Ethical or Not...whats your take?

[TheWoz]

Ok so I have heard countless back & forths about fish grips. Lots love them and a lot hate them.

A site I read on a lot had an awesome article (entertaining too) on all arguements debunked.
There's a lot of guys who say they kill fish and are unethical.

Any of you guys use grips regularly? What are your thoughts.
Here was the article and video I saw.
http://www.brookfieldangler.com/2013...-that-bad.html

[DanMarino]

If anyone is worried about possibly hurting a fish, then they should not be a fisherman.

I have a cheapie set of Bass Pro fish grips that has metal jaws like a Boga or that Lucid gripper, but it does not have 360 degree rotating jaws.

So potentially, if I gripped a fish and it decided to spin on me....my cheapie gripper could break the fish's lower jaw.

I'm not aware of this happening to any fish that I've handled with my gripper though.

I've used the gripper for walleyes, catfish, snakeheads, bluefish, redfish, and speckeled trout.

[Hemingway]

I have a set of Boga 30lb, and I like them to help control the fish during hook removal, photos, and measuring. I have heard the view that holding a fish vertical ( thought to mess up their vital organs) is bad. So I usually will net, apply the grip in the net to control flopping during hook removal, while trying to support them horizontally. I try to maintain the horizontal by using the Boga to slid them on the measuring board, and then it is easy to slid them off into the water, keep the Boga on until I am sure the fish has recovered. I feel that the fish retain a lot more of their slime with this method, and it is safer for both of us.

[BassMoore]

my personal experience is fish grips are a pain in the ass to use.. i spend more time waiting for the fish to open its mouth and make a clean clinch then i do just netting the damn thing.


they arent spring loaded, if anything just reach down and lip the thing, 90% of the fish we catch can be lipped

[TheWoz]

I like them to help control the fish during hook removal, photos, and measuring.

that seems like a common use! Thats how I like to use them. Otherwise the hooks get stuck in the net and sometimes with the fish still attached...gets messy in a hurry.

[Turtle135]

I use the fish grips on a 4 foot tether so I can let the fish swim while I get my camera ready. If the fish wants to spin or roll it is not a problem because after I clip the fish grip on I let go and let the fish swim while tethered. I am careful about where I clamp the grips down and the plastic jaws do not seem to do any damage to the fish I catch.

It sure makes it easy to handle a toothy fish like this for catch, photo and release:

[Memory Maker]

I keep them on the YAk but use a net mostly .......... don't lose a fish while trying to find the mouth, easier on the fish because they are under less physical stress etc ........ the grips come in when I want to pick up a toothy or big critter from the net. I try to use single hooks so there is less mess in the net

[TheWoz]

I use the fish grips on a 4 foot tether so I can let the fish swim while I get my camera ready.

Thats actually a great idea! Never thought about that!

[<MIKE>]

If anyone is worried about possibly hurting a fish, then they should not be a fisherman.

+1 on that.

90% of the fish we catch can be lipped

+1 on that too.

I never keep the fish that I catch so I try to release them in the best possible way. This forum and other sites have given me great tips on best practices for release.

I once had a pair of the Boga style metal grips until I lost them. While I had them I used them on several different species of fish. The species that had prominent teeth seemed to suffer the most but in any case they seemed pretty traumatic to the fish even if you supported the body properly. So I quickly stopped using them all together.

Later, I purchased the plastic style fish grips to see if the plastic would be less invasive. After using a couple times I noticed that the vise grip nature of how they clamp causes some trauma especially to the soft tissue and more so on species that have a thicker mouth wall. I still have them and use as a last resort. If I see that the fish is hooked well I sometimes just place my hawg trough under the fish while it is still in the water and use it to support the fish as I lift out of the water and also to minimize hand contact with the fish. This works best on smaller fish. I also try to remember to wet my hands before touching the fish. Barbless circle hooks are good and I avoid nets for many reasons. If the fish gets away it's definitely anticlimactic but I feel that they earned it. Even with circle hooks I sometimes gut hook a fish so I invested in a good hook removal device. Also, If it's very hot out I try to avoid pulling the fish from the water all together.

[JohnE]

I actually keep a mesh filleting glove with me for dealing with removing hooks from smaller fish sometimes--I have been stabbed in the hand a number of times and it does not feel nice. Not only is it hard to get the fish grip into the mouth of smaller fish, they are likely to get ripped open when they are thrashing around. The fish grip works great when wrestling with larger fish and I don't see that it would cause much "trauma". Reds, stripers 20"+, Specks 20"+,larger flounder, and anything toothy with a mouth big enough to fit I usually use fish grips. Anything smaller I use the glove or deal with them other ways.

I do keep some of the fish I catch, but I would like to see the ones I release go back relatively unharmed. Mesh glove method seems to work best for me on the smaller ones when I have to handle them. I also now use a "conservation" net.