well. For the most part I'm a catch and release fishermen only occasionally keeping a very few smaller fish for the table. Until I learned this simple trick it always pained me to see a fish that I was planning on releasing struggling to live no matter how long you to "revive" it. A gut hooked fish can suffer a good deal of physical harm if the hook isn't removed properly no matter how careful you are. Here is what you need to do to get the hook out without doing damage to the fish. The first thing you need to do is cut your line about a foot up the line from your hook. This will give you enough play to then pass the line through the fish's gills. If the point of the hook is closest to the right side of the throat then you pass the line through the gills on the right side of the fish. If the point is closest to the left side then pass it through the gills on the left side. Once you have the line pulled through the appropriate set of gills just tighten it up enough to turn the line tie of the hook in that direction. Keeping steady pressure you then use a pair of needle nose pliers to grab the bend of the hook as close as possible to the point without forcing the pliers down the fish's throat. You may have to use slight pressure to get the barb loose, but this can usually be done by pushing the hook in the direction of the barb. Just make sure to use light pressure when making any movements as the hook will usually come out much easier than what one would think. This does take a little extra time, but to anyone that practices catch and release that shouldn't be much of a problem. Just remember the fish you release alive today may well live long enough to become the trophy your kids or grand kids catches one day. thanks for reading, Ben