Lip Grippers - Our Experiences

[Administrator]

Thought I would share a couple experiences with our lip grippers (as a follow up from @fishtildark 's thread) and are glad we have them with us. We were fishing for muskies at a small lake here in Pa near to us about 10 years ago when I tied into this fish. We had never gotten a fish of this caliber before. When this musky surfaced and we got a look at it, we were now faced with the task of getting it in the boat. Our net was not big enough to do the job. So John said just keep a tight line and let me have a smoke while I think about this. I quickly responded "What?" Thinking now is a fine time to have a cigarette but now realizing the fish was probably not ready to be landed yet. So he got out the lip grippers and got the fish in the boat with them.


As FishTilDark says after a couple pictures, this fish was revived without much effort and swam away for someone else to have the pleasure to catch her one day. By the way, she was 48 inches long. The elusive 50 incher is still out there for me.



We had a pair of the Berkley lip grippers then, and I believe it was this fish that sprung the jaws so they didn't meet. So after that, we replaced those Berkleys with a pair of Boga Grips, a much better piece of equipment if you are going after the big ones, but also a bit more pricey. http://www.cabelas.com/product/Original-Boga-Grip-174/734456.uts?Ntk=AllProducts&searchPath=%2Fcatalog%2Fsearch.cmd%3Fform_state%3DsearchForm%26N%3D0%26fsch%3Dtrue%26Ntk%3DAllProducts%26Ntt%3Dboga%2Bgrips%26x%3D0%26y%3D0%26WTz_l%3DHeader%253BSearch-All%2BProducts&Ntt=boga+grips&WTz_l=Header%3BSearch-All+Products We have the model 130 and like them very much, but highly recommend a float for them because of the price. They actually do float with the float attached to them. We tested it.

We had another incident a few years later that pretty well sealed the idea that we should be using them. First to set the stage, we had gone to a lake at Senneterre when we were jigging for eyes and John got a huge pike on. To this day, I think that pike was as big as that musky. Biggest pike I have ever seen. She got under the boat, had a brand new custom rod bent right over the boat and finally the line broke. Never got it in the boat, but at least got a chance to see it. That fish at that point was not ready to try to get him with the grippers. So we stupidly thought we need a big net since we also do some musky fishing. So we bought a big collapsible net. I think it's a Frabil, but I would have to look. So after we got that big net, one of us got a pike on, nice one 30+ inches but not huge, we landed it with that net. That fish got in that net, and went crazy. Started rolling, so we put the fish back in the water inside the net to try to get him untangled. After spending what seemed an eternity to get him out, we finally got the fish out of the net, but it just wasn't going to make it. So we ended up eating that pike, but now we use our trusty Boga grips to land our big fish. And if needed our rubber no tangle net for the bigger walleye.

[johnny walleye]

NICE FISH

[john c]

The worst part of that fish is that was her first musky.  Hasn't been able to get a bigger one.

john c

[600 miles north]

     Beautiful fish! I guess it doesn't matter if it was the first one ( which is amazing) Or the 50th, she's still caught a 48 incher! You could tack that on a piece of 4 by 8 foot plywood laying sideways and it would go from top to bottom... that is one big fish! nice job

     Brad

[jackalofnar]

Might look into a set.  would make it easier to keep those pike under control when you have to get the hook out.  Holding them behind the gills is not good for the fingers or the fish. if it is going back.  If keeping it, there is no problem at all...

Thanks,

Kirk

[john c]

Kirk

Even if you are going to eat it lip grippers are the best for control.  The Boga Grip is worth every penney you pay for them.  I will give our old pair of Berkley Lip Grippers to anyone who wants to come get them, the jaws are sprung a little but they still kind of work.

John

[Tactical Fishing Co]

Kirk

Even if you are going to eat it lip grippers are the best for control.  The Boga Grip is worth every penney you pay for them.  I will give our old pair of Berkley Lip Grippers to anyone who wants to come get them, the jaws are sprung a little but they still kind of work.

John

John - I 100% agree. The Boga-Grip are pricy, but they hold up really well compared to the competition. I used the Berkleys and a plastic version but the salt-water done here trashes cheaper equipment.

[Dog]

First off, great fish!

My experience with lip grippers is minimal. I have a glow in the dark plastic version that floats for the canoe that I'll take to Lake O this year to test out on the Northern up there...

It's this one off amazon: http://www.amazon.com/United-Plastics-Fish-Grip-Glow-in-the-Dark/dp/B004CGD4HE/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1405596392&sr=8-2&keywords=fish+lip+gripper

[RHYBAK]

have you considered a cradle. That is what I keep in the boat for pike.
http://www.cabelas.com/product/Frabill-Pro-Tech-Muskie-Cradle/700783.uts?Ntk=AllProducts&searchPath=%2Fcatalog%2Fsearch%2F%3FN%3D%26No%3D100%26Ntk%3DAllProducts%26Ntt%3Dnet%26Ntx%3Dmode%252Bmatchallpartial%26WTz_l%3DHeader%253BSearch-All%2BProducts%26WTz_st%3D%26WTz_stype%3DSP%26form_state%3DsearchForm%26recordsPerPage%3D20%26search%3Dnet%26searchTypeByFilter%3DAllProducts%26x%3D0%26y%3D0&Ntt=net&WTz_l=Header%3BSearch-All+Products

[Dog]

@RHYBAK never saw one of those. I like it. It can hold empty beer cans when no large pike are being caught!...

[fishtildark]

good call Rhybak. that too was made for unharmed catch and release. Does it make it a two person proposition to land one? that would be the only downside I can see.