great story! swallowed as in gut hooked or swallowed as in no f#%$king way I'm putting my fingers any closer to that mouth? Being a fan of spoons I deal with trebles often but between the quick retrieve and ferocity of the strike rarely do they get more than one hook. in the rare times that they have I lay them down on a wet towel and do a gentle "spock" grip from above. this allows me to keep their head still while I use the leverage of the hook to remove it, I've never been bitten. then again I've been handling snakes, snappers, and other toothy critters all my life so I'm probably used to it
