Quote Originally Posted by peter View Post
My guess is that any floaters were released fish as everyone I caught (live bait) was hooked way down in the gut. Those little ones sure do make a mess of the other down lines.
I noticed something when I was down last week, First one we caught on a downpole just barely legal was gut hooked, and I had on a small Gamakatsu hook and a shiner. a #2. Since I had to cut that line and keep the fish, I tied on a bigger #4 Octupus. Next couple we caught were hooked thru the top of the front lip or thru the sides of the mouth.

I know big hooks make the bait weird, and scares some fish off, but just thought the bigger hook was part of why the next couple avoided gut hooking.

Course, might just have been the first guy was really hungry, and the last two were just mouthing the biat when they got hooked up.