Yes, hooks hurt fish because they have pain receptors (nociceptors) in their mouths and lips, and being hooked causes stress, injury, and can impair their ability to feed, though the severity depends heavily on hook placement and handling; proper catch-and-release techniques, like using barbless hooks and cutting the line if deeply hooked, minimize harm.
It does heal. I've seen though with experience that larger holes caused by large barbs or a hook in a particularly thin tissue (think mouth of a crappie), that it may take some time for those.
Only if they suffer damage when being unhooked. A single hook in the jaw, carefully pulled out, will do the fish no harm. Treble hooks, or single hooks swallowed, are another matter. Extracting those hooks is almost always fatal.
The research, conducted by a team of seven scientists and published in the journal Fish and Fisheries*, concluded that the fish's reaction to being hooked is in fact just an unconscious reaction, rather than a response to pain.
“Survival of lip hooked fish approached 100 per cent, but that number was dramatically less for fish that swallowed hooks,” he said.
The simple answer is yes. Many scientific studies over many years have demonstrated that fish feel pain. To be precise, this doesn't just mean that fish physically react to potentially injurious stimuli, but rather, that they actually experience a sensation of pain.
While many released fish survive to be caught again, it's generally accepted that some percentage of them succumb to the stress of being caught, handled and released.
So to answer the question if fish love and can show their love to their keepers, the answer is yes! Just like other pets, fish show their love and appreciation when they are happy. Unhealthy and poor water condition can make them feel sick and very unhappy.
From Norway's fjords to China's Qiandao Lake, fish are “getting smarter with each catch,” dodging hooks like they're apex predators—some even developing conditioned responses to metallic glints and fishing-line vibrations.
Moreover, some vertebrates, such as fish, may lack the neural machinery or architecture to consciously experience (i.e., to feel) noxious stimuli as painful (Key, 2015a).
Fish feel pain because, like all animals, they have nerves. Fish caught on hooks struggle out of fear and physical pain, desperate to breathe. Once they're hauled out of their environment and into ours, they begin to suffocate, and their gills often collapse.
Numerous studies in recent years have demonstrated that fish feel and react to pain. For example, when rainbow trout had painful acetic acid or bee venom injected into their sensitive lips, they stopped eating, rocked back and forth on the tank floor, and rubbed their lips against the tank walls.
Don't forget—catch & release fishing causes suffering too 🚫🎣 Fish feel pain when hooked, struggle to breathe on land, and experience such intense stress & fear that they often die when tossed back into the water 💔 Every animal deserves respect.
If you rupture a gill with a hook, a hemorrhage ensues and the fish bleeds to death. Gut hooked fish survive poorly for a number of reasons including bleeding, impaired feeding ability, infection, and disease.
Circle Hooks
Hooking a fish in the mouth reduces internal harm, decreases dehooking time, and lessens the chances of the angler needing to leave the hook in the fish.
In that study, fish were angled, lines were cut (i.e., hooks were not removed), and fish were released into ponds for up to 10 months. Mortality was 13.5% when hooks were swallowed, versus 4.2% for mouth-hooked fish.
The best fish scent attractants often center on garlic, anise, and natural prey scents like tuna, shrimp, or bloodworm, with formulas including amino acids to trigger feeding, but the most effective is often the one mimicking local forage, applied to lures (soft plastics, jigs) in a zip-lock bag for efficiency, especially in murky water or low-activity situations.
Controlled studies have shown that most fish released after hook-and-line capture, survive. Researchers working in Boca Grande Pass tagged 27 tarpon with sonic transmitters and found that 26 of these hook-and-line-caught fish survived. The one fish that died had been lifted from the water for a prerelease photograph.
Most freshwater fish prefer not to be touched. They are creatures that are used to living in a natural environment where they are not exposed to human touch. While some species may be more tolerant to human interaction and handling than others, in general, touching fish can be stressful and dangerous for them.
Elephants are considered to be one of the world's most empathic species as this is displayed throughour their interactions. In the wild, Asian and African elephant calves rely heavily on their mothers and family members for survival, social support, and learning during their first four to five years of life.
Some fish swim continuously, others stay in one place. Deviation from that norm usually indicates stress. Common symptoms of stress include: Fish stays near the surface gasping for breath, indicating that it has trouble getting enough oxygen (the concentration of dissolved oxygen is highest near the water's surface).
This involves carefully puncturing the swim bladder with a hollow needle to release excess gas. This is only recommended when the fish cannot maintain proper orientation and can be treated shortly after being caught. If done improperly, the fish can experience severe injury or death.