A few years ago a study was done on one of our area lakes concerning deeply hooked fish that were released with the hook imbeded. Musky was the specie, 36 to 48 inches. A very large size hook--9/0. I'm not sure how many, maybe 35 or 40 were caught on live bait, deeply hooked, the line was cut,a radio transmitter was implanted, and the fish were tracked. The fish were caught in November, by the middle of the following summer all the fish had died. The ones that were recovered seemed to have sufffered a cruel death without being able to feed. I used to believe that cutting the line was best but this study has certainly changed my mind. This study is limited to one specie and one kind of hook, perhaps panfish on a light wire might have a getter chance of survival, I don't think I would survive with a hook down my gullet. Perhaps hook manufacturers have to come up with a rapidly disolving hook. Circle hooks are a good alternative that I have not tried. I've been told that they are not as effective on fish with teeth, they need to slide into the corner of the mouth. I prefer a very fast hookset.