I can't be the only one....catching fish with a hook!

[fish farmer]

Glad to see that I am not the only one who has taken advantage of this tactic. Whats funny is that I do not remember ever reading or seeing anyone mention this as a legit option to remove a nuisance fish.

For those willing to try I obviously recommend an appropriately sized and de-barbed hook. Present the bait in a way that only the fish you want will eat it and once he does snatch him - FAST. Snatching him as soon as he has the bait fully in his mouth will help ensure that you do not hook him too deep. Have a pair of hemostats on hand to remove the hook. This technique is obviously best when targeting an aggressive feeder. Good Luck!

That's the way to do it, get them away from the rocks before they scoot in a hole. Just like regular fishing. I've done it a couple of times. I took out a purple pseudo when it was harassing a mandarin. I also attemped to remove a lunare wrasse from a bigger tank, but he got smart after a few tries. I use small fly fishing hooks and light line. It is handy to have a bucket or net outside the tank to quickly drop them in if they aren't hooked well. Mysis shrimp make good bait.

 

[FredsNJReef]

I always wanted to do that when I had my V tailed grouper lol. Couldn't bring myself to do it so went to Florida to catch some bigger ones

 

[Paul B]

I caught my blue wrasse with a hook, he got to big so I gave him away

 

[sp1187]

Mauritius Grouper.
30” deep tank.
Missed with the net and he wasn’t giving me another shot and I’d already lost quite few other tank critters to it.
1/8 oz jig took 10 seconds.
My daughter still laughs about daddy fishing in the fish tank. ( she was 3, now 25 )

 

[Justin Swinney]

Tank full of fish I still wouldn’t catch anything

 

[Michael Naegeli]

I used to do that all the time in my old 180 bowfront filled w pooper fish... domino damsel was huge and aggressive as they come. A few other brutal fish always causing havoc. I got me one of those little miniature rod n reel combo u see at Walmart and went to town. When I hooked the giant Domino he fought like a dang Wahoo. Ripping through my reef making a mess of corals all over. Had to tighten the drag. Haha. Was an Epic battle for sure. He ended up in the waters of Siesta Key Fl where I live. No one would take him in. Like I said he was Huge. Seemed to acclimate very well for I took the time to do him right.

 

[Gahngoo]

Who has used a fishing hook to remove an unwanted fish. One time I had a damsel fish from hell and I simply could not catch him. I did not want to take apart my tank to catch him so I employed my favorite hobby, fishing. I reached into my tackle and found the smallest hook I owned, debarbed it, then baited it. I waited for the damsel to swim where I wanted and lowered the bait to him. He ate it and then I caught him. I took him to the LFS for credit and that was the end of that.

I tried fishing too, but was unsuccessful. Whenever a "non-target" fish would try to eat it, I'd pull up the hook. Never got the fish I was after.

 

[sponge]

I had to resort to fly fishing a damsel out of my 46 a bunch of years back . This fish decimated the other inhabitants I had; to where the damsel was the only fish left alive. I tried to net it , but would swim into a hole in a rock .

I went to Gander and picked up the smallest fly hook I could fine. I made a small fishing pole using a tooth pick and fly leader,soak the fly in food;then went fishing .There was no harm to the fish,and the fly came out with out effort. I found it amusing to be fishing my fish tank .

 

[psturg66]

I don't do Damsels!

 

[Jtarlo]

I had done this years ago when first starting in the hobby started with several Domino's and some Chromis fish. In hindsight they were but far mega aggressive. Not to mention impossible to net and other methods failed as well. In Wisconsin ice fishing is common, so take a small ice jig or small ice fishing hook, the line is also very thin. The jig works well as it sinks and doesn't stay buoyant, put a small pice of shrimp on or wet some dry food and ball it up and squeeze on hook put it and let er rip. Nice thing is you don't have to get up at the crack of dawn, no fishing license and weather doesn't matter......

 

[Deereefer]

Wow. Interesting. I would never thought to do it this way. Maybe I will try it on my six line wrasse jk

 

[RobertP]

Yeah did this years ago trying to catch a very aggressive cichlid in a freshwater tank. Used my daughters first fishing pole because it was so short and just a small hook and no bait. They will hit anything that goes in the water and caught him almost immediately.

 

[rvlcf]

I have used this method to get a fish out of the back of my old IM38. It was the best way to get him out. For anyone trying this, I recommend getting a size 20 or smaller flyfishing hook and 6x tippet or finer. Pinch the barb down and cover it with food. When netting a fish isn’t going to work, this will do the trick.

 

[TexasTodd]

Yep, if you have a fly fishing shop near you, they have super small hooks, many that are already barbless. Also, if you add a tiny split-shot weight right above the hook helps you get the bait where you want faster.
I visited a friends house one time and he was trying to spear his Sohol Tang, who was bad even for that species and in an in-wall tank. Came back the next day and caught it in under a minute.

 

[Sump Crab]

For everyone mentioning using fly fishing tackle you are right - small hooks that are already barbless and tiny tippet makes a perfect combo. If your fish are on pellet food then just get a really small brown nymph and it will work! No bait needed.

 

[fish farmer]

For everyone mentioning using fly fishing tackle you are right - small hooks that are already barbless and tiny tippet makes a perfect combo. If your fish are on pellet food then just get a really small brown nymph and it will work! No bait needed.

Beadhead Caddis is considered the "pellet fly".

 

[Sump Crab]

Beadhead Caddis is considered the "pellet fly".

That or any sort of brown midge pattern! LOL

 

[HB AL]

I hooked my grouper but he broke me off in the rocks

 

[pfoxgrover]

It worked! I was a little afraid of by-catch so I ran the line through this clear pipe so I could suck the hook into the tube if the wrong fish swam by. I was after an archeye hawkfish (was attacking any new fish his size or smaller, trap never worked) so it helped that he perches inside the coral branches making it harder for the other fish to get to the hook. I had to try on three different occasions over two days. I think he was a little more hungry the third time around. I used a size 12 hook and ground the barb off with pliers and a small file . I also used a few small led weights also. Thanks for posting this thread, I think it helped motivate me to try this. Time to go buy some fish!

 

[brandon429]

#21 fly hook / cabelas, I think they go as small as #22 but were out at the time. I used hook/guilty to get a two inch long koi out of a large planted tank, baited with a single thawed bloodworm/debarbed. took two seconds to lift him out/harmlessly fattening in pond now



why that video doesn't show much: im mouth fishing biting down on the line to hold it midway, standing on a drumset stool, cam in one hand, holding my tank lid in the other so it doesn't fall in the water and ruin an hd prime knowing that I myself have high standards for what I like to see in videos and what I don't/shaky crapola. with timed pausing, a string jutting out of that fella's mouth is viewable. he's only swimming up due to the tug, or he'd be diving down to the bottom of the 6 foot tall tank that's a fact. its why I had to hook him, who puts a koi in a 6 foot column tank