Releasing Trout - Small Blood Loss A Concern?

[dberlando]

Caught a 16 inch lake rainbow on size 14 dry hooked in lower corner of mouth. Fly was a bit tough to remove despite being barbless and had to pull quite hard with the pliers. Upon holding the fish in the water to revive it, I noticed a small amount of blood coming from the mouth. Fish swam away strongly, but am wondering if bleeding, even a small amount, is survivable? Will small wounds clot up in the water?

Many thanks, D.

[FraserN]

There should not be any problem with that. As long as the hook was not in the gills. A hook in the corner of the mouth commonly causes a bit of blood when removed. I have seen it a lot of times in fish I have caught. The fish will be fine.

[Flyfisher]

From what you describe it doesn't sound like the fish was bleeding from the gills, so it should be fine. Bleeding from the gills is a different matter and often it can be fatal.

[Hawgstoppah]

I've actually had some fish bleed pretty bad so I keep them in the net to make sure they are OK, usually takes about 2 minutes and the bleeding will stop... then the fish rests up, gets it's colors back fully (you can actually watch the fish turn from tired and pale, to vibrant colors, right before your eyes) and heads on out under it's own power, and I assume they are fine