About "Catch & Research"

Welcome. I found my passion in ecological economics and fishing. They are all about pursuit of unknown and uncertain objects. I always enjoy the seemingly reckless pursuit itself. This blog is a record of my long journey in research and fishing. Your comments are welcome and appreciated.

Tuesday, September 14, 2010

Fish Gripper

While kayak fishing, it is always risky to land ferocious fish which are hooked on crank bait. Because those treble hooks can hook myself, too. Ouch! I had a painful memory when I was landing striped bass couple of years ago. I tried to grab its mouth, but it shook its head at the very moment. It got my finger, but thanks god, I was using barbless treble hooks! It hurt but not that serious. If there were barbs, I don't even want to think about it. I was so lucky.

Since this experience, for my own safety, I exhaust fish before landing by dragging it over surface for a while. It is nothing different from chocking fish. It is not a bad tactic, but I always feel sorry for that. I also need to spend more time to revive the exhausted fish. You can consider to use a net, but a net takes space on already tiny kayak. Nylon nets also hurt fins of fish badly. Because nowadays I use mainly hard plastic lure, so I finally decide to have a fish gripper to reduce risk in landing.

I bought this Field & Stream's big game grip. Lately, I bought more Field & Stream's products than usual. But it was the only gripper at the store. More information is available at the linked web page.



So far, I am quite satisfied with it. Not only for kayak anglers, but for all anglers, I recommend fish gripper in general. It reduces all hassles in landing and handling fish.



Sponge grip makes the gripper easy to use with slimy hands. It was heavier than I thought. You need a bit of muscle to pull the trigger as shown in the picture above. A female angler complained about this. Durability of inner spring must be key review point. I will report about it later if I found any trouble.

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