Lip Grippers Bad?

[chanquetas]

I know the young fella in this pic is probably just stoked to have caught such a great flatty, as I would, but at 93cm the fish had to have been released, so what damage would the Lip Grippers do to the fish?

Do the grippers just teach us bad habits?

http://www.fishingnoosa.com.au/april0406.htm

[PinHead]

If you know you are going to release the fish, then what damage is done by even bringing it out of the water???

[Feral]

Dont think I'd fancy my chances of removing a hook from a godzilla like that while it was still in the water. I reckon if it was hooked anywhere but the lip you would probably kill it as it thrashed about.

[agnes_jack]

I think most probs occur when lip grips are used to hold the fish up, all of the fishes weight is then hanging off its backbone/ neck area. Used to manouvore fish at the side of the boat or with a hand supporting the fishes weight underneath they are a great way to controll the fish and minimise thrashing etc. Great for "swimming " large fish before release.

Regards, Tony

[Gordon_Scamp]

I agree with Tony, lip grips are great for controlling fish in the water but should never be used to lift any fish that is to be released.

Wantok

[fishn-ads]

Give me the good old landing net (new shade cloth type) and a wet rag. Alot cheaper and everyone happy, you seen the price of booga grips!

[charleville]

Give me the good old landing net (new shade cloth type) and a wet rag. Alot cheaper and everyone happy, you seen the price of booga grips!

My lip gripper cost me $10 at the Tackle & Tinnie show. They have survived three weeks so far. ;D ;D ;D

[fishn-ads]

Charleville.
Is that the fish or the Chinese economy? Each to there own ;)

[charleville]

Charleville.
Is that the fish or the Chinese economy? Each to there own ;)


Both. Show me anything that is not made in China these days.

Even if something is presumed to have been made elsewhere, often you will find the less convincing term on it, "Assembled in XXXXX" Even "Australian Made" fruit juice often has on its label that it is made from reconstituted juice. From where? :-/

About 14 years ago, I visited the then Digital Equipment Corporation "factory" in Sydney. They had won a national award for quality management processes from the Australia Quality Council and I was on a tour of 25 managers from various industries seeking to learn from such gurus.

They made such a hullabaloo about how good they were and gave us a flash lunch before the factory tour but when they took us on to the "factory" floor they showed us five workers unpacking computer equipment built overseas, relabelling it and repacking it and then they had the hide to say that these five workers were responsible for $100M of exports from DEC in Australia. The 25 of us on that tour were disgusted and DEC was taken off the AQC tour program. The whole "factory" consisted of just those five workers. >:( No wonder that the factory manager who was hosting me at lunch looked decidedly uncomfortable when I asked him before the visit about the wave soldering tools that I assumed that they would have in their "factory." ;D ;D ;D The only tools that I saw were some electric screwdrivers suspended from above and which they used to unscrew the old labels and replace them with the new labels. ;D ;D ;D

I have no problem with buying Chinese stuff and I assume that they have no problem about buying our raw materials which is what is driving our share market and ecveryone's superannuation savings skyhigh at the moment. My German brand Ritmuller piano plays beautifully and looks great :) but was half the price of the equivalent Yamaha or Kawai pianos, even though all were made in the same factory, the largest piano factory in the world, the Pearl River Piano Company in China.

...and don't forget the ripoffs we suffer from the old distribution methods. I imported my Scotty downrigger from Cabelas for AUD$187 delivered to my house. Compare that with the $499 that I saw on the same item at the Tackle Warehouse at the time and even recently at BCF. :(

Bottom line is that if the quality looks good, I am happy to buy the Chinese product under any label because we are being ripped off in every way possible otherwise.

:)


ps my $10 Chinese made lip gripper bought from a well known Brisbane tackle retailer at the T&T show is a ripper gripper. :) :) :)

[S.S.]

THAT FLATTY IS NOWAY 93CM.



Depending on how clever you are with your photography you can make a smaller fish look bigger and a bigger fish can look smaller. Ummmmm...... the fish doesn't look as though it has the bulk of a 90cm+ fish but hey, if they reckon it's 93cm then it's 93cm :)

[blue-mako]

u need to support its belly or if its just left hanging if it twists swings it can break its back

[Dignity]

Lip grippers stretch the membrane at the base of the fishes gill cage when the fish is held this way and it will kill every fish every time. Usually the fish dies within 24 hours of release as it can not get enough oxyen due to the rupture of the main arteries in this region. The fishing mags have all printed articles re the bogas yet still print plenty of pics by well known writers that use them who release the fish. Guess it is one rule for us and anohter rule for them.

sam

[Kenny]

I reckon that just fighting the cr#p out of a big fish and tiring it out probably reduces its chance of survival significantly if it's going to be released. Maybe for little tiny fish it may be ok, but for biggies.....I don't reckon it's good.

[tuna44]

I know one thing with using grips is that they have saved my hands a few times. With a large barra next to the boat and 2 free trebles left around the fishes mouth there is no way i'll put my hand near them. A grip in the mouth whilst the fish is in the water will do no harm, hanging the fish in the air will.