i have a pair of snap on hand held bolt cutters about 50 bucks. cuts like a dream. the craftsman ones work good too.
i had to rescue my buddy from a fiesty bass last year with them. he got two trebles past the barbs in his palm.with the bass still flopping arround.
like they say,
the front hook is for bass, the rear hook is for bluefish and the middle hook is for your hand.