You wouldn’t shove off without spare jigs, hooks, line, a knife, and pliers, not to mention some other indispensable fishing tools. But there is a limit to space on your vessel and in your tackle bags. Ultimately, some fishing tools you can go without.
This brings up some questions. Namely, is a fish gripper among those you should bring on the water?
As it turns out, there are numerous reasons that a fish gripper can benefit not just the fish, but you. Let’s take a closer look.
It Protects You and the Fish
Let’s start this by examining the stresses incurred on a fish when it is caught. Not only is it stressful for a fish to be hooked and winched up to the surface, but being handled by a predator (you) is no cakewalk for a gamefish, either.
There are many wrong ways to handle a fish and only so many right ways. A fish gripper is designed to offer maximum control and leverage over the fish without putting undue stresses on any particular part of the body minus the jaw, and if you support the fish properly, that issue solves itself.
But there is more to this. A fish’s body is covered in a slime coat, which performs many functions, but in this arena, the main issue is one of serving as the fish’s main line of defense against infection.
A fish’s slime coat is central to its immune system and is one of the fish’s first barriers against microbial infection. A compromised slime coat will stress the fish and make it much more prone to diseases.
Some anglers have an untoward tendency to manhandle fish they catch, and in the process, remove no small quantity of the fish’s slime coat in the process. On top of that, what’s worse is handling fish with a towel, which does wholesale damage to the slime coat.
Used properly, a fish gripper can keep your hands off the fish entirely, which can help keep the slime coat intact, ensuring that your handling of the fish is minimally invasive and helping to ensure that the fish gets back in the water with as little compromise to its immune system and overall health as possible.
That covers the major benefits to the fish, but there are benefits to you as well.
When you catch a big fish that isn’t quite spent even when it gets to the rail, the head thrashing won’t stop even after you get the fish on deck. Often, there are exposed trebles and additional assist hooks swinging wildly all over the place.
Lipping and even gilling a fish will put your hands (and the rest of you) in dangerous proximity to those exposed points. It’s only a matter of time before an errant point makes contact with some part of you, hand or otherwise.
Using a fish gripper creates distance between you, the fish, and any exposed hook points. So, ultimately, it’s not just in the interest of the fish, but in your interest as well, to use a fish gripper.
Does that make it an indispensable fishing tool? Perhaps not on the same level as a knife or a pair of pliers, but it’s still one you should keep on board. There are more occasions to use one than there are not to.
Shop Fish Grippers and Other Fishing Tools at Johnny Jigs
Looking for a fish gripper or other fishing tools? Check out Johnny Jigs; they carry a wide range of fishing tools as well as slow pitch jigs and other terminal tackle. Visit their website and get in touch with them if you have any questions.
For more information about Daiwa Saltiga and Electric Fishing Reels Please visit: Johnny Jigs.