Originally Posted by
7mmwsm
Circle hooks and a hook puller. I make hook pullers out of number 8 wire. A simple 12 inch length with a right angle bend the width of your hand on one end(for a handle) and a small hook bent in the other end. (I made a few out of stainless in the early days, but it hurts when some clown drops one over the side. Number 8 is way cheaper) It's a bit hard to explain how they work. Catch the trace with the puller (trace in your left hand, puller in your right), slide trace through puller until bend in hook is hooked in puller. Lift up with your right hand and push down with your left so trace is parallel with the fish. Puller has stopped in the bend of the hook. If it is done right, the fish will be only be held on the hook by the barb and/or the tip of the circle. A sideways twist of the puller sees the fish fall off untouched by hands. Only works on lip hooked fish though. I normally use the cheap square long line hooks for rod fishing and probably get less than ten percent hooked anywhere other than the lip.