Thread: Lip grippers

Anyone using these . If so is there a brand you recommened/ avoid.

Thinking of trying to avoid handling cod, have dived under boats after returning fish that looked heathy as to find a number dead on the bottom. I thinking lip grippers and barbless hooks should help with this mortality.

Havent used them myself so cant comment.

Do you use very large circle hooks? swallowing the bait or gill hooking would have to be right up there in causing released cod to die wouldn't it?

Get yourself a pair of Gardening gloves (one with the rubber in the grip area) makes handling the fish easy, and use as VC says very large circle hooks

Forget the line and just spear them

Originally Posted by stingray

Thinking of trying to avoid handling cod, have dived under boats after returning fish that looked heathy as to find a number dead on the bottom. I thinking lip grippers and barbless hooks should help with this mortality.

Not sure about that. I remember reading about fish getting spine injuries after lip grippers were used. However, it may have been more about the way the were used. I think fish survival post-release is a lot lower than we think, especially in deeper water which is a bit depressing. I now aim to catch only what I want and stop when I've caught it. It doesn't always work out, but I'm trying.

Yeah large hooks, it's the handling I'm working on now, I know what you mean, gill / throat hooked is a death sentence ...what I am seeing is a 32 / 32.5 cm lip hooked handled released swims away. Goes into shock.. Damaged ... Dead

I honestly apreciate all the comments and ideas. What I'm thinking is to find a way / best practice to reduce the deaths of a damn near legal fish. That in a years time will be a taker.

I'm all for spearing them nothing like cracking Kina and sitting back smoking big boys as they sneak in for a feed.The crew on the other hand like to catch their cod

Originally Posted by stingray

I honestly apreciate all the comments and ideas. What I'm thinking is to find a way / best practice to reduce the deaths of a damn near legal fish.

I haven't done any serious bait fishing for 3 years, just softies and jigs = no gut hooked fish and average fish size is much bigger. Talking about snapper in the Northland, don't know if that would be realistic in other parts of the country though.

Originally Posted by MightyBoosh

I haven't done any serious bait fishing for 3 years, just softies and jigs = no gut hooked fish and average fish size is much bigger. Talking about snapper in the Northland, don't know if that would be realistic in other parts of the country though.

Ask @Munsey about fishing with soft baits...

Trade zone gone fishing had something about percentages of fish released that die afterwards

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I have lip gripper here you can have @stingray.
Be usefull for all those pesky sharks too. They are Berkley brand

Wow , huge thanks @Pengy, we will have to do a trip soon and give them a work out.

I use a wet towel. I guess that's just as bad as anything. Trying is the best you can do. Some mongrels just wrangle the hook out and chuck em back any old way.

Anything sizeable and it pays to have the wrist strap in place

Thanks again @Pengy.
Well I believe they are the business, for cod they took a bit of getting used to but once we got used to the idea we were away, we squashed our barbs down, lip gripped the cod rolled the hook out and released them back into the tide, no handling at all, the were also good for spikies , stand on tail lip grip the bugger roll the hook out and over the side .. Though the spikies still twisted around trying to get you with their tail spike and one larger one broke loose of the grippers.

I believe they certainly have a place in the cod fishery , no handling of undersized cod is certainly going to increase the chances of survival. I don't by any means think they are a silver bullet but I do believe they will help.

I use a body gripper for couta's Practised it a lot over the weekend and have the technique down pat. Its designed a lot like a gaff really and I find a knife gets them off it quite well too