Fish Handling with Boga Grip

[pearl]

I have been looking at these for some time and with all the bantering going back and forth about how to handle and release wild fish I would like to seek your opinions on it's use here in our NW waters. This is a quality manufactured product that cost a few bucks but if it pans out it would be well worth the investment. http://www.ospreybay.com/boga_grip.htm

The up side I see is that fact that a wild fish will not have to see a net or be handled with human hands thus knocking off the slime that is vital to salmon and steelhead.

The down side would stress on the fishes jaw while getting it unhooked.

[ 02-26-2004, 08:08 AM: Message edited by: pearl ]

[Lured In]

Pearl...I had a similar thought on this and posted a thread on this about a month ago. It didn't gain much traction, but I am still wondering...?

[Woody]

I see the bass Billy Bobs on TV grab those suckers by the bottom jaw all the time. I've often wondered what kind of damage they were doing. Apparently, not much.

I don't know whats worse, scale/slime damage, or a dislocated jaw. I kinda like the idea of that thing though. Just grab 'em by the lip, pull the hook, and get a weight, too.

[Lwagg2]

This practice is extermely opinion orientate, so let me voice mine. I don't support lip grabbers in anyway, Just think of someone picking you up by your jaw ???? uhm ouch that not gonna feel good, sure fish are built different than humans but just the chance of dislocating is enough to send chills up my spine.
Again there is not alot of data backing up pros, and cons on these devices, the articles I have found and read all seem to be more opinion than fact.
Just my 2 cents

[RichH]

I would think there would be a lot of tissue damage but again, show me the proof.

[Wreckless]

I think I'm going to get one and use it on natives. I think if they aren't lifted out of the water, it'll be better than netting. Having been "hooked" twice while releasing "natives", I think it will be a good investment, for the protection of the fish AND me. [img]graemlins/dork.gif[/img]

I also bass fish (I know, I know) and it always amazes me how "the pros" hold a fish out of water, by the jaw for what seems like an eternity, while promoting the latest.......Slugo. The Boga grip will be great for releasing bass, in the water. Especially the ones with a large crankbait full of hooks in their mouth!

Can ya get a Boga grip around here or do I have to call my dealer?....err.....aaah... Cabelas

[garyk]

I believe the issue is whether the fish is lifted by its jaw or if you use the Boga to simply grasp the jaw leaving the fish in the water - huge difference.

I've just read (and will post it if I can find it) a detailed report by a fish bio on damage done to fish, if hung by the jaw. It cited everything from damage to the jaw structure that inhibited eating, to tearing of internal connective mesentary tissues and resulting hemoraghing; this is caused by the guts sliding downwards as the fish is hung vertically.

Just because a fish swims away doesn't mean it will survive. The type of damage cited above may/will cause death many days later.

Rather than a Boga, and also in Cabelas is a hook release tool for $27 which looks very promising. With it, you're grabbing the hook and not the fish.

Here it is:


[ 02-27-2004, 05:00 PM: Message edited by: skein ]

[DJFISHS2XS]

Bass dont have the teeth or the weight that a steelhead has, and they are one tough fish when it comes to catch and release as long and you dont crank stright down when holding the fish up by the jaw. gripping them by the jaw does NOT remove the slime or scales the number one cause of infection that well kill fish. That why you dont see nets in the Bassmasters, they are against the rules. The other thing that the bass guys do that is way ahead of the salmon/steelhead guys is the tournys that do allow net you well see mostly rubber nets which are also better to pretect the fish from slime/scale removel.......

[JohnB]

There is an article in the current issue of Saltwater Sportsman by J Gribich, PhD who says that his research indicates it is extremely harmful to use a lip-grip.

Basically, he likens a fish's jaw to "a third class lever, well suited for catching and consuming prey but not designed to support the weight of its body".

He goes on to say that the jaw muscles are in serious jeopardy of being torn when picked up this way because you put nearly all of the fish's weight on its lower jaw which was not designed for this.

Other points:
1) fish muscles were designed to be used in water which is nearly weightless compared to the air

2) As a fish grows heavier it's jaw muscles do not grow proportionally. So a larger fish is more likely to be harmed

3) Lifting the fish this way can cause damage to a fish's internal organs -- a fish wasnt designed to be held vertivcally in the air.

There is lots more.... get the mag if interested. I checked and this article isnt online yet.

My advice: leave them in the water and if you cant easily remove the hook, cut your leader to release the fish even if it has your favorite $5 kwiki attached. Each fish is too valuable to be wasted by improper handling.

[pearl]

Taking JohnB's advice, I happened to have a copy of SaltWater Sportsman on the family room coffee table that hadn't been read yet. The article titled " Lip Gripping, may harm fish" put up a very good argument against using a lip grip tool to hold fish. The part that seemed to sway my thinking was the fact that holding a fish up by the jaw not only stresses the fishes jaw and attached muscles but the effect that it may have on the internal organs of the fish out of water opposed to a fish in a natural bouyant in water situation. Besides who am I to argue with the author who has a PhD in fish physiology and biomechanics from Florida State University. After further review it looks like a tailing glove and cradle the body may be the best way to handle the fish.

Can anyone counter these thoughts ??

[Green Willie]

I have used a gripper on native steelhead a couple of times. Just trying it out at this point. I would never dream of lifting the fish with the thing, unless it was a fish that I was going to bonk (hatchery only, of course).

When I've used the gripper, my partner was playing the fish. He'd ease the fish along side the DB, while I was on my knees leaning over the gunnel. Gently, I would grasp the lower jaw with the gripper and quickly remove the hook. Open the gripper, fish swims away. The fish was completely in the water, except for it's mouth, and was facing up current.

Had one fish begin to stuggle, immediately let go of him and had my partner bring it back along side the boat. The whole de-hooking, release process takes literally seconds with this method.

Again, I would not lift a nate with this thing. By the way, there is some disagreement amongst the bass guys. There has been discussion about the probability of breaking the lower jaw on a fish when you hold the fish parallel to the ground by it's lower jaw.


JN

[ 02-26-2004, 10:32 PM: Message edited by: Jetty Nut ]

[Lwagg2]

thanks for reminding me where i read that article JOHNB i was searching the net for it and could not find it when i posted my opinion earlier, but now i member it next to the throne

[STGRule]

Just from a pure biological stance, (whispered so we don't offend anybody, Can't have anybody thinking salmonids aren't supreme.) salmonids aren't very high on the evolutionary scale and don't have a lot of calcium in their bones. Not like higher evolved vertebrates. Those lip-grabber things are very likely to crush the bone or tear connective tissue in salmonids. I'm not even sure that they are all that good for bonier fish, but really not a good idea for soft-boned fish.

[ 02-27-2004, 12:55 AM: Message edited by: STGRule ]

[onebadfish]

DJFISHS2XS is right. you can't lip a salmon like you do a bass; apples and oranges. not even close in jaw structure. STGdude, where did you get that quacked up evolution stuff? calcium has more than one effect on bone structure. maybe you were around a couple of million years ago?

[STGRule]

onebadfish,
It actually does have to do with calcium regulation. Salmonids are classified in the lower teleosts, it was 395 million years ago not a couple million and it's dudette, not dude. :grin:

[Tagster]

STG-Rule- very nice!!!

:smile:

[onebadfish]

even if i had poor presentation and a 100 year old half-baked theory was what i used for bait, i caught at least 2 of you with it. fish on baby. er dudette, i mean. yee haw.