Foul Hooked Question

[smlfishing]

The other day my son caught a decent bass while throwing F18's at night.  The fish must have went after it but got hooked down the side of the face and none in the mouth. Easy to do if you have ever used a f18 hooks get stuck everywhere.  We have always considered them foul hooked but a bass guy that was fishing with us said it was fine since he was going after it.  We did not think so and would not turn it in.  I tried to look it up but it more defines snagging which is on purpose and makes me think there is a difference and we were correct on it being foul hooked.  Anyone know the rules on this in a tournament? 

[penhook]

if the fish was going after it it is foul hooked and if it is intentional then it is snagging. That is what i have always heard

[johnr]

If it wasn't hooked inside the mouth, then its foul hooked and doesn't count.

[Red Bear]

tournament wise, i think it needs to be hooked in the mouth. snagging and foul hooked are indeed different as well.

[31Airborne]

johnr and RB are correct - the rules state the hooks must be in the mouth. hard to enforce this when there aren't any marshals. it's also hard to enforce when the pros on MLF are counting fish they've foul hooked (check out some of the jerkbait and topwater strikes).

[startingover]

I also agree. I never fished a BASS tx that a foul hooked fish counted. Either way, unless you guys see in the water MUCH better than I, or are fish whisperers...I don't know how you can tell if a fish meant to eat it or not!  

[smlfishing]

Thanks for confirming... I did not think they were correct. I feel much better that we released it instead of turning it in and that I did not take anything away from my son. I could definitely see how that happens if you ever tried getting a MB jerkbait out of the boat carpet by the time you get one undone the other is hooked on something else.
Thanks again

[sewelljx]

May 9, 2019 8:05:53 GMT -5 smlfishing said:

The other day my son caught a decent bass while throwing F18's at night.  The fish must have went after it but got hooked down the side of the face and none in the mouth. Easy to do if you have ever used a f18 hooks get stuck everywhere.  We have always considered them foul hooked but a bass guy that was fishing with us said it was fine since he was going after it.  We did not think so and would not turn it in.  I tried to look it up but it more defines snagging which is on purpose and makes me think there is a difference and we were correct on it being foul hooked.  Anyone know the rules on this in a tournament? 

Different bass organizations have different rules on this. I know one of the major orgs allows you to count it as a caught fish if it’s hooked outside of the mouth as long as you couldn’t see the fish ie sight fishing.

[greg]

If you're sight fishing. the fish must be hooked inside the mouth. If throwing a jerkbait, crankbait, or any moving bait, the fish can be hooked outside of the mouth as long as it wasn't intentionally snagged. I've caught plenty of fish throwing a popper that was hooked outside the mouth, the fish was just swiping at the bait or just plain missed it.

From BASS:
No competitor may intentionally snag or foul-hook a bass to be counted in his daily catch.
Anyone guilty of intentionally snatching or snagging visible fish will have his catch disqualified.
When visually fishing for bedding bass, to be counted as a legal fish, each bass must be hooked
inside the mouth and must be verified by the angler’s marshal, camera operator or other observer
before being unhooked. With the fish’s mouth closed naturally, you must not be able to see where
the hook point enters the fish for it to be considered.

From FLW:
All bass caught while sight-fishing must be hooked inside the mouth and immediately shown to your marshal, FLW camera operator or remote POV camera for verification.

From MLF:
Any Bass caught while “visually fishing” must be hooked inside the mouth and verified by the MLF Boat Official before being unhooked. The weight of a Bass caught by the technique of “visual fishing” can only be scored once during that day.

[greywalls]

^^ That is helpful.

From BBT: All bass must be caught on artificial bait by casting only, no foul hooking of bedding fish. A foul hooked “bedding” fish is defined as a fish that does not have at least one hook in its mouth, and it must be released.