What a timely topic...

Over the weekend my father and I caught and released over 100 trout with about 30 fish between 15 and 20 inches on a small private pond (newly stocked). We left hooks in about half of them on Saturday with bait so Sunday & Monday we switched to plastic and plugs.

Wednesday night my brother caught one about 18 inches with a hook deep in it's throat.

He kept the fish and I was able to identify it (almost positively by the short leader material and hook) as one of my size 2 Gami baitholders.

Approx four days later the hook was still shiny with only a slight hint of discoloration where it was embedded in the fish. The entry point showed a tiny bit of irritation, but no festering wound.

In my opinion;
I don't think hooks go away as fast as we would like, but I do know that by cutting my leader (Yes it can be a pain to always retie) I am giving that fish a chance (as slim as it may be) and I am giving another angler a chance to enjoy that same fish.