SLIP BOBBER TIPS?

Four of us came up to the lake and fished five days this last week. We had a great time and caught fish everywhere, and with every type of presentation. We even caught three fat little perch off of spinner rigs, and cranks. This was the best fishing I’ve had there yet. I’m guesstimating we released 120+ fish, and ate 13. My only problem is that I don’t know how many of those released fish had problems surviving. I’ll say that at least 50 percent of the fish we caught on slip bobbers had totally engullfed the hook. Never in the years past have I had such a problem with getting hooks out. Normally I wait ten seconds after the bobber goes under to set the hook, but even after cutting that time in half we still were hooking fish deep. Does anyone have any tips on quickly removing deep hooks, or ways to prevent it in the first place? Is any hook remover better than another? Does anyone fish with barbless hooks? Thanks for the help.
SED

Sed, I would recommend using and or trying non offset circle hooks. I have used them last yr with great success for slip bobbering. No hook-set, just when they take the bait, let them run and start cranking. About half way up give them a small set and its on. Works well for panfish as well. All of your hooks will be in the corner of the mouth, non in the gills or gullet.

Congrats on the great fishing!! If circle hooks don’t interest you, just cut the hook and toss the fish. It has a much better chance at survival this way then if you tear it up trying to get a 20 cent hook back. I’ve got this little red hook remover the works very well for the ones that aren’t swallowed. It has two “balls” at each end. It has a slot to guide it down the line also. They work great and only cost $1.00. Good luck!!

I think Waterfowler has the right Idea, Just cut the line,Chances are if yout messing with the Gullet their not going to survive. I caught a couple this weekend that had line coming out of their mouth and they had hooks in their gullet and still feeding away!