That's a good practice too. Two weekends ago on Barkley I caught one that had a 5/0 worm hook in its throat just before its stomach which had been there a bit and I was able to work it around and out and now that bass is hook free and un-injured. It has been a long time since I had one swallow that bad. It seems to me they get hooked in the gills more than deep in the throat.

Whenever I hook one in the gills and they are bleeding bad I usually put them in the well to see if they will make it. If not they won't go to waste (if you call feeding the turtles waste) but you would be surprised how often they quit bleeding and recover just fine. I can't remember the last time I had one die on me from bleeding gills...

kc